2020 Climate Group Biographies

Ian Marchant

Ian was appointed Chief Executive in October 2002 having been Finance Director since 1998. He joined Southern Electric in 1992 and joined the Board on becoming Finance Director in 1996. Previously he worked for Coopers & Lybrand (now PWC), including a two-year secondment to the Department of Energy working on electricity privatisation.

Ian is a past Chairman of the United Kingdom Business Council for Sustainable Energy and chairs the Climate Change Business Delivery Group. He is a member of Ofgem’s Environmental Advisory Group, the Coal Forum and of the Energy Research Partnership. Ian is a non-Executive Director of Maggie’s Cancer Centres and was appointed as a non-Executive Director of John Wood Group PLC in 2006.

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Richard K Ackroyd

Richard Ackroyd was appointed as Chief Executive of Scottish Water on 25 March 2008 and has twenty years experience in the water industry. Prior to joining Scottish Water Richard had been Director of Regulation and Investment at Yorkshire Water since 1996 with, amongst other issues, responsibility for regulatory matters and investment programmes. Richard was also Chairman of Water UK from 2006 to 2008. He is a solicitor by profession and has previously been Head of Legal Services for Yorkshire Water following a period in private practice.

David Anderson

David was appointed as Chief Executive of South Ayrshire Council in April 2008.  He was previously Corporate Director (Community) with East Dunbartonshire Council and prior to that Head of Service with both East Dunbartonshire and North Ayrshire Councils for some 10 years.

David’s background in public service was initially in the field of community development, having then had the opportunity to progress through a number of posts with Strathclyde Regional Council then, as mentioned above, North Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire and latterly back to South Ayrshire.

David acts on behalf of Solace Scotland as the Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People and is also a Director of Young Scot. He has had a long running interest in development of work with children, young people and families, having led the development of Children’s services work in East Dunbartonshire and as part of that role piloted in conjunction with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE), the first child protection inspection in Scotland.

In South Ayrshire David is committed to seeing the Council recognised as the “most improved”.  He is also supporting the regeneration of Ayr town centre and is passionate about maintaining South Ayrshire and indeed Ayrshire as a key tourist destination on a national and an international basis and, in particular, promoting the Burns, golf, heritage and many other attributes that South Ayrshire possesses.

Jan Bebbington

Jan Bebbington is Professor of Accounting and Sustainable Development in the School of Management at the University of St. Andrews and the Director of the St Andrews Sustainability Institute. She is also Vice-Chair (Scotland) of the Sustainable Development Commission. Jan has extensive experience of educating for sustainable development, both within her discipline of social and environmental accounting as well as in interdisciplinary settings. Jan’s own research interests focus around the themes of corporate social reporting on sustainable development; full cost accounting and modelling; and governance for sustainable development. The Sustainable Development Commission is the Government’s official advisor on sustainable development.

Sue Bruce

Sue Bruce took up the post of Chief Executive of the City of Edinburgh Council on 1 January 2011 having previously been Chief Executive at Aberdeen City Council and East Dunbartonshire Council.

Sue began her local government career with Strathclyde Regional Council in 1976 spending the early part of her career in social and economic regeneration and then in the wider education field.

Sue has held a number of senior positions, serving in the Strathclyde Regional Education Directorate until local government re-organisation in 1996 after which she held the post of Depute Director of Education with East Ayrshire Council. In 2000 she joined East Dunbartonshire Council initially as Strategic Director responsible for Education, Housing, Social Work and Cultural Services and had a corporate lead role in social inclusion and equalities.

She has wide ranging interests, has served on a number of external boards and has worked on several national and international initiatives.

In May 2010 Sue received the Prince’s Business Ambassador award for 2010 from HRH The Prince of Wales and in October 2010 was recognised as the Scottish Public Sector Leader of the Year Award at the Scottish Leadership Awards.

Academic background:

• M. Phil. Politics/Government – University of Strathclyde;
• LL.B Scots Law - University of Strathclyde;
• Diploma in Youth & Community Studies -Jordanhill College of Education;
• Cert. Strategic Public Sector Negotiation - JFK School of Government, Harvard University;
• Elected Fellow of the RSA (FRSA).

She is 55 and married. Her interests include the arts, reading and gardening, and is a Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce).

Jo Bucci

Jo Bucci is the Managing Director for the People's Postcode Lottery in the UK. Prior to her position with the Postcode Lottery, Bucci spent three years as the Managing Director of Century Radio between 1999 and 2002. With an incredibly successful career in broadcast media, she has lent her talents to a number of roles, including Commercial Managing Director of Gcap Media plc and as a Commercial Managing Director for Capital Radio. Following this Bucci became Deputy Chief Executive for Leicester City Football Club.

In June 2007 Jo was tasked with expanding the People’s Postcode Lottery into Scotland. The Lottery launched in Scotland in November that year, and Jo has continued to work across the UK business and is UK Managing Director for the Peoples Postcode Lottery.

Scottish Business in the Community interview »

Professor James Curran, MBE

Professor Curran is the Chief Executive of SEPA. He has worked in environmental science and regulation for 30 years. He has undertaken studies in hydrometeorology, numerical modelling of dispersion in marine waters, and water resources management as well as a spell of direct regulatory enforcement with agricultural and industrial businesses.

He has been a consultant to the Scottish Office and was for some years the Head of Science with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and then Head of Environmental Strategy.

In 2006 he co-founded and then ran Entrading, the UK's first comprehensive eco-store and cafe in central Glasgow. This was sold a couple of years later and he has taken up a post, again with SEPA, first as Director Science and Strategy and now as Chief Executive. James was awarded MBE for services to the environment in 2007.

Brendan Dick

Brendan Dick is Director of BT Scotland. His prime responsibilities are to develop BT’s Group wide activities in Scotland, reflecting the country’s unique situation within the UK. A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, much of Brendan’s early career was spent in information technology.

His external interests are many and varied. Brendan is Chair of Scottish Business in the Community and e-skills Scotland. He is Honorary President of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, a board member of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry and a member of the CBI Scotland Council, Scotland’s 2020 Climate Group and a business representative on the Lowland Reserve Forces Regional Employer Support Group. Previous appointments include board membership of SCVO and the Edinburgh International Science Festival plus being on the advisory panel of Common Purpose.

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Stuart Goodall

Stuart Goodall is Chief Executive of the Confederation of Forest Industries (ConFor). ConFor represents forestry and wood-using businesses across the UK. Stuart has over 20 years experience in forestry and wood, working both in the public sector for the Forestry Commission in a variety of policy development and representational roles, and in the private sector with ConFor. ConFor has been in the forefront of promoting forestry and wood in a low carbon economy, and Stuart regularly writes and speaks on forestry and climate change matters.

Gordon Grant

Gordon was educated at Bo'ness Academy and went on to Heriot Watt University where he was awarded an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. His early career was spent as a Maintenance Engineer with BP Chemicals at Grangemouth. He has subsequently held posts in HR, Operations and Business Units for BP Chemicals and BP Exploration and now INEOS, including Site Manager roles at Wilton, Sullom Voe and Grangemouth.

Gordon is a Director of INEOS Manufacturing Scotland Ltd and is currently Works General Manager for the Grangemouth Site. He is also a Council Member of the Chemicals Industry Association and a member of the Chemical Sciences Scotland Leadership team. He is currently Chairman of the Scottish Sector of the CIA and Chairman of the Grangemouth Development Group. He has also held Directorships in UK and European businesses and has been a Trustee of Lerwick Port Authority and Shetland Education Trust. Gordon is married with 3 boys. His main interests outside of work are sport and keeping fit.

Graham Hutcheon

Glasgow born Graham graduated in Chemical Engineering from Strathclyde University in 1985. He moved to Speyside to take up a trainee role in the Scotch Whisky Industry on ‘Live Aid’ day of the same year. Having worked in a number of roles within the Industry, Graham moved to The Edrington Group in 2000 as Director of Distillation based at The Macallan Distillery. In 2003 Graham was appointed Group Operations Director and moved to Edrington’s Glasgow headquarters. He is responsible for all the operational aspects of getting brands like The Famous Grouse, The Macallan, Highland Park and Cutty Sark produced and delivered to consumers around the world.

He also has the recently acquired Dominican Republic rum ‘Brugal’ in his stable. Graham sits on the Scotch Whisky Association Operations Committee, chairing the Environment Committee, is a director of Lothian and North British Distillery and the Scotch Whisky Research Institute in Riccarton. Graham has also recently joined the CBI (Scotland) Council.

Professor Robert M. (Bob) Kalin BSc MSc PhD CEnv FICE FRSC FGS

Prof Bob Kalin is Head of Department of Civil Engineering and Chair of Environmental Engineering for Sustainability, University of Strathclyde, and Director of the David Livingstone Centre for Sustainability (DLCS). The DLCS is a trans-disciplinary Research and Knowledge Exchange unit that engages in a wide array of knowledge exchange pertaining to sustainability and climate change adaptation and mitigation around the built environment, international development and broad environmental concerns. The foundations of the DLCS were established in 1973, and during the past four decades the DLCS has evolved as a premier training, research and knowledge exchange provider. Bob has considerable experience in knowledge transfer that takes blues skies ideas through to practical solutions in industry and government policy, and throughout his career he has published over 150 peer reviewed papers in Civil & Environmental Engineering and Science, Climate Change and Geosciences, and Medical and Forensic Science.

Andy Kerr

Andy was appointed Director of the Edinburgh Centre on Climate Change (ECCC), a low carbon innovation and skills centre, in 2010. He is also the Policy Director of the Scottish Centre of Expertise in Climate Change. Previously Andy was a Director at E3 International, working with companies to develop strategic and practical management responses to emerging market opportunities in international carbon and biofuel markets. His public policy work has focused on supporting the development of effective national policy frameworks that reduce dependence on fossil fuels and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Recent projects include the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Inquiry Report: “Facing up to Climate Change: Breaking the barriers to a low carbon Scotland” and the Scottish Government's “Climate Change Delivery Plan”. Andy also co-authors the book: “Climate Change & Emissions Trading: What Every Business Needs to Know”. Andy has a doctorate in glaciology from the University of Edinburgh.

Louise Macdonald, Chief Executive, Young Scot

Louise is the Chief Executive of Young Scot, the national youth information and citizenship agency for Scotland. Young Scot aims to provide an invaluable service to young people aged 11 – 26 by offering information in a range of different formats and channels. With over 380,000 members across Scotland, through Young Scot young people can access what they need to know, when they need to know it, in a way they are most comfortable with. Louise believes that engaging with young people, and providing them with the information, ideas and opportunities they deserve, ensures a brighter, healthier and fairer future for Scotland.

Louise began her professional career as a journalist with local and national media in Scotland and the UK, before embarking on a career in communications with young people in the statutory and voluntary sector. A participant on the groundbreaking WWF Scotland leadership and sustainability project Natural Change, she is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations; a Board member of SCRA (Scottish Children’s Report Administration), as well as the new UK Money Advice Service and ACOSVO (Association of Chief Officers of Scottish Voluntary Organisations).

Scottish Business in the Community interview »

Sarah Longair

Sarah Longair graduated from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh in 2002 with a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics with Finance. After being selected for the Stagecoach Graduate Scheme she spent her initial training year in Fife before moving to Manchester.

During the three years that Sarah spent in Manchester, she was Operations Manager in different two depots. It was also during this time that Sarah undertook gained her Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport qualifications.

Six years ago Sarah moved to Stagecoach West Scotland to become Operations Director and continued to do this for four years before moving to East Scotland two years ago. As Operations Director Sarah has overall responsibility for the operational and commercial aspects of the business meaning that she is heavily involved in revenue development, budget control and service delivery.

Last year Sarah was made a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Logistics and Transport.

Tony McElroy

Tony McElroy manages Corporate and Government Affairs in Scotland for Tesco. He also serves as Vice-Chair of the Scottish Retail Consortium. Tony joined Tesco in 2008 has extensive experience in Scotland’s policy, media and political community. Prior to joining Tesco he was Head of Media and official spokesman for the Scottish Labour Party and media advisor to Gordon Brown. A member of numerous public sector, NGO and private sector policy working groups, Tony regularly represents Tesco in a number of key arenas including job creation, regeneration, food and the environment. Tony also sits on the Public and Business Engagement sub-group.

Gordon McGregor

Gordon McGregor is Energy and Environment Director at ScottishPower. He also serves on the Council of CBI Scotland and on the board of the Scottish European Green Energy Centre. At ScottishPower, he is responsible at a corporate level for environmental management, regulation and R&D. He has wide experience in climate change issues at UK, US and international level. Gordon has worked in the energy sector since 1991 and prior to his present position has held a variety of roles in engineering, sales & marketing, product development, operations and corporate strategy. He is a graduate of the Universities of Glasgow, Heriot Watt and Aberdeen.

Ian McKay

Ian is the principal representative of the Royal Mail Group (Royal Mail, Post Office Ltd and Parcelforce Worldwide) in Scotland, joining the company in August 2003. Ian is a member of the Scottish Council of the CBI, the Executive Committee of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry and the Institute of Directors. Ian is a member of the UK Pay Review Body for Nursing and Other Health Professions and sits on the Board of the Scottish Business Crime Centre and the Centre for Confidence and Well-Being. He is also a Trustee of the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust and a member of the Advisory Group of Arts & Business in Scotland.

Before joining Royal Mail Group, Ian was Assistant General Secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), Scotland’s largest teacher professional association. Ian is a graduate of the University of Stirling and has BA Joint Honours in Education and English studies. He also has a teacher qualification from the University.

Dr Simon Pepper

Simon previously served as WWF's Director in Scotland for 20 years to 2005, a leading figure in the environment movement in Scotland; he held positions on Board of Forestry Commission, Deer Commission and Scottish Executive Cabinet Sub-Committee on sustainable development.

Lady Susan Rice

Lady Susan Rice is Managing Director of Lloyds Banking Group Scotland. Susan is Senior Independent Director of SSE and a member of the Climate Change Business Delivery Group. She is a director of Scottish Business in the Community, Scotland’s Futures Forum and sits on the Business Advisory Forum of Oxford University’s Saïd Business School. Susan is a strong advocate of corporate responsibility and throughout her career, both in the United States and UK, has driven the financial and social inclusion agendas.

Scottish Business in the Community interview »

Derek Robertson

Derek Robertson joined Keep Scotland Beautiful as Chief Executive in early 2011.

Derek’s formative years were spent in local government before he joined the Third Sector in the late 80s, a move that he describes as a “great decision” and he has remained within it ever since. Derek has spent the last 20 years in a variety of senior management and leadership roles and has worked in service areas that include, the environment , regeneration, sustainable development, education, leisure, community development, health and social care, children’s’ services, youth work, and charity fundraising.

A qualified manager, Derek’s experience extends to time spent in both Scotland and England and Keep Scotland Beautiful is the fourth charity that he has led as Chief Executive. Derek is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), a Member of ACEVO, the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations and a member of ACOSVO, the Association of Chief Officers of Scottish Voluntary Organisations.

Derek has served on a variety of charity boards, Third Sector advisory groups and has also assisted a number of voluntary and charitable organisations that have been working through change.

Mike Robinson

Mike Robinson is Chief Executive of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) based in Perth. He was previously, Head of Development for the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (responsible for the John Hope Gateway building, membership and patrons programmes). From 1994 to 2004 he was Head of Marketing for RSPB in Scotland. He has helped raise over £35M for environmental projects and for more than 100 charities and community groups. He is Chair of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland; observer, SCC UK board; Board Member Scottish Environment Link; panel member, Climate Challenge Fund; Council Member, National Trust for Scotland; board member, Friends of the Earth Scotland; Development Board Member, UK Soil Association and is an active member of local community, raising money and running schemes for his village and chairing the parent council of his local school. He was previously a trustee of Survival International.

Grahame Smith

Grahame Smith is General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC). A graduate of Strathclyde University, where he obtained an Honours Degree in Economics and Industrial Relations, he has worked at the STUC for 20 years. He was previously Deputy General Secretary and headed the STUC's Policy and Campaigns Department before being appointed General Secretary in December 2006.

Dr John Sturrock QC

John Sturrock holds a first class honours degree in law from Edinburgh University and an LLM in international law from the University of Pennsylvania.

He joined the Scottish Bar in 1986 and was the first Director of Training and Education for the Bar from 1994 until 2002, establishing the Bar’s award winning advocacy skills programme. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1999 and was named Specialist of the Year at the inaugural Scottish Legal Awards in 2003.

In 2001, he founded Core Solutions Group, now recognised as Scotland’s leading business mediation service, pioneering the use of mediation to resolve disputes in commerce, the public sector and organisations. An internationally recognised mediator, John was named Mediator of the Year at the 2009 Law Awards of Scotland.

John is a Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde and a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators. He acts as independent facilitator of the 2020 Climate Change Delivery Group and chaired the Scottish Government’s one day conference during the Copenhagen climate change talks.

John was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by Edinburgh Napier University in June 2010.

Scottish Business in the Community interview »

Michael Tracey

Michael Tracey is a well know innovator and leader in the field of waste and resource management and features in the Top 100 Entrepreneurs in the UK, 2009. Born in 1961, Michael was brought up in Paisley and educated at St Aloysius, Glasgow. On leaving school, Michael joined his father, William Tracey, in the family business and took over the position of Managing Director of William Tracey Ltd in 1984. Throughout this time Michael has been successful in growing the company from a Tyre Recycling business to a multi faceted Waste and Resources company boasting 10 sites and a number of innovative waste processing and recovery plants. The William Tracey Group now turns over in excess of £50M. Michael holds traditional business values and the personable relationships he has with many of his long term customers and suppliers is key to the success of the business.

His positions within the Environmental business community have included a term as SESA Chairman for 4 years and at a national level, Michael sits on the ESA Board who represent the UK's waste management and secondary resources industry. In addition, Michael is a committee member of the Scrap Metal Association and was Chair of The Wood Recycling Association for the first 4 years of its existence.

Scottish Business in the Community interview »

Terri Vogt

Terri Vogt is Group Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, FirstGroup plc, and co-chair of the 2020 Transport Sub-group.

Scottish Business in the Community interview »

Paul Wedgwood

Paul Wedgwood is The Carbon Trust’s Manager for Scotland. He heads up the Carbon Trust’s office in Scotland, leading a small team of people based in East Kilbride.

The Carbon Trust provides specialist advice and support to help business and the public sector boost returns by cutting carbon emissions, saving energy and commercialising low carbon technologies. By stimulating low carbon action, this contributes to key Scottish and UK goals of lower carbon emissions, the development of low carbon businesses, increased energy security and associated jobs.

Paul joined the Carbon Trust in 2009, with 18 years business experience in a variety of commercial and consultancy roles in both large and smaller organisations.

David Wilson

David Wilson is Director of Energy in the Scottish Government, with responsibility for renewable energy and energy markets. He has recently taken on responsibility for climate change as Programme Director: Climate Change across Scottish Government. Before that he was Director of the Business Enterprise and Energy Directorate (which was split at 1 April into two Directorates, Business and Energy. Outwith the Scottish Government, he was Deputy Director General of Electricity Supply for the UK-wide electricity regulator/watchdog, Ofgem. David is an economist by training.

His previous post was Marine Director in the Scottish Government, which has devolved policy responsibility for fisheries issues and marine management in Scotland, working in the European context. In earlier roles, David was Head of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister's Policy Unit, with responsibility for strategic thinking for the Scottish Executive (at the time), and prior to that helped develop the Smart, Successful Scotland strategy. He was also Secretary to the "Cubie Committee" on Tuition Fees and Student Finance.

James Withers

NFU Scotland is the nation’s leading agricultural organisation, representing 9,000 farming, crofting and other rural businesses the length and breadth of the country.

James joined NFU Scotland in 1999 as part of its communications team. He headed up the Union’s communications team for a number of years before being appointed Deputy Chief Executive in 2005 and then in April 2008 he was appointed NFUS Chief Executive.

James is a member of the Scottish Government’s Food and Drink Leadership Forum and the independent Regulatory Review Group. He is also a member of the Guild of Agricultural Journalists.

Jane Wood

An experienced and high level strategist and communicator, Jane has worked with both national and local governments on developing public/private sector partnerships in the areas of regeneration, community asset management, retail-led regeneration and corporate responsibility.

Previously Head of Corporate Affairs for Scotland and Northern Ireland for Alliance Boots, Jane was also Chair of one of Scotland’s largest business improvement districts. She is also founder of Retail Rocks, a retail led regeneration model currently being utilized by local governments to deliver employability, new start ups, skills development and physical regeneration in underserved markets and high streets. She is a member of the CBI Scotland Council, Member of the First Ministers National Economic Forum, on the Scotland committee of the Institute of Directors, and Member of Scotland's 20:20 Climate Change Delivery Group. On this group she is the co-chair of the Public and Business Engagement 2020 sub committee. Jane also chairs another regeneration initiative in Dunbar, in line with her belief that we must create sustainable communities through collaboration, she gives her support to a community cooperative set up to deliver an artisan bakery to the high street.

Prior to Alliance Boots, Jane worked as the Scottish Director of one of Europe’s largest Public Affairs Consultancy, and as a Marketing Director for a major retail and commercial property developer.

Jane was the winner of the Institute if Directors Scotland Annual Award for Voluntary Sector Director in 2011.

Jane, who was educated abroad and in St. Andrews, has a keen interest in the arts. She has four children and lives in East Lothian with her husband.