Training, Employment and the Scottish
Economy: Growth Needs Skills
Speaker Biographies
Angela Constance
Minister for Youth Employment, Scottish Government
Angela Constance has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Livingston
Constituency since May 2007.
Born, raised and educated in West Lothian, prior to 2007 she worked as a social
worker and mental health officer and was a local councillor in Livingston. She is
married with one child.
Liz McIntyre
Principal, Borders College
Having been born and educated in Scotland, Liz began her career in HR in the retail
industry before changing direction to follow a career in Education. Liz has worked in
both the English and the Scottish Further Education Sector, holding posts as Vice
Principal in Kent and as Principal at an FE College in Bath, before returning to Scotland
to take up her current post as Principal at Borders College.
Liz has experience of working in the area of skills development both as a provider of
education and training and as an employer. Liz has considerable knowledge of the
challenges facing young people and adults as they try to match their experiences to
the ever changing requirements of employers and business.
Jacqui Hepburn
Director of Training Academy, Flybe
Jacqui has considerable cross-functional leadership experience with both the UK
private and public sectors and, for the four years prior to her recent appointment with
Flybe, was the Director of the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils UK.
In this role she had Board level responsibility for the strategic leadership for the 21
employer-led Skills Councils that cover almost 90% of the UK workforce, liaising with
Government and high profile decision makers across the political spectrum and with
employers to promote the UK Skills agenda. With an already proven track record of
designing and implementing strategy and developing innovative programmes, Jacqui
developed and implemented a new apprenticeship registration and certification system
for England and Scotland.
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Holding a Masters Degree in Education from Aberdeen University, Jacqui’s earlier
career history features a comprehensive range of senior management experience that
has allowed her to establish a reputation as an exceptional people manager with
strong organisational and financial management skills at operational and Board levels
with responsibilities across all corporate disciplines. Previous employers include the
Sector Skills Development Agency UK in Scotland, Inverness College and the Highland
Communities NHS Trust.
David Allen
Director of Scotland, People 1st
David is currently the Director of Scotland for People 1st, the sector skills council for
the hospitality, passenger transport, travel and tourism industries, and has over 21
years of experience working within and supporting the hospitality & tourism sector
across Scotland, the UK and within Europe.
During this time David has held a number of senior management and operational
roles, predominantly within the 4/5 star hotel market and contract catering sector,
and brings with him a wealth of experience in training and development, strategic
planning, project management, contract delivery and business development.
David joined the People 1st team in August 2007, having spent the previous 2 years
working in a project management role for Springboard Scotland.
As well as playing a key role in helping to shape the impact of skills and workforce
development within the Scottish tourism sector, David has been heavily involved over
the last 3 years in helping to set the strategic direction for the Tourism Framework for
Change (TFFC) Skills Group and its Tourism Skills Strategy, which focuses
predominantly on raising the standard of customer service, management & leadership
and technical skills within the sector.
David also supports, and leads on, a number of other industry working groups and
tourism advisory boards in Scotland, all of which are focussed on skills development
and raising the profile of the tourism and passenger transport sectors within Scotland.
Ken Shaw
Head of Employability & Skills, City of Edinburgh Council
Ken Shaw is the Head of Employability & Skills within the City of Edinburgh Council’s
Economic Development team.
A Charter Civil Engineer with a post graduate in Local Economic Development he has
20 year experience in local government working across a range of policy areas
including Employability, Community Regeneration and Transportation.
Ken was instrumental in the development of the city’s multi-agency “Joined up for
Jobs” Employability Strategy, working with external partners and across Council
Departments to improve the clarity, integration and impact of employment support in
the city.
In 2009 he led on the review of employability services in the city that is re-casting
locally funded employability services along a multi-agency pipeline model, integrating
with the city’s new Economic Strategy: A Strategy for Jobs and responding to Welfare
Reform changes.
More recently he has been working with colleagues and external partners on
developing the “Edinburgh Guarantee” that aims to improve the level of sustained
positive destinations for school leavers in the city.
Caroline Stuart
Scotland Director, Oracle
After graduating in Technology and Business Studies from Strathclyde University in
1986, Caroline left Scotland to work in the City of London. She trained as an
Investment Analyst and worked for Crown Agents and Charterhouse Bank. She
returned to Scotland and ran three companies before moving into business
consultancy.
She has been a volunteer business advisor to the Princes Scottish Youth Business
Trust for 10 years. Currently she is employed by Oracle, the largest enterprise
software company in the world, as Director for Oracle Scotland. She is a Fellow of the
RSA and sits on various Boards and Committees including E Skills, Scotland IS,
Scottish Government ICT Advisory Board, a Trustee of Common Purpose and a
member of the 2% club. Caroline lives in Glasgow and has one young son.
David Anderson
Head of HR, VisitScotland
David joined VisitScotland in 2007 after four years as an interim consultant around
Europe. He spent the majority of his career with Motorola where he lived and worked
around the world.
His last corporate roles were as HR Director for Railtrack and Senior Vice-President
with Worldcom Intl. He completed a research degree in cultural management whilst
based in Hong Kong.
Carinna McMillan
Senior Operations Manager, O2 Telefonica UK Limited
Carinna is a Senior Operations Manager for O2 Telefonica UK based in Skypark
Glasgow. She is responsible for 200 people within Connected World, an area focused
on delivering an excellent Customer Experience assisting customers with their
technical needs. Through leadership and the development of people Carinna ensures
that her operational teams and management are aligned to meet the operational
strategy and goals of customer experience, efficiency and employee engagement.
She is also the Glasgow site Lead for Think Big, O2’s strategy to work with young
people to develop skills and make a difference, to use technology to provide new
paths to sustainable living and to deliver on environmental commitments.
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Maureen Cook
Service Manager Supported Employment, North Lanarkshire Council
Maureen Cook is the Service Manager, Supported Employment in North Lanarkshire
Council
Maureen has over 32 years experience in working for people with learning difficulties.
This experience has ranged from day service provision, service delivery and
management.
Maureen managed a day service for eight years from where she was seconded in 1998
to establish a supported employment pilot project within North Lanarkshire Council.
The success of the pilot lead to the development of a council wide mainstream
supported employment service which Maureen has had responsibility for co-ordinating
since 2002.
Maureen has a Diploma of Education and is a registered social worker.
Alan Thomson
Head of Corporate Relations, Scottish Water
Alan joined Scottish Water in January 2003 from ScottishPower where he formerly
held a range of management positions over an 18 year period. Alan’s current role in
Scottish Water is Head of Corporate Relations and he is responsible for all external
stakeholder communications including Public Affairs, Councils, Developers and Capital
programme communications throughout Scotland.
Alan has over 28 years utility experience within electricity, gas and water both in the
private and public sector.
Alan is also a Director in Glasgow Chamber of Commerce where he plays an active
role in promoting the voice of business within the City.
Stephen Boyle
Head of Group Economics, RBS
Stephen Boyle is Head of Group Economics at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group
and a director of RBS Pension Trustees Ltd, the Group’s main pension scheme.
Stephen first worked at RBS from 1996-2001 as Head of Business Economics. He
returned to RBS in 2006, having established Futureskills Scotland. He has worked in
universities and was director of an economic consulting business. Stephen is a Trustee
of the David Hume Institute.