Speaker Biographies

Ken Ross, OBE, MD, Ross Developments & Renewables (Halcyon City Living Ltd, Scots Renewable Energy Ltd (SREL), Greenlaw Park Ltd)

Ken has a portfolio of activities relating to: Property, Housing, the Private Rented Sector, Renewables -investment, development and consultancy, Land, Master planning and property management, Coaching and mentoring.

Ken was previously the Executive Chairman and Managing Director of Elphinstone Group for 17 years until 2010.

Ken has had the privilege during his career of Chairing both the Scottish House-Builders Federation and the Scottish Property Federation. He served on the Sullivan Committee advising the Scottish Government Ministers on matters relating to Climate Change and continues to serve on the Housing Policy Group advising the Scottish Housing Minister on housing matters across all sectors.

He is a member of the Executive Committee of SCDI (Scottish Council for Development & Industry); a Governor at the Glasgow School of Art; a Non Executive Director.on the Development Board of the Prince & Pricess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow and also Chairs the charity ‘Children of Malawi’.

Lesley McLay, Chief Executive at NHS Tayside

Lesley McLay has held this position since December 2013. Previously she was Chief Operating Officer at NHS Tayside. With more than 30 years’ experience as a healthcare professional, 23 years of which have been spent in the NHS in Scotland first as a nurse, then a senior manager and then executive director roles, Lesley has built up vast expertise and capability in leading the strategic delivery of high-quality healthcare systems, always with a focus on person-centred care and treatment.

As Chief Executive of NHS Tayside, Lesley is responsible for a budget of £800 million to deliver acute, mental health, community, primary care and regional services for the patients, families and communities of Tayside and North-East Fife.

Before joining NHS Tayside, Lesley was previously the Executive Director of Operations and Nursing at both NHS Ayrshire & Arran and NHS24. She also has a wealth of experience from senior roles in the NHS in England and the private sector which have given her an exceptional insight into different healthcare systems and approaches. It is against this background of strategic visioning and leadership, financial management and operational delivery of services which means Lesley is best-placed to lead NHS Tayside through its transformation over the coming years. Lesley holds a Masters degree in Public Health from Glasgow University. She also has a special interest in delivering a truly integrated whole- system approach to care for patients, supported by information technology and integrated health and social care pathways.

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Clive Gilman, Director, Dundee Contemporary Arts

Clive Gillman has been Director of Dundee Contemporary Arts for 10 years, Scotland's largest arts and media centre. He has a background in working with media-based arts, both as an artist and also through working on the development of the cultural infrastructure in the UK. He has shown works internationally and has developed a number of internet-based public art projects including Metroscopes.

He was previously Associate Director for 13 years at the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT)

Lorna Innes, Development Director, First Scottish (Legal Services)

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Caroline McKenna, Business Manager Strategy & Operations, Dundee International Women’s Centre (DIWC)

Caroline manages the strategic and operational aspects of DIWC. She reports to the Board of Directors ensuring that all aspects of governance are being managed. She creates and implements business plans, growth plans, research for applicable grants and complete funding applications. She has regular meetings with the staff to ensure services are meeting the needs of the women who attend the Centre. She manages all aspects of the Centre and is working hard to raise DIWC profile in Dundee and beyond.

Caroline also runs her own small business, and has previously worked with Fresh Inc Medispa, and Aviva.

Prof. Gary McEwan, CEO, Elevator (Enterprise North East Trust)

Giving young people the opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial skills is a key driver for Gary McEwan, who knows from first hand experience the importance of providing support to shape youngsters’ business talents. Despite leaving school with no formal qualifications, Gary became UK entrepreneur of the year when he was just 26 and is currently the Chief Executive of Elevator (formerly Enterprise North East Trust); a position he has held since November 2008.

Gary leads a team of 65 staff, which offers a range of services for new and growing businesses across the north east of Scotland and Tayside, including the delivery of the Business Gateway services on behalf of the local authorities.

Born and bred in Glasgow, and despite displaying entrepreneurial talents from a young age, he left school at the age of 16 with no formal qualifications. From that point forward he was

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an entrepreneur starting his first business with £20 selling dog food from door to door. Along with two other ventures, which he started with very little and ended up with very little, he learned lessons from each and began enjoying business success. With an ambition to develop his business talents, Gary ran several companies and was involved in raising funding for start-up and growth, developing management teams and creating commercial strategies.

His biggest entrepreneurial success was AFT, a driver training school teaching people to drive class 1 HGV’s. To start the business he secured funding from PSYBT and the company quickly developed providing people with training to drive buses, fork lift trucks, cars, motorcycles and a range of other vehicles. The success of this business earned him the Shell Livewire UK Entrepreneur of the Year title in 1993.

In 1994, Gary was presented with Shell Livewire’s Most Significant Growth award in recognition of his track record for business development in Scotland. In 2005, HM Queen Elizabeth II presented Gary with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion, and in 2006, he was inducted into the Shell Livewire Hall of Fame. Other achievements include being made an Honorary Vice President of Young Enterprise Scotland and Honorary Fellow of the University of Dundee.

During his career, Gary has worked closely with Scottish Enterprise. In 1997, he was sponsored by the organisation to assist in the development of an economic development strategy in Paraguay, South America. Gary was also one of ten appointed professional mentors to carry out an assessment of the 600+ business advisers working in the Scottish Enterprise network. His entrepreneurial skills and business acumen led Gary to being described as ‘one of the best business advisers in Scotland’ by Professor John Parker, Managing Director of IBP Academy who lead the Premier Adviser accreditation process

Gary is also Regional Chairman for Grampian for The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT).

Professor James Conroy is Vice-Principal (Internationalisation) at the University of Glasgow

Professor James Conroy is Vice-Principal (Internationalisation) at the University of Glasgow where he has held the position of Professor of Religious and Philosophical Education since 2005. He joined the university in 1999. Prior to his appointment as Vice Principal, Professor Conroy was Dean of the School of Education (from 2006 to 2010), Head of the Graduate School, Head of the Department of Religious Education, College International Lead and International Dean for Europe (from 2012 to 2013).

He holds his teaching certificate from St. Mary's College, Strawberry Hill and degrees from the University of London (IoE), Lancaster University and VU, Amsterdam, and was Director of Religious Education and Pastoral Care at St Andrew's College and Senior Lecturer in

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Theology and Religious Education at St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill before joining the University of Glasgow.

Professor Conroy has held visiting professorial positions in Australia, Brazil, North America, and Europe (most recently as EU Visiting Professor at the University of Warsaw), and has published extensively in the areas of philosophy of education, religion, education and liberal democracy. He has served on a number of government committees and has been a Director of a number of national and international bodies including Learning and Teaching Scotland, and is a past-President of the Association for Moral Education. Currently he is Chair of the Journal of Moral Education Trust and Chair-elect of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain. In 2012 he was elected to the Academy of Social Sciences and has held research grants from a range of charities, government bodies and Research Councils.

Margaret Gibson, CEO, Women's Enterprise Scotland (WES) Margaret took up her post in 2013, she works with a wide range of women from all over Scotland. WES helps to create an entrepreneurial environment where women led businesses can flourish and grow. Very much working in partnership with the business eco- system of Scotland.

Margaret has almost 30 years of experience supporting young entrepreneurs in Scotland and across the world. Her most recent post prior to WES was with The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust. She now also provides consultancy advice to Youth Business International. She has supported youth enterprise charities in Russia, Spain, Ukraine, Argentina and most recently the Eastern Caribbean.

She launched her first business in 1985 and her most recent one in 2013. Margaret is passionate about helping others to develop skills and build useful networks. She has been a finalist in the Institute of Director’s Awards for the Not for Profit and Female Director of the Year categories. Margaret currently serves on the student Advisory Board of Enactus at University of Glasgow, supports the Scottish EDGE Fund as a judge and has recently been appointed to the Court of the University of the West of Scotland.

Margaret is married with two children. She is a committed swimmer, enjoys travel, music and baking.

Taroub Zahran, Director of People and Culture, Student Loans Company UK Taroub previously served as Chief Executive of one of Scotland's largest social housing organisations, GHA from 2007 to 2012.

Prior to joining GHA she worked with the Greater Glasgow Primary Care NHS Trust where she served as Head of Organisational Development. She worked for the health service in Glasgow for the previous ten years in a range of roles.

She is married to Lorne Crerar, Chairman of Harper Macleod LLP, the law business he founded.

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Alex Reedijk, Director General, Scottish Opera

Alex joined Scottish Opera as General Director in February 2006, following four years at the helm of the NBR New Zealand Opera. Prior to this post he was Executive Director of the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts. His career includes extensive experience in production management for theatre, ballet festivals and opera. During the 1980s and 1990s he worked in the UK for several major arts festivals and opera companies, including Scottish Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Ireland and Garsington Opera before returning to New Zealand in 1998.

Alex has also worked on a range of ‘handmade productions’, including several opera premières, and was involved in Creative New Zealand’s initiative to foster the growth of new New Zealand operatic work. In 1998 he became the Festival’s Deputy Executive Director, with particular responsibility for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which made its first highly successful visit out of Edinburgh to Wellington in 2000. He held this post until his appointment as Executive Director of the 2002 New Zealand Festival.

In November 2011, Alex was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Ken Symon, Managing Director, Symon Media Award winning journalist & Founder of Symon Media As a journalist, Ken held a variety of positions, including Business Editor of the Sunday Herald, Business Editor of The Scotsman and Deputy Editor of The Sunday Times Scotland. His journalism awards include UK Local Government Journalist of the Year and he has been repeatedly nominated in the Business and Financial Writer of the Year Award category for the Scottish Press Awards.

Ken headed the business engagement programme for the ‘Better Together’ campaign in advance of the Scottish Independence Referendum. His recruitment to the campaign team coincided with an advertising drive to promote the Union backed by 2.3 million leaflets and 300,000 letters being sent to female swing voters.

Ken is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

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Allister Purdie, Governor, HMP & YOI Cornton Vale (women’s prison) Allister joined the Scottish Prison Service in November 1988 starting at Shotts Prison in Lanarkshire, having worked ten years in a family business. Following successive promotions he moved to Perth Prison in April 1999 as a Unit Manager. He then transferred to HM Prison Edinburgh in October 2001 and then to HM Prison Barlinnie in November 2004 as the Head of Operations and Residential and then to the Deputy Governor role. Allister was assigned to Scottish Prison Service Headquarters in November 2009 as a Senior Operational Advisor leading in the design and build of the new prisons at HM Prison Low Moss and HM Prison Grampian. In April 2011 Allister was assigned to the role of Deputy Governor at HM Prison (Women Offenders) and Young Offenders Cornton Vale Stirling and then to the Governor role in April 2013 where he is currently operating.

Caroline McKenna, Business Manager Strategy & Operations, Dundee International Women’s Centre

Caroline has developed and led teams to success for over 20 years. Her down-to Earth style coupled with her ability to empower others to grow and succeed makes her a likeable leader! Caroline inspires and motivates others by working on the premise that Leadership is a way of thinking, a way of acting and ultimately communicating. In her current role as Business Manager, Strategy and Operations at the Dundee International Women’s Centre, she leads by example and strives to always find creative solutions to problems with a focus on moving forward. In her spare time, Caroline enjoys writing articles, has just started podcasting and loves being with her family and friends.

Gillian Docherty, Sales Leader for IBM Software Group for Scotland

Gillian is currently the Sales Leader for IBM Software Group for Scotland. She leads a team of Sales and Technical Specialists who are responsible for driving the IBM Software propositions to clients across Scotland.

Previously Gillian has held a variety of Sales and Sales Leadership roles across the UK at IBM including Systems and Technology Sales Leader and Territory Leader for General Business Scotland. She also worked within IBM’s Outsourcing Business for several years. Gillian has been with IBM for 20 years.

Gillian has a degree in Computing Science from Glasgow University and is married with a daughter.

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