Pat Armstrong has been Chief Executive of ACOSVO, the Association of Chief Officers of Scottish Voluntary Organisations, since 2003 after over 25 years of experience in the sector with both local and national organisations from a range of thematic areas. She has an MBA from Heriot Watt University and has a particular interest in leadership development in the Third Sector. Pat acts as Chair of the Governance Forum.
Steff Bell has been in the Third Sector for nearly 18 years and has worked in England, Wales and for the last 7 years in Scotland in a variety of capacities. As a Senior Development Officer at EVOC (one of Scotland’s Third Sector Interfaces) she has a role in supporting smaller community focused organisations in a range of governance and compliance issues, and assisting in the start-up of new and emerging charities and voluntary bodies. She is also part of a small team that delivers charity law and regulation training to colleagues across the national network of TSI’s.
Alastair Keatinge is a Partner and leads Lindsays’ Charity team and is accredited as a specialist in Charity Law by the Law Society of Scotland. He has been advising charity and not-for-profit clients for more than 20 years, focusing on the corporate aspects of charity law including corporate governance, constitutional issues and charity reorganisations. Alastair contribute articles on charity law issues to a variety of publications, including the Scotsman newspaer, Governance magazine and the charity newsletter of a national accountancy firm.
Neil McLean has been the Chief Executive of Social Enterprise Academy for almost 7 years.
Shirley Otto is a specialist in governance and management development in charities and community groups and housing associations. She works as an independent trainer, facilitator and consultant and has done so, with a wide variety of organisations, for the last thirty years, the last seventeen years in Scotland. Shirley has a particular interest in the dynamics that shape the functioning of teams, boards / management committees and the relationship between staff, managers and boards.
Catriona Reynolds is the Head of Governance & Engagement at Arts and Business Scotland.
Catriona’s role is to encourage business employee engagement with the arts through the transfer of their skills, and she organises and delivers training for current and potential board members of arts organisations.
With experience as a senior staff member, consultant, and as a Trustee, Susan has a wide knowledge of the diversity of Scotland’s third sector. With a strong background in fundraising and governance across small local groups, medium and larger charities, she is a Fellow of the Institute of Fundraising and chairs their Fundraising Standards Advisory Board for Scotland.
Ann Rowe is Head of Communications and Marketing at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. As well as heading up SCVO’s traditional communications function, Ann is responsible for a number of services including SCVO’s Information Service (a free helpline and web-based service to help set up and run third sector organisations) and Funding Scotland (a free online search engine to connect voluntary organisations to Scottish funding opportunities).