Kate Forbes MSP

Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Finance

Kate Forbes MSP is from Dingwall, although she spent part of her upbringing in Glasgow and India. Until she was elected as MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Kate was employed as an accountant in the banking industry. Prior to that she studied History at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh with a focus on human migration.

On 17 February 2020 she was appointed as Cabinet Secretary for Finance.

Nick Ford

Scottish Government Director of Procurement and Property

A highly experienced and effective senior leader of commercial and procurement, Nick has a successful and extensive track record of implementing commercial transformation programmes, which deliver significant value for money benefits and continuous improvements in operational delivery.

Following over 25 years within the private sector specialising in procurement, commercial and project management, in roles across the UK, USA, Australia and Spain, Nick joined the public sector as part of HMG’s Commercial Functional Leadership Group. Spending 8 years as Head of Commercial and Procurement at the Department for International Development, he is now Director of Procurement and Property at Scottish Government.

With a passion for the development of both people and the profession, Nick is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. Previously a CIPS Regional Chair and regular keynote speaker at conferences, Nick continues to encourage learning for improved practice, including as an active mentor for Procurement and Commercial professionals.

Happily settled in South Lanarkshire with Fiona, his partner of 29 years, Nick enjoys relaxing in the Scottish outdoors. He is a keen cyclist, having competed in both mountain bike and road bike races. Ideally his daily commute is by bike, and his holidays and weekends are spent exploring new places on cycle-touring expeditions and drinking good coffee.

Leslie Evans

Scottish Government Permanent Secretary

Leslie worked in local government in England and Scotland for 20 years before joining the civil service in 2000. Prior to becoming the Permanent Secretary, she was Director General Learning and Justice.

Married with one son, Leslie was born in Northern Ireland and has lived in Scotland since 1985. She attended High Storrs School in Sheffield and studied Music at the University of Liverpool. Leslie champions diversity and inclusion within the civil service as well as opportunities for young people.

Rona Dougall

Scotland Tonight News Presenter

Rona Dougall hosts the Scottish news programme Scotland Tonight.
Formerly the Scotland reporter for Sky News, Rona applied for the Scotland Tonight job when
co-host John MacKay posted a Facebook message about a new STV current affairs
programme. After enquiring whether they were looking for a reporter, Rona was surprised to
be offered the anchoring role on Scotland’s leading news programme.
As well as news presenting, Rona also writes for The Scotsman.

Julie Welsh

Scotland Excel Chief Executive

Julie Welsh is the Chief Executive of Scotland Excel, the Centre of Procurement Expertise for local government. As the organisation’s senior officer, she provides leadership and strategic direction to ensure its services are aligned to the needs of the sector. Since taking up her post in September 2014, Julie has implemented strategies to extend the range of services provided by Scotland Excel, extend the influence of the organisation in the wider public sector landscape, and secure its future as a leading shared service.

Julie has more than 20 years leadership and procurement experience in the public and private sector. Before joining Scotland Excel, she spent five years with Renfrewshire Council where she was Head of Procurement and Business Support. Prior to this, she held senior procurement roles at Glasgow Housing Association and Scottish Power, and has worked within the manufacturing, higher education and transport sectors. Julie holds an MBA from Glasgow University and has been a Member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply since 2001.

Gordon Beattie

NHS National Services Scotland Director of National Procurement

Malcolm Harrison

Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) CEO

Malcolm joined Mars in 1982 as a management trainee after graduating from Cambridge University with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He has a broad international experience in consumer facing companies in both general management and global functional roles, particularly Procurement. In his early career he worked in Production, Sales, Procurement, Supply Chain, and HR with Mars Confectionery, Pedigree Petfoods and Bass. In 1993, he was appointed Purchasing Director of Bass Brewers where he established their first Purchasing function. From 1996 he was CEO of Bass Brewer’s UK Midlands free trade business before joining the Board of Britvic Soft Drinks in 1999 as Operations Director.
From 2000 he created and led global Procurement for Interbrew, participating in the acquisition and integration of several brewers – in Europe, Asia and Latin America - including AmBev in 2004; he was subsequently Chief Procurement Officer of InBev. In 2006 Malcolm joined Nestlé SA in Switzerland as Chief Procurement Officer responsible for the largest FMCG procurement spend in the world (CHF 60 Bn across 80 countries), heavily focused on global agricultural commodities; he brought a real focus to building the capability of the function and led a step-change in involvement of the procurement function with the Nestlé businesses. He joined the Executive Committee of Rexam plc, the FTSE 100 consumer packaging company, in 2010 as CEO of the global Plastic Packaging division (turnover of £ 1.3 Bn with 45 factories located in 9 countries) serving customers in Healthcare, Cosmetics and FMCG businesses. After leading its successful disposal, he worked in beverage cans during 2013 and his responsibilities included global IT, Environment Health & Safety and Global Procurement where managing the exposure to volatile Plastics and Metal prices was a key responsibility.
In 2015, Malcolm joined the Cabinet Office of Her Majesty’s Government where he held the role of Chief Executive Officer of the Crown Commercial Service, overseeing an annual spend of more than £13 Bn on common goods and services across the UK public sector. He also had responsibility for UK Public Sector Procurement Policy and for supporting the UK Government’s initiatives with SMEs.

In July 2018 he joined The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) as Group CEO.

Malcolm lives in the UK and has previously spent in total more than 12 years living in West Africa, France, Belgium and Switzerland as part of his professional career.

John Welch

Crown Commercial Service Deputy Director, Construction

John is a senior commercial and procurement professional, chartered with extensive construction experience. He is responsible for the strategic delivery of multi-billion pound commercial agreements in Crown Commercial Service supporting Government departments and the wider public sector in delivering their construction programmes. John has operated in highly regulated environments and has extensive experience operating in an EPCM environment. He is highly proficient in developing commercial models/frameworks, risk modelling and contract development and execution. John is pioneering a collaborative working approach with the industry aiming to improve sector performance achieving a fair balance between clients, contractors and subcontractors.

Gregor Hutton

Scottish Government Head of Commercial and Project Capability

Gregor Hutton is the Head of Commercial and Project Capability at the Scottish Government. He is passionate about improving skills in public sector procurement, championing the profession and making procurement a career of choice through the Procurement People of Tomorrow programme.

Phil Duddell

Sustainable Procurement Ltd Director

Philip is a Chartered Environmentalist and an experienced sustainable procurement adviser, having supported the Scottish public sector and other UK and overseas clients.
This has included development of sustainable procurement tools and a range of topic and category specific sustainable procurement guidance, training, e-learning and support in the development of a range of contract and frameworks. He also has extensive experience of developing Carbon Management and ‘Green’ Plans for public and private sector clients.

Vanessa Robertson

Perth & Kinross Council Team Leader (Procurement)

Vanessa is Team Leader in the Corporate Procurement Team at Perth & Kinross Council, leading a team with responsibility for supporting the delivery of Community Benefits through the Council’s procurement activity. Vanessa has over 20 years public sector experience and joined the Procurement Team in 2008 to deliver the Councils e-Procurement project. Since then Vanessa has worked in a variety of procurement roles, working with teams across the Council to enhance their existing processes and deliver benefits to the Council through better procurement. Her knowledge of both pre, and post-contract activity is extensive.

Joanne Streeter

Scottish Government Head of Diversity and Inclusion

Jacinta Jaylo Barker

Scottish Government Race Recruitment & Retention Project Manager

Lawrie Willcox

Scottish Government eCommerce Capability Manager

Lawrie Willcox – Senior eCommerce and MI specialist. Lawrie has worked in Scottish Government eCommerce and Procurement for 16 years in various roles. He has extensive experience of the eCommerce Shared Service solutions and is currently leading on delivering improved data analytics and Management Information reporting to the Scottish public sector.