• Tom WardSCF Chair & Non-executive Director of SCF Events

Tom has spent the main part of his business career with Scottish & Newcastle plc, with various roles including finance, brewing and corporate strategy. He now has a number of non-executive appointments in both business and the voluntary sectors.

He has been involved with several charities and voluntary organisations throughout his career. Whilst a manager at Price Waterhouse, he was seconded as a volunteer through VSO to work in Papua New Guinea, on business development; he has been the chairman of a mountain rescue team; on the governing body of a university; and now works with Pilotlight, a charity which puts business and professional staff into contact with charities that are looking for support with their own strategic plans.

He has been involved for over 10 years with the Caledonian Challenge, the major fund raising activity for the Scottish Community Foundation. This led him then to be involved with the Foundation itself, where he has been a non-executive director of SCF (Events) Ltd since 2009 and he joined the Foundation’s board in December 2010.

• Bob BensonTrustee, and Grants Committee Chair

Bob is an executive director whose career has focused on enabling societal change for marginalised communities and individuals. He has a sustained track record leading on the equality and human rights of disabled, older people and BME communities in the public and voluntary sector. He’s had considerable campaigning, lobbying and networking success.

Most recently, Bob was responsible for leading on the transformation of community services within Scope to create a more relevant provision of support for profoundly disabled adults and children based on principals of independent living.

• Gillian DonaldTrustee

Gillian is a partner in Scott-Moncrieff Chartered Accountants and heads up its charity team specialising in a wide range of governance and business support for charities. She is convener of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland Charities Committee and lectures in charity accounts and audit, and is a non-executive director of several Scottish charities. She was a member of the Audit Practices Board Working Party that reviewed the Practice Note for Charities.

• Beth EdbergTrustee

Beth is an educational consultant who started her career as an art teacher over 20 years ago, going on to create some of the first commercial online ‘edutainment’ products.

Since arriving in Scotland from the US in 1999, Beth has worked with companies, schools and individuals to help them develop a more positive, confident mind-set. Beth is also the chair of the Women's Fund for Scotland Advisory Group.

Beth holds dual British and US citizenship. She enjoys travelling around Scotland, especially the western isles, but particularly enjoys Edinburgh during all the summer festivals.

• Colin LiddellTrustee, and Non-executive Director of SCF Events

Colin is the third generation in his family solicitors' firm, J. & H. Mitchell W.S. of Pitlochry. He is a graduate of Oxford and Edinburgh Universities, and an accredited specialist in Charity Law. 

Author of Pitlochry – A History, Colin is also chairman of Pitlochry Festival Theatre, as well as being Chairman or Trustee of a number of other charities and community organisations.

In his spare time, Colin enjoys skiing, sailing and walking the hills. And his voice can be heard commentating every year at Pitlochry Highland Games.

• Ian McAteerTrustee, and Development Committee

Ian is the Group Chairman of The Union, one of the UK’s leading regional agencies. A former Barrister, Ian was previously a Director of Saatchi & Saatchi London and Faulds Advertising in Edinburgh before setting up The Union in 1996 with three partners. Today The Union is Scotland’s leading creative agency delivering 360 degree communications for a wide range of clients. In 2007, The Union was named IPA Scottish Effectiveness Agency of the Year, and in 2008 it was named Marketing Services Company of the Year by the Marketing Society, and Agency of the Year at the Scottish Advertising Awards.

Ian sits on the Scottish IPA’s Committee, and is a Fellow of both the IPA and the Marketing Society. Ian is a Trustee of Project Scotland, a Governor of Cargilfield Prep School and is currently serving a two year term as Chairman of the international agency network, WorldwidePartners, Inc.

• Jimmy McCullochTrustee

Jimmy is chairman of the only remaining independent firm of stockbrokers in Scotland, Speirs & Jeffrey Ltd. He is a graduate of Stirling University, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and a Fellow of the Chartered Securities Institute. He is a board member of the Association of Private Client Investment Managers & Stockbrokers.

He has been a Governor of Glasgow Academy and Trustee of several charitable trusts over the years.

Aside from work and family, his spare time is spent vainly pursuing competence on the golf course, ski slopes and tennis courts.

• John Naylor OBETrustee

John has a wealth of experience from 30 years involvement in the Scottish charity sector. John has been at the forefront of changes to policy and regulation in Scotland’s third sector. In 2000, he was a member of the Commission to Review Charity Law in Scotland, which resulted in the establishment of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), an organisation that John became chair of in 2006. OSCR is now the governing body for 23,000 Scottish charities.

John Naylor recently retired from the posts of chair of OSCR and chair of the UK Scout Development Grants Board. He’s also held UK Board and other positions with the Big Lottery Fund and was chief executive of the Carnegie UK Trust from 1992 – 2003. He is currently a trustee of Medical Research Scotland; founding director and vice chair of Strange Town, a Leith-based youth theatre company and treasurer of the Tomorrow Project.

• Ella SimpsonTrustee

Ella is the Director at Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council and has over 30 years experience working in the voluntary sector. She has provided support and care to children, young people, and people with learning disabilities, mental health issues and physical disabilities. She has managed and lead organisations working in the adult care and homeless sectors.

Ella also has a long history of volunteering she is also currently a director of Wicked World Tours a very small charity which assists disabled people to travel. She is a director of STAND International a charity which enables Scottish people who have experienced homelessness to volunteer with organisations in Eastern Europe.

Ella sits on both the board and grants committee for the Scottish Community Foundation.

• Lady Emily StairTrustee, and Development Committee

Emily is a co-founder of the Beacon Fellowship Charitable Trust. Established in 2002 to recognise individuals who make exceptional contributions to charity, it was described by former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown MP, as the 'Nobel Prize of the Charity Sector'.

Emily first become involved with philanthropy and the voluntary sector in 1997, working with Pilotlight, and the Institute of Philanthropy. Previously she worked as head of marketing and communications for the Science Museum, and with Saatchi & Saatchi.