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Biographies

Current Council members

Douglas Sinclair
Kay Blair
Heather Brash Vice Chair
Liz Breckenridge
Ann Clark
Neil Edwards
John Hanlon
Alan Hutton
Ashok Khindria
Isabelle Low
Drew Ratter

Douglas Sinclair, Chair

Douglas Sinclair is a graduate of Edinburgh University. He started his Local Government career asan Administrative Assistant with Midlothian, East Lothian and Peebles Social Work Department. He then spent 3 years as the Administrative Officer for Scotland with Barnardos before moving to the Western Isles Islands Council taking up his appointment on the first day of the new Council 16th May, 1975 as Depute Director of Administration.He was promoted to Director of Administration in 1978 and in 1985 was appointed Chief Executive of Ross and Cromarty District Council. In 1990 he was appointed Chief Executive of Central Regional Council and in 1995 Chief Executive of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). He was appointed as Chief Executive of Fife Council in 1999 and retires from that post on 9th June, 2006. He was the Chair of SOLACE Scotland from 2003 to 2005 and was awarded the CBE in 1999. He is married with two daughters.

Kay Blair owns and manages a successful marketing and communications consultancy, Business Perceptions. Based in Edinburgh, the company helps clients improve business performance through more effective communications and client service. Kay also focuses on business journalism and writes for a number of publications, as well as corporate clients. She is a former deputy editor of Insider and was The Scotsman's marketing columnist for ten years. She has held non-executive directorships with the Scottish Legal Aid Board, Scottish Ambulance Service and the Edinburgh Sick Kids Trust. Currently Kay serves on the Consumer Panel of the Financial Services Authority(FSA) in London where she chairs the Panel's Working Group on Pensions and Investments. She is also a trustee and Council Member of the Sick Kids Friends Foundation.

Heather Brash Following 18 years with Citizens Advice Bureau in Dumfries and Galloway, she now works as a consumer representative. She is also Vice-chair of Scottish Consumer Council; a non-executive member of NHS Dumfries and Galloway Board; a member of the Water Customer Consultation Panels. Within the voluntary sector in Dumfries and Galloway, she is a director of Alcohol and Drugs Support SW Scotland, Chair of Family Mediation Dumfries & Galloway and chair of the village hall committee.

Liz Breckenridge is a freelance marketing consultant who was previously marketing director at Highland Spring before taking a career break to spend time with her young family. She has held marketing roles at The Glasgow School of Art, British Midland Airways, General Foods and Booker plc. Liz is also a panel member of Waterwatch Scotland.

Ann Clark has had a wide ranging career in the public and voluntary sectors and now runs her own consultancy business, Clark Consulting, offering a range of policy, strategy and management services. Prior to that she was for five years Head of Policy at the Highland Council with responsibility for corporate planning and performance management, community planning and partnerships and corporate policy including social inclusion, sustainable development and equal opportunities. Recent clients include the Scottish Health Council, Glasgow Housing Association, Highland Wellbeing Alliance and NHS Highland Board.

Neil Edwards recently retired as Head of Trading Standards with Fife Council. He has over 30 years experience as a Trading Standards Officer having worked in a number of different parts of the UK. Neil was previously the Director of Trading Standards and Consumer Protection with Fife Regional Council. Prior to this post he was Deputy Director of Trading Standards with Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council. He lives in Fife, Scotland.

John Hanlon The Independent Case Examiner for the Department of Works and Pensions. He was formerly The Regulator of Community Interest Companies. Until 1st April 2005, he was the Chairman of energywatch Scotland, and a member of the energywatch UK Council. From January 2005, he has been a member of the Insolvency Practices Council.
He is a former Scottish Care Commissioner, and a Privy Council appointee to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, where he chairs its Governance Committee, and is a member of the Society's remuneration committee.

Alan Hutton has a background in higher education and has been Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Economics at Glasgow Caledonian University since 1971. His most recent teaching and scholarly interests have focused on relationships between private business and the public interest (particularly in the utility industries) and on aspects of the economics of policy in post-1999 Scotland. He has served on consumer representative committees in the energy sector in Scotland since 1995, and is currently a member of the energywatch Lay Committee for Scotland.

Ashok Khindria has been involved in providing IT Services to the Scottish business community since 1987. Initially delivering PC training, his company - CES Services Management - specialises in software development for the internet as well as technical and business system training. Previously he worked for a number of IT companies in customer facing roles.

Isabelle Low has a portfolio of non-executive directorships in the public and voluntary sectors: she is Deputy Chair of the Accounts Commission; a member of the Statistics Commission; and a trustee of the David Hume Institute. She was previously a senior civil servant in the Scottish Office/Scottish Executive.

Photo of Drew Ratter Drew Ratter is a versatile crofter. He lives in the north of the Shetland mainland with his wife and family, which is where he was born and brought up. On the croft, they raise Shetland sheep, Aberdeen Angus and Hereford cattle. As well being a Council member, he sits on the Highlands and Islands Enterprise Board, and is Convenor of the Crofters Commission. Previously he has worked (still does, when time allows) as a freelance journalist, college lecturer, and done anything legal which could contribute to a living.