University Court

Retired (former Head of Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning, Scottish Executive)

Eddie Frizzell is a former senior civil servant, retired from the post of Head of the Scottish Executive’s Enterprise Transport and Lifelong Learning Department. Previous roles included Chief Executive, Scottish Prison Service and Director, Locate in Scotland, the inward investment attraction agency. He also served on secondment to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as a First Secretary in the office of the UK Permanent Representative to the EU inBrussels.

Eddie Frizzell was, until February 2008, an external member of HM Prison Service Audit Committee (England and Wales). He was an adviser to Charteris plc and a member of the Board of the charity, Trefoil House.

He led an Independent Inquiry into the formern Kerelaw Residential School, which was run by Glasgow City Council.

He is a visiting professor at Queen Margaret University.

He is married and lives in Edinburgh

Retired (former Managing Director, HBoS)

Tom Abraham retired in December 2006 after a career with the Bank of Scotland, where significant roles included Head of Audit, Head of HR, Managing Director and Board member of the Corporate Division. He is a Past President of the Institute of Bankers in Scotland and was Chairman of the Advanced Management Programme Scotland. He is a Director of the HBoS Final Salary Trust Ltd, of Hamilton & Kinneil (1987) Ltd, of H & K Estates Ltd and of Hamilton Farming Enterprises Ltd.

Tom Abraham lives near Roslin, is married with two children and his hobbies include travel, shooting, fishing and golf.

Born in Perth, Lucinda has lived in a number of places around the world, returning to Scotland in late 2011 after 15 years living in Massachusetts,USA.

While in the US (aside from bring up her two sons, now 20 and 23) she spent many years as a relocation specialist for the Coldwell Banker Group, relocating senior executives and their families from around the world to the Boston area.

On retiring from the relocation field and because of her interest in education as related to career choice, she founded a Not-for-Profit charity STEP.

Lucinda is on the panel for Perth & Kinross Children’s Hearings, having previously served on the Aberdeenshire panel. She remains an adviser to STEP.

Now living in Perthshire, Lucinda is a keen traveller, walker and tennis player.

John C Burt
Principal and Chief Executive of Angus College

John Burt has been at the helm of Angus College for 16 years and has brought the College to where it is today as “Scotland’s Best Community College”. Angus College is one of the most highly respected further education colleges in Scotland with over 11 million investment being made in recent years so that Angus students enjoy brand new, state-of-the-art learning environments.

Whilst at Angus college John Burt has held a variety of posts including Director of the Association of Scottish Colleges, Chair of Principals' Forum in Scotland and Director of Scottish Further Education Unit. He also served as a member on forums including Fife and Tayside Wider Access forum and Tayside Economic Forum.

A graduate of Edinburgh University and Moray House College, Mr. Burt has wide experience as a lecturer, educational manager and sectoral leader in Scotland. In 2006 Mr. Burt was awarded was awarded an OBE for services to Further Education in Scotland.

Chief Executive, Dundee City Council

David Dorward joined Perth & Kinross Joint City Council as an Accountancy Assistant in 1971 and, as part of the Scottish local government reorganisation in 1975, moved to Tayside Regional Council.

While at Tayside, he held a variety of posts including financial responsibility for services as diverse as education, social work, police, fire, water and sewerage. In 1994, he was appointed Depute Director of Finance. From 1994 to 2006, he was responsible for the Tayside Pensions Funds, currently valued at over £1.5 billion. In 1995, he was appointed Director of Finance for Dundee City Council. In 2003, his duties were extended and he was redesignated as Depute Chief Executive (Finance).

Over the last 12 years, David has also been a Director of arms-length companies such as Dundee Energy Recycling Limited, Dundee City Developments Ltd, Dundee Leisure, Discovery Education Dundee, Dundee Airport Ltd and Sustain Dundee; and has served on a variety of working groups for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and Audit Scotland.

David qualified as a Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) accountant in 1982 and from 1984 to 1989 was a final year examiner with CIPFA. He was a member of the CIPFA in Scotland Executive from 1999 to 2006 and in 2003 was Chair of CIPFA in Scotland.

David Dorward was appointed Chief Executive of Dundee City Council in October 2009.

Consultant

Former Vice President NCR Labs, NCR Corporation

Mark Grossi was responsible at NCR Labs for leading an inventive and highly creative team focused on designing and developing new self-service technologies for banking, retail, travel, healthcare, hospitality, gaming, entertainment and the public sector.

Mark joined NCR in 1979 after graduating from Abertay University and began his career working with some of NCR’s most innovative hardware and software engineers. He and his team worked with technology suppliers and customers on self-service software and hardware and this led to the development of the automated teller machine (ATM), which transformed the way consumers bank.

First as a member and later as head of NCR’s Strategic Solutions Group, Financial Systems, Mark Grossi brought forward several key technologies including Java-based ATM, Iris identification and contactless user interface. Mark Grossi has developed a strong architecture and design community and a research-based innovation culture and the development of three research and development labs for NCR – in Atlanta, USA, Dundee and Cebu in the Phillipines.

Owner, The Green Room,Dundee

Zoe is a local business-woman and entrepreneur, who established the award-winning Green Room Beauty Salon in 2007.

Born in Dundee, Zoe was educated at the High School of Dundee before studying for a BA in Business Studies at Abertay, which she completed in 2006.

Since opening The Green Room, she has expanded the business to include her own beauty training academy.

Games Commissioning Editor, Channel 4

Colin has been involved in the games industry since 1990 and is the former Studio Manager for Realtime Worlds, specialising in the entertainment sector producing games such as Lemmings, Prince of Persia, Grand Theft Auto, and Crackdown.

Head of Operations, Skills Development Scotland.

Gordon has over 20 years’ progressive experience in managing complex public sector organisations. As Head of Operations for Tayside, Fife and Forth Valley, he is responsible for all Skills Development Activity in North East Scotland.

Born in Dundee, Gordon read history at St Andrews University before going on to further study at Napier,DundeeCollegeand Abertay.

He is a Justice of the Peace for the Sherrifdom of Dundee, Central and Fife, sitting mainly in the Dundee Court and a trustee of the Dundee Heritage Environment Trust.

Retired (former Director, Scottish Blood Transfusion Service)

Angus Macmillan Douglas was employed for 20 years by British Petroleum plc in roles including Chief Executive of BP East Africa, Commercial Manager for BP Gas in Europe and as Director of External Affairs for BP Group. On retirement from BP, he took up post as Director of the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service and held associated roles as Chairman of the UK Co-ordinating Group of Blood Services, Director of the European Association of Blood Services and Director of the Common Services Agency of NHS Scotland.

After retiring from the NHS, Angus Macmillan Douglas took on the role of a small farmer, is Chairman of Leah Healthcare and Chairman of Angus Conservative Association and co-manages a European Commission Public Health Project. Angus Macmillan Douglas is married with two children and lives near Forfar.

Retired Chair, NHS Education for Scotland

Born and educated in Dundee. Ann started her career in Education as a Primary Teacher in her home city. Her career then took her into Higher Education, first as a Lecturer in Teacher Education in Sunderland and then on to senior posts in Plymouth and Brighton. At the time of her retiral she was Dean of the Faculty of Education, Sport and Leisure at the University of Brighton.

During her career, Ann served on a range of National Committees and Boards both north and south of the Border. In Scotland, she was a Board Member of NHS National Service Scotland and one of two Scottish representatives on the UK Sector Skills Council for Health, of which she was Vice Chair for five years.

Ann was appointed Chair of the NHS Education for Scotland Board in 2002. She was re-appointed for further 4-year term of office to December 2009 and stayed on in that role until 2011.

Retired (Former Assistant Chief Executive NHS Tayside)

Daniel (Danny) McLaren joined the Health Service in 1973 and has worked throughout the UK in NHS Finance.

Danny was born and educated in Dundee and studied at St Andrews University. He is married with three children and lives in Dundee.

President of the University of Abertay Dundee Students' Association

William is from Earlston in the Borders. Commonly known by Abertay students as ‘Mocko’, he graduated in 2011 in Sports Coaching BSc (Hons). Throughout the last four years, he established Abertay’s Tartan Army society, and has been president of the society for the last four years, sitting on the Students’ Representative Council throughout. William has played for the University Gaelic football team in 2007 which led to being a top-3 nominee for Dundee Sport Person of the Year 2010 and representing the Scottish Universities Gaelic football team in March 2011.

Head of Student Services at the University of Abertay Dundee

James Nicholson has been nominated by Senate to membership of Court. He is Head of Student Services at the University, ensuring that students are supported and oriented into academic study and life. He manages and provides direction for the support services that students use throughout their studies including career development, academic support, Chaplaincy, counselling and advisory. He is responsible for the University’s widening participation strategy and is Chair of the Equality and Diversity Sub-Committee.

James has an honours degree in Social Policy Research from the University of East London and a master’s degree in Social and Public Policy from the University of Brighton

Bishop of Brechin, Scottish Episcopal Church

In 2011, Nigel Peyton became Bishop of the Diocese in which he had been ordained some 25 years earlier.

Educated at Edinburgh University and the Union Theological Seminary New York, Nigel’s career with the Church has been mirrored by active engagement with the wider community and with expanding learning opportunities. Nigel returned to Higher Education in 2009 to undertake a PhD at Lancaster University, where he remains an Honorary Teaching Fellow.

Jenny Rees is an experienced senior manager and director in higher and further education, currently a Board member of the UK Quality Assurance Agency for higher education (QAA) and also on the Board of Edinburgh’s Telford College and the Scottish Qualifications Authority’s Advisory Council. She has held a number of ministerial appointments and voluntary positions including serving on the Scottish Funding Council. She retired from Edinburgh Napier University in 2011 where she was Vice Principal (Academic Quality and Customer Service).

She started her career as a statistician in the brewing industry before moving into education as a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. From responsibility for its part-time MBA programme, she developed her managerial career through posts at the Scottish College of Textiles, now part of Heriot-Watt University; Bell College, now part of the University of the West of Scotland; and Glasgow Caledonian University. Her responsibilities spanned academic quality; teaching & learning strategy; the quality of the student experience; corporate planning; marketing & communications;UKand international recruitment; and wider access.

She is now developing a portfolio of interim management and consultancy assignments to complement her board positions.

General Manager – Michelin Tyre, Dundee & Director of Michelin Tyre PLC

John was born in Glasgow and raised in Ayr.

John joined Michelin in 1988 after graduating with a MEng, in Manufacturing Sciences and Engineering from Strathclyde University. His career started in the Stoke-on-Trent factory that year as a shift supervisor in one of the production workshops.

In 1991 he moved to France to undergo training at a variety of Michelin sites including the Headquarters in Clermont - Ferrand.

He moved to Dundeein 1992 and, over a period of nine years, held a number of Production and Engineering roles. In 2001 he moved to the strategic role of Site Personnel Manager where he remained for four and half years.

During a period of instability in the senior management team John was asked to move into a completely new role for Dundee - Head of Production for the entire site (Operations Manager). This development role lasted until January 2010 when he then took over the position of General Manager.

He is 46 years old and is married with two daughters and two step children. John lives locally and when not working or spending time with his family he enjoys walking his dogs, tinkering with his 40 year old Triumph and dreaming of sailing his recently-acquired dinghy.

Lecturer Sociology at the University of Abertay Dundee

Andy Samuel is the elected academic staff member of Court. He is a Lecturer in the School of Social and Health Sciences, within the Sociology division and year tutor for Year 2 of the Social Sciences Degree.

Retired Former Vice-Principal, Adam Smith College.

Shirley has more than 30 years’ experience in Scotland’s college sector, having joined Glenrothes College in 1980 as a temporary part-time lecturer. Over her subsequent career, she held the posts of senior lecturer, Head of Faculty, Director of Curriculum, Associate Principal, Assistant Principal and finally, Vice-Principal of Adam Smith College. She also represented the College on a number of national strategy groups covering all aspects of tertiary education.

She played a key role in the merger of Glenrothes and Fife Colleges to form Adam Smith College in August 2005, and was closely involved in research which revealed Fife’s “degree deficit” – a smaller proportion of the population educated to degree level than most other parts of Scotland. After the merger, Shirley began to work closely with Abertay University, building on its long-established relationship with Fife College.

Shirley was instrumental in the setting up of the Abertay University Centre at Adam Smith College in 2008. This partnership has greatly improved access to high quality degree-level education for enthusiastic and able people in Fife, at a time and place that fits around their personal commitments and lifestyles. More than 1500 Fife people have now achieved degrees they might not otherwise have been able to study. In effect, their lives have been changed as a result of the work the Adam Smith/Abertay Partnership.

Partner, DWF LLP

Murray Shaw is a partner with DWF specialising in Planning and Construction.

He was born in Dundee and is a graduate of the University of Dundee. Qualified in 1982, Murray has been a solicitor for over 30 years. He joined Biggart Baillie in 1982, becoming Senior Partner and Chairman in 2009, a position he held until the firm merged with DWF.

While his original workload included a broad range of disputes including commercial disputes, his experience in recent years has concentrated on planning and construction matters including judicial review and statutory challenges.

Murray has been appointed to the ICAS Discipline Board and Chairman of the ICAS Appeal Committee. He is also a member of the Law Society Remuneration Committee and gives occasional lectures at Strathclyde University.

He is married with two sons and lives in  Glasgow. His interests include golf, theatre-going and American history.

Residences Manager, University of Abertay

Hilary Smith is the elected support staff member of Court.

Hilary was born in Dundee and studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art. She has over 20 years of experience working within University Residences, having worked originally with the University of St Andrews, then moving to the University of Dundee and ultimately to Abertay in 1996. She is married with 2 children.

Retired Executive Nurse Director, NHS Tayside

Elizabeth Wilson was born in Dundee and trained as a nurse in Dundee Royal Infirmary. On completion of her training, she moved to London where she worked in various nursing posts.

On returning to Dundee, she trained as a Health Visitor and worked for Fife Health Board. She completed an MSc in Nursing and Health Care Management at Edinburgh University and subsequently became a Clinical Director for the then Dundee Primary Healthcare NHS Trust.

Following the amalgamation of the organisation into NHS Tayside, Elizabeth was appointed as Executive Nurse Director at the Board in 2006 and is also a Visiting Professor of Nursing at Abertay University.

On her retirement from the NHS, she was invited to work for the Scottish Government Health Department in St Andrews House in Edinburgh, where she enjoyed her role as Clinical Advisor for e-health, a post she held until 2011. In addition, she carries out work for the Central Legal Office in Edinburgh and acts as an Expert Witness when required.