Meet current board members
Bill Brackenridge
" There are lots of people who can put something back. "
Having started his career in British European Airways, Bill joined Strathclyde Region's Policy Planning Unit, before going on to spend more than 20 years in a Management Consultancy with a focus on corporate governance. Drawing on several strands of his experience, he joined Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd as a non-executive director in 1999. In his six years there - a period which he describes as "remarkably interesting" - he helped the organisation evolve from one that simply operated airports to one that used its ten airports to develop the economy of the area.
When he left full time consultancy in 2003, he joined the Scottish Ambulance Service as Chairman of the board. There was a need to make the Scottish Ambulance Service a recognised and integral part of the health service and not just a transport adjunct to it . "In my time as Chair I improved the links between the two. Paramedics are well-qualified health professionals making a vastly different contribution from the ambulance drivers of old."
In 2006 Bill successfully applied to be a member of the board of NHS Highland - Bill's local Health Board. A "cross-directorship" like this allows Bill to help ensure the NHS is a truly national and integrated service, not a collection of separate organisations. He was appointed Chairman of NHS Highland's Argyll & Bute Community Health Partnership, charged with overseeing the delivery of primary health care to the 100,000 people of Argyll & Bute and purchasing most of their secondary care from neighbouring Health Boards.
Recently he was appointed by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing to chair The Vale Monitoring Group - a group which will report to her on whether or not the Vision which she has approved for the Vale of Leven Hospital is being implemented fully and to an appropriate timetable.
"The public appointments system has changed vastly over the years. It is now a competency based framework. Many will find this very different from ordinary application processes, but it is not difficult. It focuses on what you have done and not what you have been. There are lots of people out there who can put something back and make a contribution. These roles are not just for middle class white Scottish men. Board members don't have to be drawn from the sector or to have come from big jobs. If you have the right personal qualities, and you keep asking the difficult questions until you get an answer that you're happy with, you will be making a contribution to the work of the body. Public appointments are fascinating and rewarding. The key issue is to have the confidence to ask questions - and to keep asking more questions till you get answers you believe ".
Richard Holloway
" The truth is that these are decent human beings who are doing their best for the country. "
The Right Reverend Richard Holloway is a Scottish writer, theologian, speaker and broadcaster. After a lifetime spent mainly in the church he retired as Bishop of Edinburgh and as Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, was Chair of the BMA Steering Group on Ethics and Genetics, and was also a member of the Broadcasting Standards Commission between 2000 and 2003. He is currently Chair of the Scottish Arts Council.
"I came in to chair a body in a state of uncertainty about its own future. It has had a significant impact on the arts movement in Scotland since the late sixties and has stood as a vision for the place of the arts in Scotland. However, that's behind us now and we need to bring the expertise that the Council contains into the future. By nature I'm an evangelist - spreading good news about the glorious things happening in the arts.
"I've always had a lot of energy and looked for projects that are stimulating and exciting. I never really saw myself as appropriate for the Chair of the Council, but I was prompted by a number of people in the arts world to apply. I went through the process honestly - not with false modesty but not brazenly either. I think there's a tendency in our culture not to want to talk about what you're capable of, but that's no good for this type of process."
We asked Richard if he had any advice for prospective applicants. "Don't be intimidated. The truth is that these are decent human beings who are doing their best for the country. Have a go and be honest in your self evaluation."