Our people

Anna Thomas

Anna is our Awards Coordinator, giving support on all three awards to youth workers, parents and anyone who wants to run the awards. She organises moderation and training events, and is very impressed by all the cool things young people do as part of their awards. Anna joined us from Girlguiding and can still be found volunteering in her local Guides units, or off on an adventure with her friends – mostly because she worries that she comes across as someone who does nothing but hang out with small people in blue…

George Cherrie

George is our Senior Awards Development Worker, and is lead on Youth Scotland’s range of youth awards. George has recently been instrumental in taking our new Hi5 Award through a successful pilot and exciting launch. Prior to joining the team in 2005, he delivered youth work programmes to young people deemed to be at risk of, or involved in, offending behaviour. Before making a career change in 2001, George was owner and managing director of an automotive business. When he’s not fielding the rest of the team’s car-related questions, George can be found raising chickens or rustling up a mean cocktail for staff parties.

Ian McLaughlan

Ian McLaughlan is celebrating 30 years working in Scotland’s Third Sector in 2018 having been chief officer of three national membership organisations in the children and youth work sectors. A graduate of the YMCA George Williams College and City University Business School, Ian was appointed Youth Scotland’s chief executive in 2013 and says that he is privileged to lead a vibrant youth work organisation that supports the development of community based youth work across the country.

Jennifer Caira

Jennifer is our Administrator and forms part of the Corporate Services team, providing administration support to all our development workers and the wider team. She has a mixed working background, spanning programme management and coordination at the British Council, membership coordination at social enterprise The House of St Barnabas in London, and marketing and social media. She is passionate about language, travelling, art therapy and above all reading – anything and everything, but she is currently trying to read the classics she found too boring to read at school!

Jo MacDonald

Jo has been working in the third sector for almost 20 years, initially running young people programmes for homeless organisations within Edinburgh. She moved to Youth Scotland in 2008 and has worked on various projects since including Girls on the Move, Bike Club, Network Development, Stand Up to Sectarianism, Young People Taking the Lead and Generation CashBack. Jo was appointed Head of Programmes and Business Development in October 2021. In her spare time Jo can be found out and about on her bike, up hills or messing about in the water. She is still adjusting to the Scottish climate...

John Nicolson

John is the Youth Scotland Area Co-ordinator for Forth Valley and enjoys supporting the membership clubs in Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire Council areas. Having already retired twice and finding it quite boring, John is back as a member of the Youth Scotland team. Having had a previous 30 year career as a Police Officer in both London and Edinburgh John moved into youth work as a second career and has considerable life experience to offer young people and leaders alike. With a strong interest in outdoor activities John can often be found sailing, canoeing or biking and is always keen to use his outdoor qualifications for the benefit of the young people and adults he works with.

Julie Hynd

Julie has worked for a Local Authority in the Youth Learning Service for 21years, where she supported a large team of staff to deliver youth work in schools, while promoting wider achievement through the Awards. She joined Youth Scotland in 2014 where she designed and developed new training opportunities to up-skill practitioners in all things Awards. Recently Julie has been supporting Achievement Generators to help raise attainment through Hi5 and DYA in local youth groups, while they work towards an accredited award.

Julie Middlemiss Brown

Julie is our other Julie and our Senior Development Worker (Training and Youth Work)! Her background is as a Manager of a Youth Project and After School Club for over 10 years, Health Improvement Practitioner (Sexual Health and Relationship) most recently for YouthBorders for 4 years and a regular Youth Scotland freelance trainer. A woman of many hats, Julie is also a Personal Trainer and Holistic Therapist! Julie is motivated by what ‘lights the fire in your bellies’ - what motivates you and how can she tap into that so to realise your full potential!

Karen McKinlay

Karen is our Finance Officer who has worked in the charity sector for the past 20 years. She enjoys keeping fit by cycling and running. Spending time with the family is also a priority when they decide to come home.

Kevin Turner

Kevin started out in the traditional print industry before spotting that digital looked like it might be worth a look. He’s since spent about 20 years working in various senior communication and marketing roles for digital agencies, household name blue chips and voluntary orgs. Joining Youth Scotland met a long-held goal to join the Third Sector and contribute to something bigger. He’s still routinely proud and staggered by the amazing work happening in Youth Scotland and the youth sector in general. When he’s not fretting about this website and Youth Scotland's comms, he’s usually working through an ever-growing list of DIY projects with his family or on the hills training for/running ultra marathons (to escape the DIY).

Kobi Cooke

Kobi has worked in education and youth work for the last 12 years, specialising in working with vulnerable groups of young people. Joining us from Mindroom in Edinburgh, Kobi has been focused on growing the Money for Life programme, bringing tailored, practical financial education to young people across Scotland. A big football fan, Kobi likes to muck in as a volunteer coach with his daughter’s local school team. He tells us he’s in the ‘tracksuit manager’ mould…

Laura Kemp

Laura is a Development Worker (Training and Youth Work). She loves getting to design and deliver training to a wide range of organisations throughout Scotland. Prior to joining the Youth Scotland team, Laura already worked in the youth work sector, where she delivered health and well-being training. She has also worked in youth clubs and as a detached youth worker, and has been a youth worker for over 5 years. In her spare time she enjoys volunteering at her local dog shelter, binge watching TV and eating lots of cake (preferably together).

Lauren Rae

Lauren joined Youth Scotland as a temp in Oct 2020 and we refused to let her leave. She was taken on as a member of staff from 1 April 2021. Before moving to West Lothian, Lauren worked as a contracts administrator, for 5 years in Glasgow, and prior to that worked in various other roles which were admin and finance based - back in her home town of Aberdeen. She is a mum to a 2 year old boy so when she does have some free time, she enjoys playing Xbox with friends, going to football matches and reading a good book – can’t beat a good crime thriller!

Mandy Paterson

Mandy started in youth work at her local youth group encouraging young women to participate in sport. She started with Youth Scotland as an admin assistant and has held many roles in her ever-changing journey with the organisation, eventually taking on the role of Operations Manager in 2004, where she is now responsible for all office administration, HR and IT. Mandy still finds giving young people opportunities through community based youth work the most rewarding part of her job. When she finally does leave the office, Mandy hits the gym, goes for long walks and is a keen cyclist. She’s believed to be the only person a Fitbit has ever told to do less activity.

Michele Meehan

As a member of the Senior Management Team, Michele Meehan supports work which changes the lives of the lives of young people in Scotland. She joined the Youth Scotland team in 2008, having had a variety of roles in the third and public sectors. When not championing community based youth work to anyone who will listen, Michele can be found trying to improve her baking skills or travelling the world.

Mo Colvin

Mo has been involved in youth work for over 30 years and returns to us having previously worked at Youth Scotland 15 years ago. Mo has a particular interest in inclusion, young people lead initiatives and youth participation. Mo arrives back from 13 years at RNIB working alongside blind and partially sighted young people across the UK. Mo credits youth work for the many life skills, opportunities and adventures that she’s developed and experienced over the years. When not at work, Mo is learning to cycle between coffee shops on a recently inherited bike.

Naomi Macdonald

Naomi is our Senior Development Worker - Young Islanders Project, based in the beautiful Eilean Siar. Naomi brings over 12 years of experience, joining from Action for Children Eilean Siar, and having worked in Respite, Residential and for the majority in the Alcohol and Drugs Partnership (ADP) funded service. She has also worked to expand the ADP funded services across the whole of the Western Isles and also managed the Weekend Outreach service. Beyond work, Naomi is a busy mum of an aspiring footballing daughter and Lego-mad son. She loves to travel and can often be found on mini adventures with her family.

Peter Johnson

Stewart Bell

Stewart is our Area Co-ordinator for the Ayrshire area.

Stuart Conquer

Stuart is part of our Generation CashBack team.

Awards Network- Jim Duffy

Jim has over 30 years professional and volunteer experience in senior management and consultancy roles in youth work, youth enterprise, SME and local community and economic development. He led the professional team of Scouts Scotland for almost 19 years as Chief Executive before taking on the development role with the Awards Network, hosted by Youth Scotland. Jim received a Lifetime Achievement Award and Fellowship of YouthLink Scotland in 2016. Jim is a keen traveller and has lived and worked across the UK, Europe and as far afield as Russia!

Dona Milne (Chair)

Dona is the Director of Public Health in Fife. She has worked in children and young people’s health and education within local authorities, the voluntary sector, Scottish Government and the NHS. Dona is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health. Her career has taken her to YWCA Scotland as Depute Director (Scotland) and for 7 years she led the ‘Healthy Respect’ National Demonstration Project. In 2008, Dona was seconded to Scottish Government and led the H1N1 vaccination campaign following a period in sexual health and HIV policy. She has worked as a Consultant in Public Health since 2010. Her main interests are reducing inequalities, particularly through work on social determinants, reproductive health, youth work and gender equality. She is chair of the Scottish Youth Work Research Group. In a voluntary capacity, she is a Trustee with Youth Scotland, Inspiring Scotland and the Edinburgh Family Planning Trust.

Douglas Ormston (Vice Chair)

Douglas has been involved with youth work for most of his life, having been involved in The Scout Association growing up, this progressed on to an interest and passion for improving the lives of young people and working to ensure that young people have an equal chance in life. Currently Douglas is the Manager at TD1 Youth Hub in Galashiels, which is a youth work organisation that works with those aged 11 – 21 year old offering support, guidance and opportunities for young people to shape their own futures. Prior to this he led a one to one support project for young people at the Y2K project in Mayfield & Easthouses in Midlothian, before Y2K he developed and established a detached streetwork project with East Lothian Council which covered the whole authority area, his career started in East Lothian as part of the Youth Justice Team. “I wanted to join the board of directors as I believes I have gathered a great deal of knowledge and experience and see at first-hand the impact that youth work has on young people on a daily basis and feel passionate about ensuring that youth work is recognised throughout the country as a vital part of society”.

Judith Macdonald (Treasurer)

My appointment with Youth Scotland is by virtue of my work in the Third Sector over the last 25 years, working as Finance Manager in the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) – the largest voluntary sector provider of Adult Education in the UK. I am passionate about the need for education and lifelong learning. For me, education throughout life is vital to improving peoples’ chances, expectations and futures. Changing lives through education and training in the youth and adult sectors promotes equality of opportunity and social justice. Education has a huge impact on lifting children, young people and families out of poverty. The mission and work of Youth Scotland and the WEA are well aligned to these challenges and to the current funding environment. I believe in Youth Scotland’s aims to create well rounded individuals through education and leadership and to support the youth sector through best practice and guidance. In my personal life as a parent, I have been involved in youth work – helping at Scouts and Sunday School and being on parental committees eg as secretary of the James Gillespies’ Pipe Band and the Chair of the Edinburgh Mod committee.

Anne Gibson

Anne brings a wealth of experience with a professional background in education and community learning and development. She has worked in leadership roles across local government, the third sector, national government and the private sector. As an HM Inspector of Education, Anne had a lead inspector role for inclusion and developing the young workforce nationally. Anne has led and contributed to inspections across sectors including residential schools, and has worked with Care Inspectorate colleagues in inspections of services to protect children and integrated children’s services.

Bill Miller

Bill is Chair of PLUS Forth Valley and Vice Chair of Calendar Youth Project. He took early retirement from his post as Service Manager in Education Services in 2017, primarily to care for his elderly parents. He has been involved in youth work in many capacities for over 42 years, working in the voluntary sector, local authorities and the NHS. His specialisms include HIV/AIDS, sexual health, drug education and peer education. He has delivered training nationally and internationally. He is passionate about youth work and health promotion, believing their core values are at the heart of making this world a better place to live in. As a proud Scaussie (Scot/Australian), much of his personal time is spent researching family history and developing his DIY skills.

Clair Ferguson

Clair is Chief Executive Office of the Elgin Youth Development Group a youth work project in Moray. We are passionate about providing better opportunities for young people. Over time we have developed our facilities and the opportunities we offer to young people and the wider community including a Youth Café and social enterprise offering meeting rooms for hire and a community kitchen. The running of our operation benefits from being able to offer paid work placements to young people who bring their creativity and ideas to everything we do. Clair has worked at a senior level in a range of charities involved in supporting young people reach their potential. She brings experience in people management, strategic planning, financial management, income generation and fundraising. She has held a number of board positions, including being Chair of a secondary school and currently she is a Director of Wild Things!, a charity that encourages individuals, including young people, to engage with and learn about their natural environment. When not at her desk, Clair is to be found up hill, on her bike or exploring our beautiful Moray countryside.

Ewan McCowen

Helen Kidd

Helen is a Charities and Personal & Family solicitor at Brodies LLP, Edinburgh. Helen has worked in private practice across the central belt for 7 years and her area of interest, passion and focus is advising on charity and third sector legal issues. Her work has included: setting up/merging/dissolving charities; advising on governance, charity tax, trading activities; administration of grant giving charities and dealing with a wide range of regulatory matters such as OSCR, HMRC and FCA related issues. Building on the above, Helen is a firm believer that young people can realise their full potential through sports and wellbeing (or the arts or science…whatever takes the interest of each individual child/young person!). Taking sports as an example, young people get the chance to forge lasting friendships through teamwork, build confidence, develop physically and emotionally and learn skills that will equip them for the challenges life will throw at them – allowing young people to take their place in society as responsible, resilient and motivated young adults. As a keen sports person (but not always the most successful!), Helen has seen the value youth work can bring to young people through exercise and she strongly believes we all have a part to play in encouraging young people from all backgrounds to develop, grow and achieve.

Jayne Stuart

With a wealth of leadership, management and board-level experience, Jayne has established a career as a highly respected figure across voluntary, community and education sectors. Jayne has worked at a senior level for 20 years, with over 15 years as Director/ CEO within charities. Appointed to her first Director/ CEO position at the age of 31, Jayne progressed to leading one of the largest and most highly regarded adult education charities in the country, when becoming Director at WEA Scotland. Working closely with Scottish Government, Jayne has influenced numerous national policies and strategies, working tirelessly as a strong advocate for equality and social justice in Scotland.

June Ford

June has been part of youth work for most of her life, having been involved in community based youth work as young person within North Lanarkshire and becoming a part time youth worker while studying CLD at Strathclyde University. Over the past 20 years as part of the CLD service in North Lanarkshire, June has worked with young people within secondary schools and introduced the Dynamic Youth Awards as part of the P7 – S1 transition programme. As Senior Youth Worker, June continued to use Dynamic Youth Awards and Youth Achievements Awards as part of Young People volunteering in their community and as part of a mental health project. June is strong advocate for the awards programme and has led numerous training sessions on the awards to CLD staff, Community based voluntary organisations and schools. In addition, she is a consistent part of the moderation and verification process for Youth Scotland. As CLD Youth Work Manager within North Lanarkshire Council, June leads a team of community based youth workers, part time staff and volunteers to deliver on the North Lanarkshire Council Youth Work Plan that is aligned to the National Youth Work Strategy. “Joining the Youth Scotland Board is a great opportunity to help the organisation plan for sustainable youth work both in CLD and with local and national voluntary organisations. Youth Scotland has been able to create youth work projects that are delivered within local communities by up skilling the staff and volunteers which then has a positive impact on the young people. Being able to bring my experience and knowledge to the table is a privilege and one that I hope will contribute the ongoing suitability of the organisation.”

Linda McGlynn

Linda is the project manager of YoMo Glasgow which support young people to engage in their community through volunteering opportunities which support youth empowerment, activities citizenship and a youth voice. YoMo supports young people locally but also getting them involved on many National platforms. Linda is a great believer that accreditation and opportunities can support young people to reach their full potential. Most recently YoMo has support young people to be involved in the Food Foundation creating the Children Future Food Report and presentation this to both Westminster and Holyrood. YoMo’s work around young people positive mental health won the YouthLink National Youth Work Award 2020. YoMo is an operating agency that provides the voluntary sector across Glasgow support to deliver the awards to young people. YoMo support young people to run the oldest and largest YouthBank in Scotland providing youth led small grants to local youth groups. Linda is passionate about support young people to co- design and co-produce youth work services.

Sascha Macleod

Sascha is currently the Managing Director of The BIG Project a neighbourhood based youth project which recently received The Queen’s award for Voluntary Service. Although Sascha started out in teaching, her career has been focused in the voluntary youth work sector. Working in some of Edinburgh’s major youth projects - Citadel, CYP, and PYCP she knows from experience the difference good quality youth work makes to the lives of children and young people and believes it is vital to ensure their continued access to high quality youth services. A founder member of The Lothian Girls Work Group, Sascha is passionate about ensuring that all young people have equal access to opportunities and is committed to ensuring work with girls and young women remains firmly on the agenda. Sascha participated in a mentoring and development programme with Pilotlight and has for the past 11 years been a Trustee with Hopscotch Children’s Charity which provides respite breaks for disadvantaged children from across Scotland. She is also a member of Edinburgh Youth Work Consortium.

Scott Findlay

Scott started his career as a sport scientist and coach for a Performance Triathlon Squad in Edinburgh. After deciding to pursue a more Public Health focused career, Scott started working as the B:activ Project Coordinator for Youth 1st. The project aims to promote physical and mental health and wellbeing through physical activity and engagement with the community. Both in work and out, Scott is passionate about helping people to be happier and healthier.