Senior Leadership Team (SLT)
The SOSE Senior Leadership Team come from a wide range of sectors and backgrounds. Find out about who they are, and the diverse skills, expertise and experience they bring to their roles.
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Jane is the CEO of South of Scotland Enterprise, the newest enterprise agency in Scotland, which was established on 1st April 2020. SOSE is the first of Scotland’s public agencies whose legislation promotes a wider view on the economy and how it impacts all we do, with a focus on communities, jobs, businesses, and wellbeing across the South.
Jane was the CEO of ScotlandIS, the organisation for the digital and technology industries in Scotland, and served as CEO of Taigh Cearsabhagh in North Uist and Business Development Director for Capgemini Scotland. She is a highly experienced consulting industry executive and strategy and transformation specialist, with 25 years’ experience working across the public and private sectors. She holds a number of board and advisory positions, is a Fellow of the RSA, chair of a Scottish charity in Dumfries, sits on the NSET Portfolio Board, Connecting Scotland Advisory Group, and is a member of the Civtech Strategic Advisory Board.
Jane brings skills in strategy, transformation, commercial development, innovation, digital and business start-up and growth. She brings creativity thinking to economic development, and has experience working across both traditional and emerging industries.
She is passionate about economic development, and the power it has to improve peoples’ lives, support innovation, and develop both traditional and new industries. This includes developing the ecosystem we need to enable real transformation and growth – and understanding what we need to have in place to do this (housing, transport, education), and how all of these parts work together.
Jane lives in Moniaive with her husband and three boys. She is a keen horsewoman, and a dedicated wild swimmer in any suitable loch, river or coastal location in the South of Scotland.
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Karen Jackson
Strategy, Partnerships and Engagement Director of Strategy, Partnership and Engagement Contact NowKaren leads for SOSE on strategy development to contribute to the successful future of our region. Through effective partnership and relationship building, Karen advocates for the region. She is also responsible for our Communications and Insights teams.
Karen’s background is in public service, having joined SOSE after a long career in the civil service. After a variety of posts in policy areas as diverse as agriculture, drugs, community planning and creative industries, Karen focused on economic development. She led the team developing the proposition for SOSE, and the legislation and practical work required to establish the new agency.
Karen brings a broad range of skills and experiences to her role in SOSE, including a depth of understanding of the policy landscape, wide experience of working with diverse stakeholders, and a good understanding of issues impacting on rural economies.
The South of Scotland is one of the most beautiful regions of the country, with massive opportunities ahead, and Karen is committed to helping unlock them.
With a husband, two teenage sons and a springer spaniel, Karen’s free time is diverse. She particularly enjoys the opportunity to travel widely across the region.
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Martin joined SOSE in July 2021 as Director of Net Zero, and is leading the economic and community development agency’s efforts to help the region's just transition to a NetZero economy.
Martin worked for SEPA for 17 years, where he held a number of senior positions. He played an instrumental role in setting up Scotland’s 2020 Climate Group, and co-created the award-winning 2050 Young Leaders Climate Group. In 2018, he created the Vacant and Derelict Land taskforce to transform how Scotland deals with its post-industrial legacy, to make more use of land for commerce and communities. His most recent role was a secondment at Scottish Enterprise as Head of Climate Enterprise and strategic lead for COP26.
Martin is an award-winning sustainability practitioner and serial disruptor, with extensive experience of strategic business engagement and innovation. For over 30 years, he has worked in a variety of senior management roles, shaping and delivering inclusive growth initiatives and directing major collaborative projects. He has successfully delivered high-profile projects for the Scottish Government on climate change and sustainability.
He is passionate about helping to build a strong alliance to tackle the climate crisis, and maximise the economic opportunities from the transition to Net Zero.
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Anthony is an executive finance professional with extensive experience in the corporate governance and assurance areas of an organisation.
Currently he is responsible for a wide range of aspects of SOSE business, including the functions of finance, human resources, IT, information governance and risk, legal, procurement, facilities management, corporate office, and work on programme monitoring arrangements.
He leads on business-wide initiatives, such as the MySOSE programme, the Records Management Plan, and the development of our long-term People Strategy.
Anthony has spent the latter half of his career in senior and executive positions in the public sector in Scotland, having worked in the private sector in his earlier part of his career. This has meant spending equal amounts of time in both to date, across 25 years. During his private sector career, he worked and lived in many different countries, spanning Asia, Europe and the USA.
Anthony specialises in business strategy, financial management, audit and assurance, and cultural change in organisations. He enjoys bring his different experiences of the private sector and marrying that with his latter public sector experience, to ensure the best results possible in any role he undertakes.
He loves nothing more than rolling about on a judo mat, but equally enjoys participating in, coaching or watching most sports. He also has a love of travel and the outdoors, combining and sharing these passions with family, and many, many animals.
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Meet SOSE Client Facing Staff
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Adam Foden O'Sullivan
Analyst - Economic Research Insights Strategy, Partnerships and Engagement Contact Now -
Andrea Swinton
Economic Infrastructure Development Project Manager Places and Enterprise Contact Now -
Andrew Nicholson
Economic Infrastructure Development Project Manager Places and Enterprise Contact Now -
Chris Richardson
Economic Infrastructure Development Project Manager Place and Enterprise Contact Now -
Cynthia Moore-Opdam
Business Coach (Innovation and Entrepreneurship) Net Zero, Nature & Entrepreneurship Contact Now -
Isabel Brass
Business Development Assistant, Business Gateway Net Zero, Nature & Entrepreneurship Contact Now -
Paul Wheelhouse
Net Zero Implementation Lead - Energy Transition Net Zero, Nature & Entrepreneurship Contact Now -
Robert McWhir
Business Development Advisor, Business Gateway Net Zero, Nature & Entrepreneurship Contact Now -
Susan Harkins
Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Net Zero, Nature & Entrepreneurship Contact Now
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