MEMBERSHIP

There are ten Board members, five judicial and legal members (a Judge, Sheriff Principal, Sheriff, an Advocate and a Solicitor) and five lay members including Sir Muir Russell as the lay Chairing Member.

The two legal members and the five lay members are all appointed by the Scottish Ministers and receive a fee of £290 per day (the Chairing Member receives an annual salary of £17,500) and can claim for expenses while engaged on Board's business.  The three judicial members are appointed/nominated by the Lord President of the Court of Session.  They do not receive any fees for work undertaken but can claim for expenses. 

Sir Muir Russell, KCB, FRSE (lay Chairing Member)

Sir Muir was Principal of the University of Glasgow from 2003 to 2009. Prior to his appointment at the University of Glasgow he was Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Executive.

He was born in 1949 and was educated at The High School of Glasgow and Glasgow University, where he took a first class honours degree in Natural Philosophy.

He is a Trustee of the Glasgow School of Art, a Member of the Board of the Moredun Research Institute, and the Chairman of the Dunedin Concert Trust.

He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2000 and holds honorary degrees from the Universities of Strathclyde, Glasgow and Edinburgh.  His interests include music, food, wine and occasional golf.

Sir Muir was appointed to the Board in October 2008 for three years. 

Ms Elspeth MacArthur (lay member)

Elspeth MacArthur's background is in human resources and she was Director of Human Resources at the University of Edinburgh until 2007. Ms MacArthur is also a member of the Board of Management at the John Wheatley College (in east Glasgow) and a Director of the Scottish Community Development Centre.

Ms MacArthur was appointed to the Board in July 2007 for three years.
 

Sandy Mowat CA (lay member)

Sandy Mowat's background is in business as a Chartered Accountant.  He was senior and managing partner of Alexander Sloan, Chartered Accountants until he retired in late 2007.  He now practices on his own account and holds a number of non-executive directorships and charity trustee appointments.

In April 2008 Mr Mowat was appointed to the Investigation and Enforcement Committee of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and in April 2009 was appointed Secretary and Treasurer of The Baird Trust. 

Mr Mowat was appointed to the Board in January 2008 for three years. 

Professor Andrew Coyle CMG (lay member)

Andrew Coyle is Professor of Prison Studies in King's college, University of London.  Between 1997 and 2005 he was founding Director of the International Centre for Prison Studies in King's College.  He is a prisons adviser to several United Nations bodies and to the Council of Europe.  He is a member of the Foreign Secretary's Expert Panel against Torture and of the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council.

He worked for 25 years at a senior level in the prison services of the United Kingdom.  While in the Scottish Prison Service he was Governor of Greenock, Peterhead and Shotts Prisons.  Between 1991 and 1997 he was Governor of Brixton Prison in London.

He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 2003 for his contribution to international penal reform.  He is a Fellow of King's College London.

Professor Coyle was appointed to the Board in January 2009 for three years. 

Rev John Miller (lay member)

John Miller was born in 1941.  After university he was a youth worker at a church in Niddrie, Edinburgh.  He became a minister of Castlemilk East Parish in Glasgow in 1971.  He and his wife Mary were closely involved in the life of the Castlemilk housing scheme for the next 36 years.

From 2001 to 2002 he was Moderator of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly, representing the Church of Scotland at national and international level.  He then returned to parish life.  In 2005 the Lord Provost awarded him the Glasgow Loving Cup for his contribution to the City.

On retirement in 2007 John and Mary Miller spent 18 months working in Zimbabwe.

Reverend Miller was appointed to the Board in March 2009 for three years. 

The Honourable Lady Smith (judicial member)

Lady Smith was appointed a Judge of the Court of Session in 2001. She is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. She was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1980 and was Standing Junior Counsel to the Countryside Commission.

Lady Smith was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1993. She served as a Temporary Sheriff from 1995 to 1999. Lady Smith was appointed Chair of the Scottish Partnership on Domestic Abuse from 1998 to 2000 and served as Advocate Depute from 2000 until she was appointed a Judge. She has served as a member of the Court of Session Rules Council and is a past Chair of the Advocates Family Law Group and Chair of the Advocates Professional Negligence Law Group.

 Lady Smith was appointed to the Board from July 2008 for three years.

Sheriff Principal Sir Stephen Young Bt QC (judicial member)

After qualifying as a solicitor he worked in London and Glasgow for three and a half years. He then trained as an advocate and was called to the Bar in 1977. He was appointed as a Sheriff in 1984, serving in Glasgow and Greenock. In 2001 he was appointed Sheriff Principal of Grampian, Highlands and Islands, where he is responsible for the administration of justice in the sheriff courts throughout the North and North East of Scotland and the Western and Northern Isles.

Sheriff Principal Young was appointed to the Board in June 2007 for three years. 

Sheriff Kenneth Ross (judicial member)

Sheriff Ross was appointed a Sheriff in 1997, serving at Linlithgow until 2000 and since then at Dumfries.  He is a graduate of Edinburgh University and qualified as a solicitor in 1973.  From 1975 until 1997 he was a partner in the firm of Gillespie, Gifford & Brown, Solicitors, Dumfries.  He served on the Council of the Law Society of Scotland from 1987 until 1996, convening the Complaints and Guarantee Fund Committees.  He was President of the Law Society of Scotland in 1994/5.  He sat as a Temporary Sheriff between 1987 and 1997 and has been a member of the Scottish Legal Aid Board since 2004. 

Sheriff Ross was appointed to the Board in October 2008 for three years. 

Mr Roy Martin QC (legal member)

Mr Martin was admitted to the Bar in Scotland in 1976 and in England and Wales in 1991. He became a Queen's Counsel in Scotland in 1988 and in England and Wales in 2008. He was the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates from 2004 to 2007. Mr Martin has served as a Temporary Sheriff, a part-time Chair of Industrial Tribunals, and he is a Chairman of the Police Appeals Tribunals. He is a Governor of Loretto School and was a Trustee of the National Library of Scotland.

Mr Martin was appointed to the Board in June 2007 for three years. 

Martin McAllister (legal member)

Mr McAllister is a partner with Taylor and Henderson Solicitors based in Saltcoats, Ayrshire. He is a former president of The Law Society of Scotland and has convened several of its Committees including Legal Aid, Professional Practice and Professional Conduct. Mr McAllister is currently a part time tutor at Glasgow Graduate School of Law and a part time Convenor of The Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland.

Mr McAllister was appointed to the Board from September 2008 for three years.

Lady Smith chairs the Council of St George's School, Edinburgh . She also chairs the RSNO Foundation.