DUNDEE HERITAGE TRUST - Key Persons
Alastair was born in Dundee, was educated at Dundee High School, then Croftinloan School, Pitlochry and the Glenalmond College. He completed his further education at Dundee Institute of Technology.
As the 4th Generation in the family business of H&A Scott Ltd, Dundee, established in 1856, Alastair started as a Management Trainee, working in all Departments from the Jute Spinning Mill, through the Weaving Company to the modern Polypropylene Extrusion Plant in Glenrothes. He worked through different supervisory positions and became Managing Director in 1980.
H & A. Scott Ltd was sold in 1984, when Alistair left to set up his own manufacturing textile plant in Monifieth, AG Scott Textiles Ltd. He was asked at that time to run a sister company Agripac, manufacturers of flexible intermediate bulk containers in Dundee. In 1988, Low and Bonar plc bought over the company and Alistair was appointed Managing Director of Bonar Textiles. In 1992 after a company restructure he took over as International Sales Director of the Textile Group with plants in Dundee and Belgium and offices in the USA, China and Holland. Alastair remained in that position until he retired in 2009, travelling worldwide selling artificial grass, carpet and technical yarns to all continents.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Management Team
- Director of Ship and Facilities
Ali Gellatly is the Director of Ship and Facilities at Dundee Heritage Trust - the charity tasked with the care and conservation of Captain Scott's Royal Research Ship Discovery. He was previously the Trust's Education Officer, a role which saw him provide tours and workshops to over 8000 school pupils every year. In his current role Ali has overall responsibility for the Discovery as well as the Discovery Point building and its sister museum Verdant Works, marketing, maintenance, health and safety, retail, café and conference facilities. As an specialist on the subject of RRS Discovery , Ali has appeared on documentaries for Chanel 5, Amazon Prime, History Hit and Discovery+ as well as numerous interviews for BBC news, BBC Scotland Radio, STV, Radio Tay and a variety of print media
Alison is originally from Dumfries but moved to study at the University of Dundee in 1991, before joining NCR as a customer service engineer in 1992.
She left her role as manager of a software engineering team at NCR in 2006, when she was recruited as a fundraiser for the newly established South Georgia Heritage Trust.
Alison became CEO of the Trust later that year.
Angus is currently Group Finance Director of Star Refrigeration, the UK's largest industrial refrigeration engineering company. A graduate of Dundee University and Chartered Accountant, training with KPMG at their Royal Exchange offices in Dundee from 1992 to 1997. Angus maintained his connections with Dundee over the next 6 years whilst working with Low & Bonar across head-office, divisional and business unit roles as his industrial experience developed. International roles followed over 10 years with the Howden Group in the heavy engineering sector, including 4 years as European Industrial Fan Division MD, developing customer relationships for business expansion as well as turnaround and M&A projects.
David was born in Dundee and went to school at Blackness Primary and Harris Academy before going on to university. A Chartered Surveyor by profession, he worked for a multi-national property advisory company at the Director level and now has his own consultancy operating UK-wide. His ancestry goes back over two hundred years in the city and includes forefathers who worked in the jute industry. David is also an accomplished polar adventurer, having skied to both the North and South Poles, and has taken part in several other remote area expeditions too. Consequently, he has a strong interest in and knowledge of polar history. He is also currently a Trustee of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Executive Management Team
- Board Member of the Association of Visitor Attractions of Scotland
- Chairman of the Exhibiting Societies of Scottish Artists
Deirdre is a board member of the Association of Visitor Attractions of Scotland and chairs the Dundee Tourism Leadership Group. She was formerly Chair of the Exhibiting Societies of Scottish Artists and Coastal Community Fund and served on the Big Lottery Scotland Committee, the board of Craft Scotland and Dundee Contemporary Arts.
Deirdre is currently Chair of the Exhibiting Societies of Scottish Artists and a Trustee of West Ward Works and has previously served on the Coastal Community Fund, Big Lottery Scotland Committee, the board of Craft Scotland and project teams overseeing major capital projects at Napier University's Grade C listed Craiglockhart campus, Grade A listed Marischal College of Aberdeen, Tate Britain, Tate Modern and Tate St Ives."
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Management Team
An experienced leader working in Scotland's museums, Emma's passion is to better engage people with our collections and better care for our heritage. Emma has worked alongside Dundee Heritage Trust in various roles for the last two decades before taking up the post of Heritage & Exhibitions Director in 2022. Most recently as Coordinator for Industrial Museums Scotland, Emma worked with DHT and other industrial museums across Scotland, coordinating joint work, advocating on behalf of the members and managing various project work. Emma spent over a decade working in community and museum development, as well as 8 years in museum management at the Black Watch Castle & Museum, where she oversaw the major museum redevelopment in 2013-14.
Emma is on the boards of the Glencoe Folk Museum and the Museum of The Royal Regiment Of Scotland. She sits on the Recognition Committee.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Non - Executive Member of the Board of NHS Tayside
Emma Jane lives in Angus and is a museum and heritage professional with 20 years of experience working within the Scottish heritage sector. Her consultancy business - Kilowna Heritage - specialises in providing advice and support to a range of heritage and museum organisations. Her previous career has included working for Museums Galleries Scotland (Scotland's national development body for museums and galleries) in development roles; project managing the creation of the new University Museum for the University of St Andrews, and as Co-Director of the University of St Andrews Museum Collections Unit, she led a team of learning and access and visitor services professionals in service delivery and learning programming.
She has also held a wide range of curatorial roles and is currently Vice Chair of the Unicorn Preservation Society. A Falkland Islander by birth, she has a keen interest in maritime heritage.
Emma Jane is a Non-Executive Member of the Board of NHS Tayside and Chair of the Tayside Health Fund. She has recently been appointed to the post of Senior Investment Manager for the National Lottery Heritage Fund, working predominantly on Lottery-funded projects in Wales.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Board Member of Creative Dundee
- Journalist
Richard Neville is a journalist with extensive experience in the Scottish media. He is a director of the media and communications consultancy Neville Robertson Communications Ltd. He was previously the Head of Newspapers for DC Thomson Media, overseeing The Courier and The Evening Telegraph in Dundee and The Press and Journal and The Evening Express in Aberdeen, as well as The Sunday Post. He previously edited both The Courier and The Press and Journal.
Richard is passionate about helping to drive change in Dundee and devised and launched the successful Courier Business Awards to help celebrate success across the region.
Previously Richard was Editor of Business a.m., the critically acclaimed Scottish daily business and political newspaper that closed in 2003. He has also been Deputy Editor of The Scotsman and worked as a reporter for The Daily Record and Edinburgh Evening News, and ran the newsdesk of the York Evening Press.
Richard is also a board member of Creative Dundee and a member of the Fundraising Board at The Maggie's Centre in Dundee.
Ron was born in Dundee and has had a career in investment and finance.
His mother's family came to Dundee from Barrowfield, Glasgow in the mid 18th century and the Walkinshaws operated a linen manufacturing and retail business in the city until the 1900s. After studying at the High School of Dundee and at Napier University in Edinburgh he worked for a London based family office, before taking over Glamis Investments, his family's retail, finance, and property business, which was established in 1945 by his parents Alex and Janet Smith.
Ron has been Chairperson of the Consumer Credit Association of the U.K. and in 2009 established Provisio, a private crowdfunding platform that provides equity to innovative and expanding businesses.
Latterly he has become involved in social and community enterprises including the Circle Scotland CIC and the Violet Community Trust SCIO and has a passion for finding ways to empower the Dundee community to have self-belief and to realise their potential.
Ron is delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to Dundee Heritage Trust and is very enthusiastic and excited about its future developments and prospects at a pivotal time for the city.
Outside of business he has been a successful athletics coach working with national and international athletes and teams. He is also a keen tennis player and snow skier.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Member of the the SNP
Will is an elected member for the SNP within Dundee City Council. After leaving school he went on to higher education studying hospitality at Inverness College and worked for a number of years in the industry. He has since gone on to work for a major utilities company in a variety of roles. He became a Councillor for the then Eastport ward in 2003 and has been proud to represent the East End ward in which he lives since 2007. Will has been the convener of the City Development committee and is currently the convener of the Planning Committee.