SCRANACADEMY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- COMMUNITY FOOD COORDINATOR
Ailsa runs our Scran Van food truck, driving across Edinburgh and Lothians to tackle holiday hunger and provide work experience opportunities and skills development for young people. Ailsa also supports our Academy sessions.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Managing Director of Fresh Start
Biddy is the Managing Director of Fresh Start - an Edinburgh based charity that works with people moving on from homelessness or those at risk of homelessness. Biddy has worked with vulnerable disadvantaged people for over 25 years - young people, those who have been homeless, those living in poverty. Biddy is passionate about people and leads by her values, always putting relationships at the heart of all the work Fresh Start does. Biddy is part of the leadership team in North Edinburgh that is working collectively to make real, significant change happen in the local area. She is the Vice Chair of Shape - Strategic Homelessness Action Partnership Edinburgh.Biddy is the Managing Director of Fresh Start - an Edinburgh based charity that works with people moving on from homelessness or those at risk of homelessness. Biddy has worked with vulnerable disadvantaged people for over 25 years - young people, those who have been homeless, those living in poverty. Biddy is passionate about people and leads by her values, always putting relationships at the heart of all the work Fresh Start does. Biddy is part of the leadership team in North Edinburgh that is working collectively to make real, significant change happen in the local area. She is the Vice Chair of Shape - Strategic Homelessness Action Partnership Edinburgh.
Corinna manages the charity and youth work elements of Scran Academy. She supports the youth work team to develop and deliver youth services and is responsible for our marketing and fundraising.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder of Scran Academy
Elaine is Co-Founder of Scran Academy. She supports our young people alongside the Youth Work Team to achieve nationally recognised qualifications and accreditation.
Emma has worked in Financial Services for more than 20 years working mainly in banking and Investments. She started her working life as a volunteer with children with learning difficulties and has a keen desire to make things better. In her spare time Emma volunteers behind the scenes with various amateur dramatic groups. Sadly Emma says that cooking is not one of her skills but she's learning!
Gemma runs the Academy Programme, our community education programme. By developing positive relationships and creating a safe and outcome-focussed environment, she helps young people to realise their potential.
Gillian has been an educator for more than 30 years and started her career as a primary teacher. She held several leadership roles in schools before moving into the local authority in 2001 as Leadership and Management Development Officer. From there she took on the role of Academic Co-ordinator of the Chartered Teacher Programme at the University of Edinburgh. She returned to the City of Edinburgh Council in 2004 as Learning and Development Manager for Children and Families and held that role until 2016. During that time Gillian also served as a panel member on the Edinburgh Children's Panel for five years and led the Scottish Professional Learning Network from 2014 to 2016.
Dismayed that in Scotland we are not meeting the educational needs of all our young people, that every year there are more than 3000 unemployed 16-year-old school leavers, Gillian decided to leave the Council in 2016 to see how she could help to change this. She now works as an educational consultant collaborating with third sector organisations, businesses and national organisations to support young people towards successful futures. Building on the trailblazing model of Newlands Junior College in Glasgow, Gillian is working to establish the junior college model in Scotland.
Gillian was a committee member of Scottish Educational Leadership Management and Administration Society (SELMAS) for almost 20 years, acting as treasurer for 8 years. She is currently a board trustee of the Children's Parliament.
Gillian's other interests include going to the theatre, walking her dogs, painting and spending time with friends and family.
Ian joined Scran Academy in April 2022 and has already managed to have a positive impact on the organisation and the Scran team! He is an experienced strategic youth work professional and joins us from the Salvation Army where he was the East Scotland Divisional Youth Specialist.
A law graduate from Northumbria University, Lindsay started her career in a project management role. Three years later a 3-month sabbatical working with an international development project in Peru sparked a commitment to making a career change and the beginning of a fantastically fulfilling career in the charity sector. Lindsay brings over 5 years of experience in the charity sector in Scotland, currently as a funder, and prior to that in fundraising for a number of Scottish national charities and also in organisational development for an Edinburgh based youth work charity. Lindsay is passionate about equality of opportunity for young people, and in valuing and developing all young person's skills and abilities to allow them to fulfil their potential. In her spare time Lindsay is a keen walker and enjoys spending time outdoors exploring the Scottish countryside with her family and her dog.
Job Titles:
- FOOD PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
Nadia runs the Scran Café, serving great-tasting food and drink, and supporting young people to gain work experience and skills. With tons of cheffing experience, she supports our wider food programmes and Academy sessions.
Paul has worked within Financial Services for over 20 years, where he supports the definition and execution of the business strategy. This involves developing business designs and operating models as well as informing and shaping the change management, governance and operational structures to achieve the required outcomes. Since 2019 he has coached Social Enterprises, going through the Big Issue Invest selection process, in how to review and optimise their business plans and operations. Outside of work Paul has a young family and is a keen cyclist, although he says he is progressively getting slower at chasing the boys and cycling as the years go by!
Job Titles:
- Treasurer
- Scran Academy As a Trustee
Stan serves Scran Academy as a Trustee, having first been involved with Scran from its launch in 2017. Stan works for an IT Consultancy based in Aberdeenshire in his dual role as the company's Director and Technical Consultant - specialising in delivering Microsoft technologies to both small businesses and large corporates.
He is also engaged with a small number of voluntary organisations. For his sin of serving as Treasurer and Board Member for the Aberdeenshire Conservative & Unionists Association, Stan also spent 20 years as a member of JCI Aberdeen, representing both his home town and Scotland on the international stage of a global leadership organisation - culminating in serving as a Vice President for Europe in 2016. He now brings his technology, financial and leadership experience to Scran.
A keen debater (and former world champion), don't let Stan corner you in the pub lest he bore you to tears with his personal passions of Pokémon, Japan, Xbox and his lifelong love affair of Microsoft!
John is one of the UK's most sought after and experienced motivational speakers and trainers. He is a social entrepreneur, equality rights campaigner and leadership coach. John ran his first campaign aged 11 despite facing a challenging childhood and went on to speak to over one million people, worked across 55 countries and helped raise over £5.5million for good causes. He is CEO of global leadership company Dare2Lead, which has trained over 60,000 people across 120 clients. He is also the Founder of Scran Academy.
Will manages the social enterprise elements of Scran Academy. He oversees our Van, Café, retail and event catering offers. He also plays an active role in young people's development through workshops and work placements.