Current members
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Peter Mackay CB, Chairman
Appointed 1 November 2007 to 31 October 2010, and reappointed 1 November 2010 to 31 October 2013
Peter Mackay was Head of the former Scottish Office Industry Department until he left the Office in 1995, and has a degree in Economics and Geography. Since 1995 he has held a range of posts including as a member of the Competition Commission and on the boards of Scottish Natural Heritage, the Northern Lighthouse Board, the British Linen Bank, the Business Banking Board of the Bank of Scotland and the Scottish Rights of Way Society. He is currently Chair of the Pacific Horizon Investment Trust.
William Magee OBE, Deputy Chairman
Appointed 1 September 2008 to 31 August 2012
A solicitor by profession, Bill Magee worked for six councils in his twenty five years in Scottish local government, including Strathclyde and Fife Regional Councils and Edinburgh District Council. His last council post was as Director of Administration and Legal Services in Central Regional Council, based in Stirling. In 1995 he became Secretary to the Accounts Commission and subsequently Secretary to Audit Scotland following the restructuring of public audit arrangements after devolution. He retired in 2007. In addition to involvement in local government affairs both at council level and nationally he has experience of board membership in a number of bodies including nine years as a Governor of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
Brian D Clark MBE
Appointed 1 November 2007 to 31 October 2010, and reappointed 1 November 2010 to 31 October 2013
Brian Clark is a Professor of Environmental Management and Planning at Aberdeen University. Whilst now semi-retired he continues to contribute to the MSc in Sustainable Rural Development. From 1999 to 2007 he was a Board Member of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and Chair of the North Regional Board of SEPA. He is a member of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CORWM), Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment and since 2005 a Governor of the Macaulay Institute. His professional interests are in urban and rural planning, environmental management, and sustainability analysis. He conducts consultancy on these topics, mainly on training and capacity building, mostly outwith Scotland.
Kenneth McDonald
Appointed 24 May 2004, and reappointed 24 May 2008 to 23 May 2012
As a Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute, Kenneth McDonald served for almost 30 years in Local Government prior to retirement in 1999. He has experience with a variety of Councils and areas including Ross and Cromarty, Northumberland, Falkirk, Central Region and most recently Stirling Council where he was Service Manager and had a lead role in preparing for the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. In addition to his staffing and budget management roles, he has wide experience in the planning functions with an emphasis on environment, countryside and rural development issues working in partnership with public agencies and community groups. Since retiring from local authority work he has undertaken various short term consultancy contracts. He also serves as a Commissioner on the Boundary Commission for Scotland.
Paula Sharp
Appointed 1 November 2007 to 31 October 2010, and reappointed 1 November 2010 to 31 October 2013
Paula Sharp is a graduate of Cambridge University and started her career as a local authority accountant. Having reached senior management level in a large local authority, she became a management consultant and, since 1994, she has been self-employed. Her firm, Paula Gilder Consulting, works across the public sector in Scotland, specialising in local authority services, governance, research, both quantitative and qualitative, and data analysis. She has a range of volunteering experience and is currently Chair of the Rock Trust, which works with homeless and vulnerable young people in Edinburgh and the Lothians. She also serves as a Commissioner on the Boundary Commission for Scotland.
Register of Interests
The Commission maintains a Register of Interests of Commissioners. The Register, together with the Code of Practice for Commissioners which describes the content of the Register, is available from the Publications section of this website.
Secretary
The work of the Commission is supported by a small Secretariat which is headed by the Secretary, Hugh Buchanan.
Hugh Buchanan has spent his career in mapping and geographic information, including policy and technical roles. Hugh joined the Commission after being External Relations Manager in Scotland for Ordnance Survey from 2001 until 2007. His previous posts included user support for web services at EDINA, part of the Computing Service of the University of Edinburgh, and as a lecturer in what is now the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at the University of Newcastle, undertaking a variety a professional, research and teaching activities. Hugh is a Chartered Surveyor, has a PhD in geographic data handling and a mathematics degree.