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Our People

Everything we do is about and for people: the people we support, our staff, our partners and everyone affected by homelessness. Each person involved brings their individual skills and creativity to the work we do.

Folk we support

These are the people we’re here for. We want everyone to have access to the support they need and a safe place to sleep. We tailor the support we can offer to what people need and we know that those who have experienced tough times are often the best placed to support others. We work to encourage and support people to become peer volunteers and get involved in the work of the Simon Community in ways that suit their skills and passions.

Our team and volunteers

We have a team of around 150 dedicated staff and volunteers who make our work possible. Many of these people have worked with us for many years – driven at the heart by a passion to make things easier for those who are struggling to find a safe place to live.

Our leadership team

Our Senior Leadership Team drive our strategy and operations:

• Lorraine McGrath, Chief Executive
• Hugh Hill, Director of Services & Development
• Michelle Wylie, Head of Finance
• Margaret Graham, Operations Manager: Community Inclusion
• Karyn McCabe, Operations Manager: Women's Services
• Linda Clark, Corporate Services Manager

Our trustees

As a charity, we need and value the strategic support and input of our board of trustees.

Mary E Craig OBE is our Acting Chair. She is Strategic Advisor for Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland having held the post of its Chief Executive for five years. She was a Senior Manager for Lloyds TSB Scotland based in the central belt. As member of the Council of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland, Mary sat on the Education Committee and was awarded a Fellowship by the Institute in 1997. Mary is a past Convenor of Evaluation Support Scotland, past Convenor of the Scotland Funders Forum and is a Fellow of the RSA . She was awarded an OBE in 2010 for services to the Voluntary Sector.

Andrew Livingstone has been our Treasurer since 2015. He is currently the Director of Finance for Skills Development Scotland, the national skills body supporting the people and businesses of Scotland to develop and apply their skills. Andrew is a Chartered Management Accountant with over 20 years experience. Prior to being an accountant, he studied Scottish and Modern History at Glasgow University.

George Black joined our Board in early 2015 having retired from the position of Chief Executive of Glasgow City Council, a post he held for twelve years. George started his career as an accountant with the (then) North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board and then worked at Grampian Regional Council, Stirling District Council and Central Regional Council before moving to Glasgow in 1990.

Nancy Burns is Head of Youth & Learning, Jobs in Business Glasgow. She has a strong track record in public sector management and in Department for Work and Pensions policy and strategy. Nancy has led employability programme developments and implementation, as well as managed multi-disciplinary teams, vocational training programmes and economic development initiatives. Nancy is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute with an Executive Diploma in Management and an MA in Social Administration.

Linda De Caestecker has been a public health doctor for over 25 years initially trained as an obstetrician and gynaecologist. She is Director of Public Health at NHS Greater Glasgow and Health and held previous posts at the Scottish Government and recently as Director of Projects with the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics. Her special interests are in prevention of homelessness, promotion of healthy lifestyles and meeting the needs of mothers and children. She is an honorary professor at the University of Glasgow.

Laura Castle - first joined BT as a graduate and now works in Openreach as an HR Business Partner within the Service Delivery team, the team responsible for the nation's local access network – sometimes referred to as the 'first mile' from the exchange through to homes and businesses. Laura is a creative and experienced HR Manager with a wealth of generalist HR experience as well as strong programme, project and change management skills, she also has strong sales experience and contact centre management/operations expertise. Laura has a BA Hons, Social Sciences (Psychology) and a Post Graduate Diploma, Human Resource Management

Dan Donald is a retired Director of Cruden Estates, part of the Cruden Group – one of the largest independently owned Scottish-based construction companies. Cruden Estates is one of the group’s development companies. Dan was previously a Director of an RSL. He has been Chair of Glasgow South East Regeneration Agency (GSERA) and is was a Board Member of Jobs and Business Glasgow. Dan has an MSc degree, is a member of the Chartered institute of Housing and has been involved in major regeneration projects, most recently the Commonwealth Games Athletes’ Village.

Andrea Glass is the Regional Skills Planning Lead for the South West of Scotland and Forth Valley at Skills Development Scotland, the national Skills Agency supporting the people and businesses of Scotland to develop and apply their skills. Prior to her appointment to SDS in October 2015 she was the Depute Director of the Training and Employment Research Unit (TERU) at Glasgow University, a multi-disciplinary centre for applied, economic and social research. Much of Andrea’s work fed directly into informing the policy development and implementation processes for making more effective links between jobless individuals and employment opportunities. She was also a Director of Govanhill Community Development Trust (a subsidiary of Govanhill Housing Association) that works to facilitate economic development in a disadvantaged area of Glasgow from 2002 to 2015.

Angus MacKenzie has been on the board since 2005. Since retiring, Angus has taken up voluntary positions to support a number of charities in the West of Scotland including as a Board Member with Citizens Advice Direct, and is currently the Vice Chair of Advice Direct Scotland. He also volunteers at Victim Support.

Karyn McCluskey worked in the police for the last 22 years in Sussex, Lancashire, West Mercia, Strathclyde and Police Scotland. She has just recently taken up the post of Chief Executive for Community Justice Scotland. She was Director of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit for the last decade, which proposed a different way of addressing violence in Scotland. They developed injury surveillance, gang intervention and gang exit, and focused on preventing knife carrying and injury. She helps support Medics Against Violence charity in Scotland, set up in conjunction with the Violence Reduction Unit. Karyn trained as a registered nurse, has a B.Sc and M.Sc in Psychology and is a fellow by distinction of the Faculty of Public Health. She received an Honorary Doctorate from University of Glasgow for work on prevention of violence and an Honorary Masters from the Open University. She is an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Glasgow. She has worked in a variety of areas within the NHS, East Africa and HM Prisons. She has published work on Armed Robbery teams, Alcohol and Violence Interventions in a clinical setting and Violence Reduction.

Liz McRobb is a commercial lawyer with Shepherd and Wedderburn, a law firm where she has been a partner for 20 years. Liz is a contracts lawyer with good experience of a number of sectors including public sector, drinks industry, energy, water and sewerage and gets involved in long term or high value contracts and projects. Liz supported Phoenix Healthcare Community Project through the Pilotlight initiative throughout 2013. She is a member of a number of the working groups of the renewables trade bodies in England and Scotland.

Annie Wood joined the board in 2009. She is the Project Director and Founder of Boost Employability – a new charity providing training in broadcast media to people who are unemployed or have lost their confidence and self esteem. Annie has previously worked in the media and charitable sector including for many years as a Regional Manager for CSV Media working in partnership with BBC Scotland. She started up two successful radio stations, Radio Clyde in Glasgow and Northsound in Aberdeen. Annie's believes the creative process can be used to communicate ideas, provoke thinking, trigger action and improve individual lives.