Board members

Andy holds a portfolio of non-executive and trustee roles with charities and pension funds. He is a Trustee of City & Guilds, leaders in technical and vocational education, where he Chairs the Investment Committee and Pensions Sub-Committee and is a member of the Remuneration Committee. He is a Non-Executive Director of the asset management and employment subsidiaries of Lothian Pension Fund and Vice-Chair of the Scottish Firefighters Pension Board.

He previously held Managing Director and Marketing Director roles at Aegon, Direct Line and Royal Bank of Scotland during a 30 year career in retail financial services.

Hilde brings a range of digital experience from local and global business success stories to the Scottish Book Trust. After getting a Master's Degree in Comparative Literature in her native Norway, Hilde started her marketing career in Google's EMEA headquarters in Dublin, developing digital advertising strategies for large businesses. She came to Edinburgh to join Scotland's first unicorn business, travel search engine Skyscanner and lead their paid search marketing. Hilde has since founded her own digital marketing consultancy, as well as worked with marketing and strategy at organisations like Macs Adventure, Edinburgh International Festival and Float. She currently leads the product and app development teams at fast-growing retail start-up Mallzee Insights, and volunteers on the Creative Edinburgh mentoring programme.

Morag is a senior finance professional with experience across a broad range of sectors. Following a finance degree at Strathclyde University she qualified as a Chartered Accountant whilst with Ernst & Young. Most recently she has worked with the international healthcare insurer Cigna where she was European Finance Director responsible for developing a strong finance team of over 100 professionals across Europe. She has a passion for supporting education and developing people to help reach their potential. She has also held board positions with the former James Watt College and supported some smaller local charities.

Udita works in the technology sector. Her experience spans across technology in financial services and semiconductors industries. Her work involves development and delivery of emerging technologies at a global scale. Udita is an Indian expat and she holds dual Masters degrees in Electronics Engineering and English Literature. Outside of work, she reviews theatre and books for The Wee Review and has also been published in the Book Week Scotland Treasures anthology. She is passionate about increasing diversity in STEM and getting more people to read. When not at work, she can be found in second-hand bookshops.

Pippa brings a strong background in fundraising and marketing to the Scottish Book Trust. She has forged a 20-year career as an energetic and resilient fundraiser. Her focus continues to be around organisations that tackle inequalities and the health of women, children and families, for example having worked for the Children Hospice Association Scotland, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Edinburgh Children Hospital Charity and Women Onto Work. She is also very committed to conservation and the environment.

Having led successful strategic fundraising and marketing campaigns, she has also advised charity boards, and chaired one, to support this area.

Pippa loves to read, of course. She is also a keen, and marginally successful, gardener. She can mostly be found outdoors either on a bike or in a wetsuit in and around East Lothian where she lives with her family. She is a fanatical lover of sausage dogs and owns one, on which she dotes.

Recently retired as Professor of Education at the University of Strathclyde, Sue currently works with communities, schools and local authorities as an independent consultant and researcher. Sue brings to Scottish Book Trust experience as an international literacy researcher and her passionate interest in how literacy policy can help to ensure positive and effective literacy learning practices in schools and local authorities. Her consultancy work focuses on literacy teaching, attainment and equity in the primary curriculum and on the links between schools and the communities they serve. She is particularly interested in interventions that create high-impact social learning environments, and in fostering self-sustaining literacy networks across economically disadvantaged communities and families.

Jo Gill is the Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Glasgow and has previously served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the College of Humanities at the University of Exeter. She is particularly interested in poetry and in American literature.

Jo was educated at a comprehensive school near Manchester and then studied at the Universities of Leicester, York and Gloucestershire. She worked in newspapers, publishing (Faber & Faber, and Cassell & Co.) and the charity sector prior to taking up an academic career.

Jo has previous experience as Chair of Governors at Richard Huish Sixth Form College, Somerset, and as a trustee of the Exeter Northcott Theatre and she currently sits on the Advisory Board of the '93% Club.' Jo moved to Scotland in 2022 and is delighted to have this opportunity to support the work of the Scottish Book Trust.

With a passion for Justice, Equalities and Human Rights, as well as the transformative power of reading and learning, Bernadette brings 35 years of experience gained from leadership and strategic management in the public and third sector to this role.

Growing up in Northern Ireland, Bernadette then studied Law at Trinity College in Dublin before completing her Masters Degree in Criminology at Edinburgh University.

Bernadette has worked for local government, leading community-led locality planning and community safety initiatives; and briefly for Scottish Government, delivering research with a focus on domestic violence and substance misuse. She later worked for a community justice charity before joining Apex Scotland. Bernadette joined the public sector as the first National Convener of Children’s Hearings Scotland and went on to become Chief Executive of Volunteer Glasgow and then Director of Community Empowerment and Equalities with Glasgow City Council.

Over her career, Bernadette has also served on The Sentencing Commission for Scotland, the Law Society’s Criminal Law Committee and the Scotland Committee of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, as well as the boards of Venture Trust Scotland, Families Outside, Right There and as Chair of The Young Women’s Movement.

Apart from a love of books, art and culture, Bernadette gets great satisfaction from playing the harp, swimming, tennis, going to the gym and learning to dance the tango.