The Board of Trustees, led by the Chair, works with VSA's senior leadership team to provide strategic direction and guidance to the charity and ensure the charity is fulfilling its mission.
VSA's Board of Trustees is made up of a Chairperson, Treasurer and up to 18 Trustees.
All members of the Board of Trustees are volunteers who dedicate their time, experience and professional expertise to help govern and lead the charity.
The Board formally meets four times a year; each Trustee is allocated based on their skills and area of expertise to one of four sub committees which meet four times a year, plus feed directly into the overarching Board.
Kevin is an experienced senior manager/director with over 20 years of experience working within the industrial rental market. Kevin has also developed his own thriving storage business whilst simultaneously acting as MD of a multi-million portable and modular building hire company. Before becoming a Trustee at VSA, Kevin was Chair of Befriend a Child.
Jim has over 40 years’ experience working in local government across the North East of Scotland and prior to his retirement held the position of Head of Economic Development for Aberdeenshire Council.
Following his retirement James, has used his wealth of skills and knowledge to help raise over a million pounds for third sector organisations and uses his strong business and economic skills to mentor SMEs across Scotland.
Joining VSA in 2019, he was appointed Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees. As well as supporting VSA, Jim also holds the following positions at organisations across the North East: Vice Chair of AFCCT, Chair of Balmoral Road Races Ltd and Chairman of Langstane Housing Association.
Gordon, has over 40 years’ experience in holding senior leadership roles across the public, private and third sector. Gordon specialises in financial management, budgeting, corporate governance, sustainable business/ resource planning, and strategic risk management. Gordon joined VSA in 2017 as Director of Finance and brought with him a wealth of experience before retiring in the summer of 2019.
Gordon is passionate about changing peoples lives and he has held a number of voluntary board positions at third sector organisations across the city; and in late 2020 we were delighted to welcome back to the VSA family as a member of our Board of Trustees where he was appointed as our Honorary Treasurer at our AGM.
Gordon is also Convener of our Corporate and Audit and Risk committees
Adrian McBurnie is a qualified professional with over 20 years of experience working within the oil and gas industry. Adrian spends a lot of his spare time volunteering including practical involvement with youth work and presenting classes for secondary school pupils. He is also an experienced trustee and member of The Scottish Mathematical Council and as a treasurer and chair of an Aberdeen Orchestra.
Claire Wilkie is a qualified nurse and social worker that has experience working in the NHS, local authority, private and voluntary sectors. Claire has a great deal of expertise supporting and meeting the needs of people with mental health problems and substance misuse.
Graeme is a commercial property expert with more than 30 years’ experience in the sector and a focus on industrial property. Graeme has a broad range of experience and up until his recent retirement provided strategic advice to a wide cross selection of clients.
Gregory has held various senior management posts within NHS Grampian and retired in 2010 after 41 years of service. He worked as the Lead Nurse for Aberdeen City for over ten years before retirement with a specific remit in supporting the Director of Nursing and joint working with Robert University in curriculum development and workforce planning. Gregory was awarded an MBE in Nursing and Racial Equality in 2004.
Gregory was also appointed as Deputy Lieutenant of Aberdeen city in April 2015 and has been a Burgess of the city of Aberdeen since 2014.
Stephen is an IT professional, who set up his own organisation Motion Software in 2005. His company has grown to be the industry leader in inspection and compliance software solutions across a wide range of industry sectors including Renewables, Oil and Gas, Construction, and Insurance. Stephen has also been chairman of the Guide Dogs for the Blind charity committee.
Margaret Gibson is a qualified lawyer, with over 30 years of experience in practice. Margaret has spent most of her professional life as a partner in the legal firm now known as Burness Paull LLP. Margaret has specialised in tribunal and other court advocacy with predominantly oil and gas sector clients. Margaret has also been the primary legal advisor to third sector organisations.
Professor Heys is a consultant surgeon at Albyn Hospital, having retired in 2019 from the NHS and University where he had been a consultant surgeon for almost 30 years.
He has previously been a member of the Governing Body of the University of Aberdeen and its associated committees, the University Senate, and has been a member of several national committees for research, clinical practice, and led the guideline development for the treatment of breast cancer. Prof Heys was also been a member of the Board of NHS Grampian from 2017 to 2019 and a member of the Joint Integration Board for Health and Social Care for Aberdeen City from 2017 to 2019.
Professor John Harper recently retired from the role of Principal and Vice Chancellor of Robert Gordon University, following a career of over 40 years in the higher education sector. John has extensive senior leadership experience, experience of working at an executive level with a board of governance and considerable non-executive board membership experience in a range of contexts.
Since his retirement John has been appointed to the Court of Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.
John said: “ I hold VSA, in the highest regard for the critical and effective role it plays within the local community.”
VSA's day-to-day operations is led by a Chief Executive and a team of six Directors who have strategic and functional responsibilities.
The Chief Executive reports directly to the Chair of the Board of Trustees; the Directors report directly to the Chief Executive.
Sue Freeth has a forty year long career serving in UK historic social care charities half spent in Boardroom leadership roles of large grant making care and support providing charities. She has held both executive and non-executive positions in small medium and large service providing charities working in Scotland and wider UK. Experienced in leading partnership working charity governance, service design, digital and property transformation activity. Sue became a trustee of Royal Society for the Support of Women of Scotland RSSWS in 2021 and serves as an advisory member of The Community Grant Committee of The Dunhill Medical Trust creating research for healthy ageing. Most recent executive roles were Chief Executive & Chief Operating Officer for two Scottish charities: Victim Support Scotland and Lifecare Edinburgh rebuilding recoveries out of COVID.
Sue joined VSA in June as Chief Executive. Sue says “I am thrilled to be taking the reins of Scotland’s largest city charity supporting vulnerable young and older people which to its enormous credit successfully supported all the vulnerable people in their care and an amazing 650 strong workforce safe and well over the pandemic”.
I have worked for VSA for 25 years in varying roles across the whole of the charity. I am driven to continually improve services to ensure that we provide the best of care for those who use our services. I am systematic and thorough in my methods ensuring that standards are not only met but exceeded. I have a proven track record of reviewing and redesigning services that are underperforming and transforming them into services which are innovative and sector leading. Prior to my employment with VSA my background was in psychiatric nursing.
Anna joined VSA in 2013 as a relief staff member whilst working as a social worker within the local authority.
As a qualified social worker, Anna has worked in various settings including adult learning disability and mental health services before settling in children and families.
Throughout her VSA journey, she has had various roles including Depute, Manager, General Manager, and Director positions within our children’s services. More recently within her role as Director it was expanded to include Linn Moor School and Easter Anguston Farm, taking Anna back to her roots within learning disabilities.
Carol is an experienced HR Professional with over 25 years of experience, having worked across a wide range of sectors including; Health and Social Care, Finance, Oil and Gas, Aviation, Higher Education, and Independent Consultancy. Having joined VSA in 2016, Carol successfully leads our HR, Recruitment, Learning, and Development teams. Together with her team, she ensures that VSA is an employer of choice, offering equality of opportunity and, providing our staff with a supportive environment where they will acquire the skills, knowledge, and competencies to ensure that they can confidently provide the very best standards of care to people who use our services so that they can lead the very best of lives.
A fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants, Anne has been Chief Financial Officer at VSA since 2019. With over 20 years of experience in finance and accounting, Anne leads the teams responsible for the organisation’s finance and other corporate services. Her focus is on financial resilience, good governance and social responsibility. Anne has previously held posts at a senior level for large companies in a number of different industries. For several years she also served as Director and Treasurer of North-East’s charity, Charlie House. Prior to joining VSA, Anne led the finance department at Aberdeen Council of Voluntary Organisations which gave her valued exposure to many of the city’s charities and not-for-profit organisations. Anne was educated at the University of Aberdeen where she studied Economics and Management.