We are delighted to announce our five new board members who will support our mission to build lasting solutions to poverty and trauma in Scotland.
Joining the Board of Trustees are Dr Khadija Coll MBE, Joanna McCreadie, Amanda McGuigan, Ashley Scotland and Dr Wendy Wu.
You can read more about each of our new Trustees below.
Dr Khadija Coll MBE
Trustee since February 2024
Khadija Coll MBE is a campaigner and activist who has spent over 25 years leading the fight for equality in Scotland. Driven by her own lived experience facing cultural, social, and economic challenges moving from Africa to Scotland with a young family, she has dedicated her life to representing and empowering refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable women and families from all walks of life. The work she does involves tackling particularly sensitive subjects, from the long-term effects of childhood trauma to gender-based violence and female genitial mutilation. Khadija works with individuals during some of the most difficult points in their lives, meeting their struggles with compassion, selflessness and an undeniable determination to enact positive change.
Khadija is the founder and director of One Community Scotland, an innovative and award winning charity which works directly with the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit to support New Scots and their families to settle into life in Scotland. The charity has supported hundreds of families to date, and mentored young people who have gone on to be activists and leaders in their communities. Khadija's work has been recognised at Police Scotland's Bravery and Excellence Awards, and she has received an MBE as well as an honorary doctorate from Stirling University in recognition of her dedication to equality and diversity in Scotland.
Joanna McCreadie
Upcoming Trustee in March 2024
Joanna is a qualified social worker who has specialised in working with children, young people and adults affected by significant trauma. She has worked for local authorities, charities and for government bodies. Her current role is as the Chief Executive of Redress Scotland, a non-departmental public body responsible for making decisions on applications for redress from survivors of historical abuse in care settings in Scotland. Joanna was responsible for the set-up of this new public body and continues to lead the development of their work to meet survivors expectations.
Joanna is delighted to have been appointed to the role of trustee for The Robertson Trust. She hopes to make a contribution to the work of the Trust on poverty and trauma, and to support the journey of change that the Trust is committed to.
Amanda McGuigan
Trustee since February 2024
Amanda is a highly accomplished professional with a broad range of certifications, including Chartered Accountant, Chartered Governance Professional, Chartered Company Secretary, and Certified Risk Professional. With over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry, Amanda has held a variety of positions in audit, governance, and risk management.
In the past, Amanda has served as a member of the Audit & Risk Committee at The Institute of Risk Management. Currently, she is employed at BlackRock, where she holds a regulatory governance and oversight role.
Amanda is really passionate about making a difference when it comes to diversity, inclusion, and social mobility. She is excited to use her wide range of skills to influence the work of the Trust and has a particular interest in Education Pathways and Work Pathways.
Ashley Scotland
Trustee since February 2024
Ashley is an accomplished Chief Executive with over 8 years’ experience of working in the third sector and her focus on support and advocacy is demonstrated through the creation of Thriving Survivors, a charitable organisation established in 2016.
Ashley herself is a living illustration of the three-stage research demonstrating that a sense of purpose in life is associated with both recovery and resilience in trauma survivors. Building on her experience, Ashley developed the charity and all of its services with lived experience and the voices of survivors at the heart of it all.
A true entrepreneur, Ashley is a powerful force in the workplace and uses her positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Ashley was responsible for the successful delivery of a National Consultation on behalf of the Scottish Government to better understand the level of demand, as well as the views of survivors of domestic and sexual abuse on the topic of Restorative Justice. Ashley has since gone on to design, develop and implement a national restorative justice service for survivors of sexual violence.
In eight short years, Ashley has grown Thriving Survivors into a national charity and has created a brand that is internationally recognised.
Dr Wendy Wu
Trustee since February 2024
Wendy was born and raised in rural China before moving to the UK in 1999.
She holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh Business School, a comparative study on funding models, ranging from venture philanthropy to impact investment.
Wendy currently works for Edinburgh Napier University as both a lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and an Enterprise Manager, in the latter role she has advised over 300 businesses and delivered training for over 1000 entrepreneurs. In 2020, she established the Edinburgh Napier University Impact Investment Symposium, an ongoing initiative fostering collaboration among investors, philanthropists, academics, and social entrepreneurs.
Prior to her current role, she enjoyed a varied career, amongst other roles she was the CEO of an International Charity, a business owner, and a funding Education Officer for the Scottish Arts Council.
In her spare time, Wendy enjoys writing poetry, meditating, and working on her allotment.
Speaking about the appointments, our Chair, Mark Batho, said: “Everyone at The Robertson Trust is delighted to warmly welcome Khadija, Joanna, Amanda, Ashley and Wendy to our Board of Trustees. When we began recruitment for our new Trustees last Autumn, it was important to us to ensure that our board reflects diverse backgrounds, skills and experiences. Our new Board members bring with them a true wealth of experience and connections, alongside a real ambition to build solutions to poverty and trauma in Scotland. We are all very much looking forward to working with our new colleagues in the coming years."
Our Chief Executive, Jim McCormick, said: "When we began our search for new Trustees, we wanted to build on the skills and experiences around the Board table and significantly widen our reach. It is more than three years since our mission to build solutions to poverty and trauma in Scotland started. In that time, a cost-of-living crisis followed hard on the heels of the pandemic, creating new risks as well as intensifying familiar hardships. It is the toughest of times for many of the people and places we are here to serve. I am delighted that our recruitment goals have been more than met. We look forward to Khadija, Joanna, Amanda, Ashley and Wendy challenging our ways of working, as well as broadening our combined know-how and connections across Scotland."