THE OSS board welcomed new members in September with skills and expertise in areas of data and technical analysis, and legal and business development, in Rhona MacLennan and Gregor Angus.
Rhona is currently Principal Solutions Architect at The Data Lab innovation centre, where she established and leads the TORCH Business Advisory Service to guide businesses towards becoming data driven.
She helps to connect companies from all sectors with specialist data and data technology suppliers, having enjoyed a career with a host of leading companies across Europe, including BP, Shell, Cisco Systems, Nike, HBOS, CapGemini, Heineken and Edrington.
As well as her sharp insight to how we can use data better to drive insights and inform stakeholders from government to local levels, Rhona has also been an avid sports fan throughout her fan, particularly in athletics, golf and hockey, where she continues to support Scottish Hockey as an international age-grade coach.
Gregor Angus is Senior Business Development Manager with Amiqus, the market leading compliance platform for Anti-Money Laundering and pre-employment vetting, which services law firms, accountants, financial services and public sector clients throughout the UK. Gregor qualified as a solicitor and worked with Drummond Miller, Digby Brown and Anderson Strathern before moving into business development in recent years.
Similarly, Gregor is passionate about community sport and the benefits it can bring to Scotland’s health and wellbeing. A keen international swimmer as a youngster, he also enjoyed badminton, tennis, hockey and golf, and benefited from a golf scholarship at college in the US. In more recent years, his interests turned to triathlon, and he represented Great Britain at the European Age Group Triathlon Championships in 2012, before going on to direct the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling and create and lead two new running events – the Lochore 10k and House of Binns 5k, which aim to encourage all ages and abilities to take part in running in Scotland’s great outdoors.
Stepping down from the Board after four years is Henrik Brandt and Glen Gilson. Henrik was a a driving force in the creation of the OSS in 2016, his role as director of the Danish Institute of Sport Studies (IDAN) having provided insight and experience of the ability of a research institute to help inform and positively influence national delivery of sport in order to engage all ages and abilities, and widen health benefits. Henrik has since left IDAN and started his own European sports consultancy business, but he will remain a key part of the OSS Research Advisory Group, providing contactwith and insights from Scandinavian in particular.
Glen Gilson of Gilson Gray joined the OSS in 2019, bringing his legal and business experience to the organisation, however, the demands of business expansion of the firm has forced him to step down at this time.
OSS Chairman Geoff Aberdein said: “We offer heartfelt thanks to Henrik and Glen for the work they have done in supporting the creation, in terms of Henrik, and the development of the OSS, with both, into a strong, well-connected and respected organisation that is able to tap into the Scottish and European landscapes, engage with business and drive positive change.
“We are delighted to welcome Rhona and Gregor, who both bring particular expertise in data, analysis and business that will help us to strengthen the OSS further as we go through a crucial period for Scotland. Their experience will be valuable in helping stakeholders from government to local levels understand how they can re-shape, re-think and re-focus support for community sport to help our people and economy recover from the Covid pandemic, and Scotland become a healthier, more active nation.”
View the whole OSS Board here.
Thought Piece from Charlie Raeburn for Reform Scotland