There are currently nine members of the Board of Trustees. Their responsibilities are to oversee the management of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and to provide strategic guidance to the Senior Management. Trustees are appointed (and can be reappointed) for four yearly terms by Scottish Ministers. The Board is accountable to Scottish Ministers through the Chairman.
SIR MUIR RUSSELL KCB FRSE - Chairman
is a former Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Office and the Scottish Executive, and was the Principal of the University of Glasgow until his retirement in 2009. He is currently in his second term of appointment as chair of the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland. He is also Chairman of the Dunedin Concert Trust, a Deputy Chair of the Board of Governors of the Glasgow School of Art, and a Member of the Board of the Moredun Research Institute.
During his period as Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow from 2003 to 2009, Sir Muir was Convener of Universities Scotland, a member of the Universities UK Main Board, a Trustee of the Universities Superannuation Scheme, and a member of the UCAS Board.
Sir Muir graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1970 with a First in Natural Philosophy (Physics) and took up a career in the civil service, assigned to the Scottish Office. His civil service career included a period in Whitehall as Head of the Home Affairs Secretariat of the Cabinet Office (1990-92). He was Head of the Scottish Office Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department from 1995 to 1998, with responsibilities that included the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and membership of the BBSRC. He was appointed Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Office in 1998, following open competition, and was the first Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Executive following the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.
Sir Muir was awarded the KCB in 2001, and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2000. He has honorary degrees from the Universities of Strathclyde, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Sir Muir is married to Eileen Mackay CB FRSE (Lady Russell). They have been Patrons of the Garden since June 2002.
Mr Dennis Dick
became a Trustee in February 2009. He has spent over 50 years as a communicator in journalism, public relations and television and radio production. In his time he has started a TV company from scratch (Grampian TV), been TV Editor of Radio Times, headed up BBC PR and Publicity in the South and West of England, been in charge of the BBC in Aberdeen, run his own independent TV production company and made over 200 TV programmes in England and Scotland. He was Chairman of the Scottish Wildlife Trust from 2005-2008. He is currently a member of the Scottish Biodiversity Committee and sits on the Scottish Biodiversity Forum’s People & Communications Group. He is also Chair of the Tayside Biodiversity Partnership and a Trustee of the Perth & Kinross Quality of Life Trust. He is a member of the Forestry Commission Scotland's Regional Forestry Forum for Perth and Argyll. He lives in Perth. Other interests include designing websites, gardening, photography and hill-walking.
Mr Tim Rollinson
became a Trustee in February 2009. He joined the Forestry Commission in 1976 after completing a degree in Ecological Science at Edinburgh University. He is Director General and Deputy Chairman of the Forestry Commission. Mr Tim Rollinson worked as a forest manager in the south of England before moving to work in forestry research. He worked in a variety of policy roles including land use planning in the late 1980s when large scale commercial forestry programmes were in conflict with nature conservation interests. He has spent his subsequent career developing a sustainable approach to the management of forests in the UK and worldwide. He has represented the UK government at United Nations and international meetings, chairs the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration and is a Patron of Tree Aid, a development charity working in Africa. The focus of his current work is on the role of forests in climate change and the role of forests in improving our quality of life, especially in towns and cities. He is a past President of the Institute of Chartered Foresters, a Chartered Environmentalist, a Fellow of the Institution of Agricultural Engineers and a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute.
Ms Katrina Morrison
is Tourism Product Development Manager with Scottish Enterprise. She became a Trustee in July 2005. After graduating from Aberdeen University, Ms Morrison studied in Spain before working for Blackwells for ten years as a bookshop manager. She joined Scottish Enterprise Grampian in 1993 working on the development of a series of visitor attractions and tourism initiatives. She completed an MBA at Robert Gordon University in 1997 and left Aberdeen in 2000 to work in communications at Scottish Enterprise National.
Since 2001, she has been part of the national Scottish Enterprise tourism team where she has responsibility for tourism product development.
Her interests include folk dancing and music, learning languages and gardening.
Mrs Angela McNaught
became a Trustee in June 2008. At the RBGE she is also the Chairman of the Audit Committee. A certified Accountant with over 20 years experience working in financial roles starting as a graduate trainee at KPMG in 1987, she holds a BSc in Geography and Geology. Most recently she worked as the Finance Director of the Events & Exhibition Organising Division of Earls Court & Olympia. Mrs McNaught moved to Scotland in 2004 and has since been carrying out financial consultancy and performed voluntary work in the local community including Chair of a local play group. She is married with two daughters and her leisure pursuits currently revolve around caring for a young family.
Professor Janet Sprent OBE, FRSE
is Emeritus Professor of Plant Biology at the University of Dundee and became a Trustee in February 2007. Professor Sprent has over 40 years' experience of plant science research, with particular interest in symbiotic nitrogen fixation. An Honorary Research Fellow of the James Hutton Institute, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, she was awarded an OBE in 1996 for services to science and education. In 2002, her research in the field of ecology was recognised with an Honorary Membership of the British Ecological Society. She retired from the Board of Scottish Natural Heritage in March 2007.
Among former appointments, she was a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, and a member of RERAD Strategic Scientific Advisory Panel. Chairman of Governors of Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, a member of the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, a Council member of the Natural Environment Research Council, and Deputy Principal of the University of Dundee. With publications and collaborations across the world, Professor Sprent's research continues and her current special interest is in evolution of the Leguminosae.
Dr Ian Sword CBE, FRSE
became a Trustee in January 2007. At RBGE, he is also a Trustee of the Botanics Foundation. A scientist with experience of international business, Dr Sword studied chemistry at Glasgow, Princeton and Oxford Universities. He moved to Inveresk Research in 1973 and after becoming CEO in 1979, he subsequently led a management buy-out, then sale to SGS Geneva in 1989. He received a CBE in 2002 for services to research, education and enterprise. In 2003, Dr Sword became a Director of the private equity group Archangel Informal Investment Ltd. He has served on boards including that of the Medical Research Council, Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh, Caledonian Research Foundation, Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and LothianLux Biotech, Stem Cell Sciences and Scalar Technologies. He is currently a Trustee of Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Chair of Scottish Stem Cell Network, Honorary Professor University of Dundee, Honorary Research Fellow University of Glasgow and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Mrs Patricia Henton
became a Trustee in November 2010. She has a degree in Geology and Geography and has spent nearly all her working life in environmental protection, initially with Clyde and Forth River Purification Boards and Aspinwall & Co, a major environmental consultancy. At the latter she set up and ran successful offices in Edinburgh and Northern Ireland. In 1995 she was appointed Director of Environmental Strategy at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, becoming Chief Executive in 2000. For the last five and a half years until her recent retirement, Tricia was Director of Environment and Business at the Environment Agency, based in London. The focus of her work for the last 20 years has been in shaping the strategic direction necessary to address difficult environmental issues. She has a particular interest in the relationships between agriculture, land use and water quality.
Tricia has been a Council member or Trustee for many organisations including the RSPB and NERC Councils and Our Dynamic Earth. She is a Board member of the Coal Authority and the British Geological Survey, a past president of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Her interests in travel, hillwalking, birdwatching and gardens all combine well. She is married with two grown up children.