Public appointment: Interim co-Chairs appointed to the Board of the Scottish Funding Council

The Minister for Higher and Further Education and; Minister for Veterans today announced the appointment of Lorna Jack and Professor Cara Aitchison as co-Chairs of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) on an interim basis. This will ensure continuity while a further appointment round is run for a Chair to succeed Mike Cantlay, who stands down on 2 April 2025.  

Co-Chairs 

Lorna Jack has served as a member of the SFC Board since November 2019, and has served as Deputy Chair since December 2021.  
Lorna brings strategic and financial skills, and extensive experience of chairing public and private sector boards and engaging stakeholders, to this role. She currently chairs the board of WBG Group, a private sector company offering accountancy services across the UK. Since 2017 she has chaired the Board of Highland and Islands Airports Ltd, a company owned by the Scottish Government, running a network of 11 airports and prior to that she chaired its Audit Committee. She has been a member of the Board of the Scottish Funding Council since November 2019 and has served as Deputy Chair and Chair of its Finance Committee for the past 3 years. Since 2022 she has served as the Honorary Consul for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Scotland and in 2024 became the Secretary of the Consular Corps, a voluntary association which brings together the diplomatic community in Scotland.  As an executive, Lorna previously ran the Law Society of Scotland as its CEO until she stepped down in January 2022. A chartered accountant and a graduate of Aberdeen University, Lorna briefly served on the Court of the University in 2018/19. 

Professor Aitchison has served as a member of the SFC Board since June 2024. She is an established higher education leader with a track record of delivering programmes of organisational and sector-wide transformation. She served for over a decade as a University President and Vice-Chancellor (University Principal) in England and Wales, having previously been Head of Moray House School of Education at The University of Edinburgh. 

Most recently, Professor Aitchison was President and Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff Metropolitan University (2016 -2024) where she led a successful programme of financial growth and cultural transformation recognised in a series of national and international awards including: ‘UK and Ireland University of the Year 2021’ (Times Higher Education, 2021) and ‘Most Sustainable UK University 2022/23’ (People and Planet, 2022). She was also named one of only two ‘Business Heroes of Covid-19’ from the education sector by Business Leader (July-August 2020) and is committed to working in partnership with staff, students, business, industry and government. 

Professor Aitchison, who was appointed to the Board of the Scottish Funding Council in June 2024, also holds current Scottish Government public appointments on the Boards of Visit Scotland and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and was previously a member of the Scottish Government Commission on Rural Education. Her recent Council member roles include the Confederation of British Industry, Wales (CBI Cymru) (2018-24), All Party Parliamentary Universities Group (2022-24), and Academy of Social Sciences (2015-21). She has chaired a range of education and research bodies and committees over more than 20 years including, most recently, a Quality and Qualifications Ireland Institutional Review Panel (2024), Welsh Government-Universities Wales’ Ukraine Higher Education Sector Group (2022-2024), Universities UK’s Advisory Group on Staff-Student Sexual Misconduct (2018-2022), and the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) Panel for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism (2010-2014). 

Professor Aitchison has been a Director of two research centres (University of Gloucestershire and UWE Bristol) and her research focuses on the role of education, culture, tourism and renewable energy in developing sustainable places, inclusive societies, and international relations. She is currently Honorary Professor in Education, Geography and Cultural Economy at Edinburgh University and Professor Emerita at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Professor Aitchison, who grew up in Stirling where she now lives again with her partner, has a degree in Geography from Edinburgh University, a PhD in Social Science from Bristol University, two further postgraduate degrees and a teaching qualification. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Academy of Social Sciences, Royal Geographical Society, Learned Society of Wales, and the Higher Education Academy.

Appointment 

These appointments will run from 2 April 2025 to 31 October 2025. At the conclusion of this appointment, Lorna Jack and Professor Aitchison will resume their existing appointments as SFC board members.  

These appointments are regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.  

Remuneration 

These appointments are part-time and attract a remuneration of £501.09 for a time commitment of 52 days per year.   

Other ministerial appointments 

Lorna Jack is Chair of the Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd, for which she receives remuneration of £338.92 per day, for a time commitment of six days per month.  

Professor Aitchison is a member of the Board of Visit Scotland, for which she receives remuneration of £356 per day, for a time commitment of two days per month. She is also a member of the Board of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. This role is unremunerated and has a time commitment of two days per month.  

Political activity 

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.  However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public.    

Lorna Jack and Professor Aitchison have had no political activity within the last five years.  

Background 

The Scottish Funding Council is the non-departmental public body responsible for Scotland's further and higher education institutions, including its 24 colleges and 19 universities. The SFC is helping make Scotland the best place in the world to educate, to research and to innovate. Investing around £1.9 billion of public money each year, SFC’s funding enables Scotland’s colleges and universities to provide life-changing opportunities for over half a million people.