Public appointments: members reappointed to board of VisitScotland

Members reappointed to the board of VisitScotland

The Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, Ivan McKee, today announced the reappointment of Professor Anne Anderson, Rebecca Brooks and Caroline Roxburgh as Members of the Board of VisitScotland.

Professor Anne Anderson has considerable experience working internationally to market Scotland as a top destination for study and visits, as former Vice Principal at the Universities of Dundee and Glasgow. She has acquired experience of managing risk and has served on effective audit and risk committees in a variety of organisations, including, VisitScotland. Through her work with UNESCO, Professor Anderson has helped develop the UNESCO – Scotland Trail – a global first, showcasing Scotland’s 13 UNESCO destinations in a way that reflects responsible tourism. She has considerable experience of Governance in public bodies.

Rebecca Brooks is Managing Director of Abbey UK and a director/owner of the Abbey Group. A graduate of St Andrews University graduating in Modern History, she has worked in international inbound tourism since 2001. In addition, she is a non-Executive Director of the Scottish Tourism Alliance and has recently been appointed as a non-executive director of UK In-bound. Ms Brooks was also a member of the Scottish Government appointed Tourism Recovery Taskforce during the Covid-19 pandemic. She is a former chair of the Scottish Destination Management Association and was voted one of Scotland’s 100 women in Tourism in 2018 and 2020.

Caroline Roxburgh is a Chartered Accountant, a former partner at PwC and a non-executive director on the boards of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She has over 30 years business, finance and audit experience in a number of industries and sectors bringing extensive experience to the board. Her experience as a senior board advisor, assurance partner and Chartered Accountant bring valuable business, financial governance and risk management skills to the board which enables her to assess the financial position of VisitScotland, to lead discussions regarding the organisation’s risk management framework and risk appetite and contribute to the development of the organisation’s strategy. Mrs Roxburgh is the current Chair of VisitScotland’s Audit and Risk Committee.

Reappointments

Mrs Roxburgh will be reappointed for three years from 1 September 2021 until 31 August 2024.  Professor Anderson and Ms Brooks will be reappointed for two years from 1 December 2021 until 30 November 2023.

The reappointments are regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.

Remuneration and time commitment

Members of the VisitScotland Board receive £343.12 per day for a time commitment of two days per month.

Other ministerial appointments

Professor Anderson, Ms Brooks and Mrs Roxburgh do not hold any other public appointments.

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.

Professor Anderson, Ms Brooks and Mrs Roxburgh have not undertaken any political activity in the last five years.

VisitScotland

VisitScotland is the Scottish Government Non-Departmental Public Body responsible for promoting the interests of the tourism industry across Scotland. It has wide statutory powers to promote tourism and has a budget of around £50 million per annum. It is funded in part by the Scottish Government, and the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise makes appointments to the Board which currently has six members including the Chair, Lord Thurso

VisitScotland has a strategic role as the public sector agency providing leadership and direction for the development of Scottish tourism to get the maximum economic benefit for Scotland. Its core purpose is to grow and develop the sustainable economic benefit of tourism to Scotland’s visitor economy. 

VisitScotland has played a key role in supporting the sector through the pandemic and is now moving from direct involvement and delivery of sector business support to focus on recovery work. The objective of this recovery work is to ensure the sector in on track to achieve the objectives of Scotland’s National Tourism Strategy, Outlook 2030.

VisitScotland is a national organisation. Local activities are organised around six regions (aligned to Highland and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise regions). Each region includes several local offices.