It is now well documented that one of the silver linings to come out of the pandemic period has been the increase in individuals stepping forward to adopt voluntary roles to support and assist Charities and Community Groups.
Ian Ross, HLH Chair, has welcomed new Board members
High Life Highland has been no exception in attracting new voluntary Directors applications during this period, with the Charity making three new appointments in the last week.
HLH Board Chair, Ian Ross said, “I am delighted to be welcoming three extremely capable and talented individuals in David Finlayson, Nick Finnigan and Kirk Tudhope to sit as non-executive Directors.
“High Life Highland is a very large charity managing a financial turnover in excess of £30million and supporting over 8million customers pre-pandemic. It is therefore vitally important to have experienced Directors, not only to support and assist our Executive Management Team, but also to manage, monitor and scrutinise the affairs of the charity, as would be expected by the Scottish charity regulator.”
Both David Finlayson and Nick Finnigan will join the charity board at its next meeting.
David Finlayson, formerly Chair of the Trading Company moves to the Charity Board
Inverness man, David Finlayson, a retired orthopaedic surgeon has served on several boards at regional, national and international level and brings a great deal of understanding in the local health and care services. To date David has also Chaired the Charity’s Trading Company Board but will step down from this role to take up his new position.
Having personal interests in cycling, sailing, piping and country dancing, commenting on joining the Charity board David said, “I look forward to working with my fellow Directors on the Board. HLH is all about giving people opportunities and literally everything the charity does is in some way linked to health and wellbeing. I really want HLH to continue being the standard to which other arms-length organisations aspire to.”
Nick Finnigan was appointed to the Charity Board as a non-executive Director
Nick Finnigan, who is based in the capital, was previously Executive Manager of Edinburgh Castle – Scotland’s most iconic visitor attraction.
Amongst many other attributes, Nick brings extensive senior management experience in tourism, visitor operations, events and hospitality and stakeholder engagement to his new non-exec role with High Life Highland.
On his appointment, Nick commented, “I look forward to joining the board and contributing to High Life Highland. I am happy to use my skills and experience to support the development and growth of the charity and to ‘give something back’ to a sector, within which I have enjoyed working for many years.”
Kirk Tudhope has been appointed to the Trading Company
Kirk Tudhope, a partner with nationwide legal firm Ledingham Chalmers LLP and who is head of the firm’s employment unit has been appointed to the Charity’s Trading Company. He brings a wealth of experience gained on Boards, including periods as Chair of Highland Hospice and ILM (Highland).
The solicitor from Inverness, who has a personal interest in music, particularly collecting vinyl, walking his dog and supporting Kilmarnock Football Club – albeit from a safe distance said, “Culture and leisure are so vitally important to the physical, as well as the economic wellbeing of the Highlands so I am looking forward to joining the Board and playing a role in HLH’s development at such a critical time.”
The Charity Chair, Ian Ross concluded, “I very much welcome David, Kirk and Nick into High Life Highland and look forward to working with them as the organisation emerges from the pandemic and embarks on what is undoubtedly going to be one of its most challenging phases ever. High Life Highland will continue to deliver high quality and accessible services across the Highlands, which are perhaps even more important than ever in terms of supporting the health and wellbeing of those in the communities we serve.”
