Strategic Advisory Board

Strategic Advisory Board

What we do

Our Strategic Advisory Board helps guide and challenge our Chief Executive. They also make sure our work is transparent and effective, helping us to achieve our goals.

Who’s involved

Below is a list of our advisers in alphabetical order.

Clea Warner

Clea Warner 

Clea brings more than two decades of transformational leadership experience, working alongside local communities to deliver sustainable benefits to both charitable assets in her care and the local area. She led the strategic development of an extensive property portfolio for English Heritage, consisting of twenty-two historic properties. As the National Trust for Scotland’s Regional Director for the Highlands and Islands region she is responsible for a varied portfolio of 26 sites that includes eleven island properties, including the UK’s only dual UNESCO World Heritage Site St Kilda.
 Gio D'Alessio.

Gio D'Alessio 

Giovanni is an IT professional with over 25 years' industry experience and spent his early career as a management consultant -initially in the USA, before relocating to the UK. He has worked in a variety of industries, including retail, manufacturing, telecoms, energy. Giovanni, a member of the Board of the Ecology Building Society since 2022, brings a wealth of knowledge and skills in the areas of Technology, Digital Transformation and Cyber Security. Giovanni was previously the CEO of Doosan Digital Innovation Europe from 2014 until March 2025, a company delivering Digital and Cybersecurity services to customers in a variety of sectors. 
Jo OHara

Jo O’Hara

Jo brings a wealth of private, public and third sector experience, including her previous role as Chief Executive of Forestry Commission Scotland and Scotland’s Chief Forester, as well as being vice-chair of influential environmental charity Changeworks.  Through her consultancy and leadership roles her remit and knowledge extends across land use, environmental, social and economic aspects across the UK and more widely in Europe. She remains integrated in the forestry sector as a Council Member and Trustee of the Institute of Chartered Foresters (ICF).
Lyndon Jones 1

Lyndon Jones 

Lyndon brings an extensive experience of leadership and transformation developed over his career in the Royal Air Force and Civil Service both in the UK and abroad. As the Programme Director for projects on the Government Major Projects Portfolio he has led and developed solutions integrating all aspects of a capability into operational service and as Programme Director for Astra, led transformation aimed across the entire Royal Air Force. Residing in Inverness, Lyndon has most recently led a large infrastructure programme in Moray.
 Maf Smith.

Maf Smith 

Maf is a founding director of specialist consultancy Lumen Energy & Environment supporting a range of clients understand renewables policy & industrial strategy. He has led numerous policy and sector reports including Bill of Works for UK Steel; Celtic Sea Blueprint for The Crown Estate and the Strategic Investment Assessment for SOWEC. He has been part of the wider team supporting UK offshore wind supply chain growth through work such as the Supply Chain Capability Analysis and Regional Growth Prospectuses, and was part of the team that designed and delivered the Strategic Investment Model in Scotland. He is Vice Chair of the Global Wind Energy Council’s Floating Offshore Wind Task Force, and Technical Adviser to Ocean Energy Pathway.
Therese O'Donnell.

Therese O’Donnell 

Therese brings varied public and private sector experience and has served on numerous Boards and Committees. This has included international experience, business and management consulting on mergers and acquisitions, organisational transformation and change, and Corporate Affairs.

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