Speakers
Dominic Munro

Director for Fair Work, Employability and Skills, Scottish Government
Dominic is the Director for Fair Work, Employability and Skills in the Scottish Government. The directorate leads on a wide range of labour market policy issues including employability, apprenticeships, skills development, youth employment, fair work and the living wage. Dominic is the senior official responsible for the new devolved employability service, Fair Start Scotland.
Dominic’s career has spanned a range of policy areas. He has led various divisions in the Scottish Government: Better Homes Division, Sustainable Housing & Innovative Finance; Communities Analytical Services; and Justice Analytical Services Division. In the latter role he led the development of Scotland’s first over-arching justice strategy. He has also led the Scottish Government’s central economic team, covering macroeconomic and fiscal analysis, and has worked on the development of Scotland’s international strategy.
Dominic has also worked in various UK Government departments on areas including: international finance and globalisation for HM Treasury; as a specialist in Middle East and African risk in the UK’s export finance agency; and on oil and regional policy in the Department for Trade & Industry.
Dominic is the Director for Fair Work, Employability and Skills in the Scottish Government. The directorate leads on a wide range of labour market policy issues including employability, apprenticeships, skills development, youth employment, fair work and the living wage. Dominic is the senior official responsible for the new devolved employability service, Fair Start Scotland.
Dominic’s career has spanned a range of policy areas. He has led various divisions in the Scottish Government: Better Homes Division, Sustainable Housing & Innovative Finance; Communities Analytical Services; and Justice Analytical Services Division. In the latter role he led the development of Scotland’s first over-arching justice strategy. He has also led the Scottish Government’s central economic team, covering macroeconomic and fiscal analysis, and has worked on the development of Scotland’s international strategy.
Dominic has also worked in various UK Government departments on areas including: international finance and globalisation for HM Treasury; as a specialist in Middle East and African risk in the UK’s export finance agency; and on oil and regional policy in the Department for Trade & Industry.
Sandy Begbie

Global Integration Director, Standard Life Aberdeen
Sandy Begbie is responsible for the Global People, Organisation & Culture Integration since the successful merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management on 14 August 2017. He is also the Lead Executive for the Joint Venture Heng An Standard Life in China and the Asia business based in Hong Kong. Sandy joined Standard Life in May 2010 as the Group Transformation Director. Awarded ‘Most Influential HR Director in the UK 2016’ and ‘One of the 10 Most Influential HR Directors of the Decade in 2015’. After 3 years as Chairman of Career Ready in Scotland Sandy has recently been appointed as Chairman of the National Board covering all 4 UK nations, He also Chairs the Scottish Advisory Board (SAB) and the new Regional Developing Young Workforce (DYW) group to tackle Edinburgh and Lothian youth unemployment, and was appointed as a NED to the Open University Board in 2016.
Professor Rona Beattie

Professor of Human Resource Development, Glasgow Caledonian University
Rona S Beattie is Professor of Human Resource Development (HRD) in the Department of Business Management, Glasgow School for Business and Society, Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland.
Rona has published widely in HRM, HRD and public management journals and book, presented many papers at international conferences and is a member of a number of journal editorial boards. Her teaching and research interests are diverse including healthcare management, employee engagement, voluntary sector leadership, coaching, mentoring, the role of line managers as facilitators of workplace learning, HRM in public service organizations (working with colleagues from Australia, Italy, Greece, Romania, France etc) and People Security (working with colleagues from the USA). Rona is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD), a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and a member of the University Forum for Human Resource Development (UFHRD). She is a member of the CIPD’s Policy Forum and Research Ethics Committee. In her free time Rona serves on the board of the Scottish Hockey Union.
Prior to entering Higher Education Rona worked in local government firstly as a Careers Officer in Education, and then as a Training Officer in HRM at HQ.
Michael Hughes

Regional Ambassador Scotland, Engage for Success
Michael Hughes is Regional Ambassador for Engage For Success, and Founder of Orbit Engage. His mission is to promote the benefits of employee engagement throughout Scotland to all business sectors.
For more than twenty years he has helped businesses across the UK to become better places to work, improving welfare and productivity including PLCs, SMEs and professional services, in a wide variety of sectors.
Through his successful track record Michael's ability to understand organisations from all angles is clear.As a business owner he knows first hand the tough decisions and risks that go with running a business. He was also Honorary Consul for the Netherlands for 9 years which provided a unique and extraordinary insight into the workings of government, foreign office, national institutions and the Scottish Establishment.
Michael is a straightforward, pragmatic and original thinker, not restrained by convention and has a tendency to go straight to the core of an issue.
He has three children, divorced and lives in Edinburgh. He is a member of The Merchant Company of Edinburgh, and Institute of Directors.
Dr John McGurk

Head of Regional Policy and Insights, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)
After a varied career from driving trains through roles as an academic and strategically advising unions, Dr McGurk joined CIPD in 2007. Starting in Research and Policy as skills and learning adviser, he progressed to lead CIPD’s research on learning and talent development delivering a wide range of research from E learning to analytics, innovation and pioneered CIPD work on behavioural science. Appointed Head of CIPD Scotland in October 2013, he has been at the forefront of developing CIPD’s approach to the labour market – and collaborations with business, government, the education sector, trade unions and other professional bodies. He is now Head of Regional Policy and Insights and supports devolved countries and the North of England on labour market and policy issues working alongside our Regional Heads to bring CIPD’s policy, insight and professional offer to our members and stakeholders.
Anna Ritchie Allan

Executive Director, Close The Gap
Anna Ritchie Allan is Executive Director of Close the Gap, Scotland’s national policy and advocacy organisation working on women’s labour market participation. She participates in a range of Scottish public body equality advisory groups, and external policy working groups related to women and work. She is also chair of the board of Glasgow & Clyde Rape Crisis Centre, and a member of the executive committee of the Scottish Women’s Budget Group.
Stephen McAllister

Associate, Headtorch
After graduating from University in 1986 with an Honours degree in Psychology I joined Strathclyde Police, I retired in 2017 as Divisional Commander of Forth Valley Division.
An eclectic career allowed me to gain experience in a mixture of uniform and specialist posts including Counter Terrorism.
I completed an Msc in Forensic and Legal Psychology while a serving officer.
I was a Police Crisis and Hostage Negotiator for 16 year and a member of the directing staff on a number of negotiator training courses. I was a member of the UK’S International Negotiating Cadre for several years supporting HMG in the management of a number of international hostage situations.
I also operated as a Force Mediator, Trauma Incident Manager and Post Incident Manger during my Police Service gaining significant experience in crisis management.
My experience in crisis management and the success of Police Negotiators in saving life through the use of active listening skills, rapport, empathy encouraged me to look at the wider use such skills may have in producing a positive working environment, improving performance and reducing absence.
Working with Headtorch has allowed me to continue the journey of encouraging positive attitudes to mental health in the work place.
Andrew McNeill

Global Talent Development Manager, Fugro
Andrew has worked in the offshore oil & gas industry for over 30 years since graduating with an honours degree in Surveying from Glasgow University in 1983. Since 1998, he has worked for Fugro, a multinational earth science and engineering consultancy, holding the position of Chief Surveyor of the Offshore Survey Division until the end of 2008.
Having co-founded The Fugro Academy in 2006 and managed Fugro’s corporate training as well as offshore survey and subsea services training programmes since that time, he took on the role of Global Learning & Development Manager in 2009. In July 2013, he was appointed Global Talent Development Manager as part of a new Global HR team.
Councillor Lorna Binnie

Councillor, Falkirk Council
First elected in 2016 as a Councillor for Falkirk South at the age of 60.
Lorna also works in Government and has done so for 40 years though secured career breaks in employment. These breaks were caring for family and supporting partner with his career by accompanying him whilst working abroad.
Previous member of the STUC Women’s Committee and has spoken out on many occasions on issues relating to women.
Been part of a National Equality Group and passionately believes in Social Justice, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
Loves campaigning and fighting injustice and the last 3 years supporting a Local Group of Waspi women – empowering women in the community.
Grandma, Mother, Sister, Aunt, Friend, Colleague, Councillor and disruptive Woman.
Bruce Walcroft

Solution Consultant Team Lead, CoreHR
Bruce is the Solution Consultant Team Lead at CoreHR with a specific focus on Talent Management. Bruce has been working in the industry for over 10 years and is passionate about using smarter HR technology to increase efficiency, empower employees, improve culture and ultimately help businesses achieve their organisational goals.
Leigh Goggins

Enterprise Sales Manager, CoreHR
Leigh is CoreHR's Enterprise Sales Expert for the Public Sector. He has been working in the industry for over 10 years and is passionate about using smarter HR technology to increase efficiency, empower employees, improve culture and ultimately help businesses achieve their organisational goals.
Robert Doherty-Bigara

Public Sector Solutions Manager, Softworks
Robert Doherty-Bigara is Public Sector Solutions Manager at Softworks. Softworks assists public and private sector organisations to manage employee hours, flexitime, rosters, holidays and absences. Robert specialises in partnering with public sector organisations and assisting them to manage the working day in a way that makes them more productive and efficient. He helps organisations to find ways to streamline processes, increase productivity and reduce costs through improved management, scheduling and utilisation of labour resources.
John Halifax

Public Sector Manager, Edenred
With a background in Training and Account Management, John joined Edenred over 10 years ago. Since then he has worked extensively with both Private and Public Sector Clients, to develop and implement Reward and Recognition strategies, designed to Engage, Motivate and Retain staff.
As Edenred’s Public Sector Manger, specialising in Frameworks, John has worked closely with Major Government Departments, NHS Trusts, Councils and Universities to deliver the type of Benefit Programmes previously only available to the Private Sector.
Kate Connor, MSc (HRD),ChFCIPD, FInstLM

Director, Kate Connor Consulting
Kate has over 25 years leadership and management experience gained in the private, public, and voluntary sectors. Her career has included being Scottish Head of HR for a care charity, Head of Service in local government and a university lecturer. In 2010, she established her consultancy company and has since worked on various change initiatives with a diverse range of organisations.
Her voluntary roles have included Trustee of Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action and Vice Chair of CIPD Scotland.
With a Masters in HRD she is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management and a retired Companion of the Institute of Customer Service.
A seasoned conference contributor and host, Kate has worked with Holyrood events for two years.
Despite now being semi-retired she maintains her interest in personal development and is currently learning Spanish and flamenco dancing in her other home in Spain!