Teachers Scheme Advisory Board

As General Secretary of The Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland for over ten years, Greg has had a keen interest in the Scottish Teachers’ Superannuation Scheme. He has participated in meetings on the development and reform of the scheme for many years through membership of the Management Advisory Group and, more recently, as a member of the Scottish Teachers’ Pensions Negotiating Group and its technical sub-group.

David Barnett was recently appointed as National Officer for School Leaders Scotland, replacing Neil Shaw, current Field Officer for SLS. David is a former President of SLS and has had a career in Scottish Education since 1991. David is stepping down from his current post as Headteacher of Cults Academy, having previously been HT at Buckie HS, then Elgin Academy. David has been an Associate Assessor with Education Scotland and represented SLS on the SQA Advisory Council and the Curriculum and Assessment Board.

Des has been a class teacher in East Renfrewshire for 18 years and is currently seconded full-time to the EIS as the Local Association Secretary for East Renfrewshire. He’s a member of the Scottish Teachers’ Pension Scheme, convenor of the EIS Salaries Committee and joint chair of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers. He also holds the position of joint chair of East Renfrewshire Local Negotiating Committee for Teachers, and is an elected teacher representative on East Renfrewshire Council’s Education Committee.

Stuart has been appointed to the role of Assistant Secretary (Employment Relations) with the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS). As part of his role, he is the servicing official for the Salaries Committee, which has responsibility for pensions related matters within the EIS.

Mary is the Scotland Official for the University and College Union, the largest trade union in post-16 education in the UK, and the largest union representing lecturers in higher education in Scotland. She has held this post since September 2009 and is responsible for the bargaining, industrial and organising priorities of the union in Scotland. Prior to taking up the posts with UCU, she was an Assistant Secretary with the Scottish Trades Union Congress for six years with wide ranging responsibilities including education, equality and international policy matters.

Mary has also worked for Unison Scotland in its policy and information team and for the GMB union. She has been involved in pensions negotiations, including the recent Scottish Teachers’ Superannuation Scheme, ensuring members in higher education institutions are effectively represented in discussions, and that members in universities are kept fully informed of developments. UCU also has members covered by the Universities Superannuation Scheme, and so Mary has knowledge of this scheme and how it operates, and has been involved in campaigning and working with members and employers in the scheme changes. As a trade union official, she provides advice to members about their pensions and changes affecting them. Mary’s background in equality work is helpful in terms of understanding and addressing the way pension provisions impact on different groups.

After a period working in financial services in a high street bank, Euan trained as an RE teacher in 1994 before undertaking further training in 2000 to become a Principal Teacher of Pastoral Support. Since he began his teaching career, Euan has contributed to the STSS. He is the SSTA’s North Ayrshire District Secretary, and in recent years has been a member of the SSTA National Executive, and also Convenor of the Salaries and Conditions of the Service Committee. Euan was SSTA President for 2015/2017, and in May 2017 he became immediate Past President for a period of two years.

Bio to follow

Michael has been a chemistry teacher working in West Dunbartonshire since 1978 and is now on phased retirement. He has been an active member of the EIS since 1978 and is currently the joint Local Association Secretary for West Dunbartonshire.

Stephen currently works for the EIS as a Pensions and Payroll Specialist. He has over 30 years' experience in Academic and Consultancy environments and has worked for a range of organisations such as HAYS, West Lothian College, the Forestry Commission and SRUC Edinburgh. Stephen has expertise in many areas including Payroll, Pensions, HR Systems, Project Management, Employee Relations, Recruitment and Learning and Development.  

Dougie is the Senior Professional Officer for Voice the Union and will be their representative on the Scottish Teachers’ Scheme Advisory Board.

Dougie has over 30 years’ experience of working as a civil servant for the Scottish Government in the fields of Education and HR. He also has more than five years’ experience as a trade union official.

Archie is a chartered accountant with more than 25 years’ industry experience across a range of sectors.

In the early 2000s, while working for West of Scotland Water, Archie was heavily involved in their collaboration with the other Scottish water companies leading to the merger creating Scottish Water.

Archie also spent many years at Clydesdale Bank in a number of senior finance roles during a period of great change, culminating in the demerger from NAB and listing on the Stock Exchange as an independent bank.

Archie joined the University of West Scotland as Head of Finance in March 2020, becoming Director of Finance in January 2021. Archie is passionate about maintaining the financial sustainability of the University and maximising investment in students and believes that all employees should have the confidence that they will have to access adequate pension provision.

Andy has worked in the public and charity sectors for over 20 years. He is currently working for Colleges Scotland (the membership body for all colleges in Scotland), with responsibility for finance issues related to teachers’ pension. He was also a member of the Scottish Teachers’ Pension Scheme Negotiating Group. In his previous role for COSLA, Andy was a member of the Negotiating Group responsible for overseeing financial aspects on behalf of local authorities. As such, he was fully involved in the negotiations on scheme design and governance arrangements of the new Scottish Teachers’ Pension Scheme. Andy also has wider experience of working in partnership and exercising judgement at a senior level, while understanding appropriate governance arrangements and respecting decision making processes. He’s a clear communicator and has demonstrated his ability to challenge for benefit and to think strategically. Andy also has the ability to assimilate information on complex issues, including direct experience of critically looking at actuarial information and valuations.

Stuart Bain is the Chief Officer in the COSLA Employers' Team.

Phil was elected as one of the three councillors in the Colinton/Fairmilehead Ward of Edinburgh in 2017. Phil is also an actuary and has spent most of his career working in pensions, concentrating on defined benefit schemes. Part of this has included time spent working on the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Phil will be representing COSLA on the Scheme Advisory Board.

David is currently the Convenor of the Scottish Borders Council, a Non-Executive Director of NHS Borders and Chairman of the Scottish Borders Council Pension Fund.

David is a graduate of Heriot Watt University and has been an elected Local Government Councillor since 1995. He was Depute Leader of Scottish Borders Council from 2002-03, then Leader of the Scottish Borders Council from 2003-2017. He also held the position of Leader of the Independent Members within convention of Scottish Local Authorities form 2007-2014. Along with this, David has previous experience as a Freelance IT consultant and as a Special Needs Technology Adviser at Heriot Watt University.

Alastair is currently a Councillor with Aberdeenshire Council. After nine successful years of military service, Alastair joined the financial services sector where he enjoyed an 18 year career finishing as a Senior Financial Planning Consultant with the Royal Bank of Scotland. During this time Alastair was concerned with pension systems and spent many years lecturing on the features, advantages and benefits of funded and unfunded schemes. His work was primarily to make people aware of the best use of these systems to secure strong and reliable financial outcomes in retirement.

Councillor Richardson's career in Banking & Financial Services has spanned some 35 years since joining Clydesdale Bank straight from school in the late 1980s. He currently works for AVIVA where a broad understanding of Pensions has been gained over the last few years and he holds several banking and investment Professional Qualifications. He is currently a local Councillor with East Ayrshire Council representing WARD 2 North Kilmarnock.

Cllr Murray was born and brought up in Stornoway in the Western Isles. Following University in Glasgow, she spent 35 years working in education, first as a teacher of English in Castlebay Community School in Barra, then in a number of promoted posts in The Nicolson Institute in Stornoway, and finally as Rector of that school, from 2011-2022. Throughout her teaching career Cllr Murray was involved, first as a teaching union representative and then as a manager, in collective decision making and negotiation. Her Education Doctorate focused on educational language and discourse, and communication around public policy. After retiring in 2022, Cllr Murray was subsequently elected as a local councillor to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) and is a member of the Policy & Resources Committee, the Education Committee and the Human Resources Sub Committee.

Mike was a Secondary teacher for 26 years and a member of the Scottish Teachers' Superannuation Scheme (STSS) and then the Scottish Teachers' Pension Scheme (STPS) throughout that period. He was a Union activist for much of this time, latterly being elected to the Presidential team of NASUWT across the UK. His various lay roles for NASUWT over the years necessitated accurate and intimate knowledge of teachers' pensions, including, latterly, the STPS. After becoming a full-time official with NASUWT in late 2021, Mike substituted for the NASUWT nominee on the STPSAB on a number of occasions, before being appointed as a member of the Board himself in May 2024.

As an Assistant General Secretary of the Association Iain is well placed to represent the views of scheme members.