Liz Leonard (Chair)
Liz holds a degree in English from the University of Birmingham. On graduation she worked in the public and charity sectors before starting her media career at a commercial radio station in Nottingham. From there she joined the BBC, where she worked in local TV and radio. This was followed by a move to Manchester, where she spent a number of years as Series Producer across a wide range of factual programmes and documentaries. In 2006, Liz moved to BBC Scotland as Executive Producer of a team responsible for increasing digital awareness and participation among children and adults. She has run her own media consultancy since leaving the BBC in 2009. Liz is a non-executive director of Crown Estate Scotland and a member of Changing the Chemistry, a charity which is dedicated to increasing diversity on boards. She lives in Glasgow.
Liz joined the Board on 1 February 2013 & her appointment runs until 31 January 2021.
Carmel Teusner
Carmel works as a Non-Executive Director and Organisational Development Consultant. Her background spans a broad range of industries and sectors. She has held senior management roles in FTSE 100 and ASX 100 companies including Westpac, Lloyds Banking Group and Sky plc. Before moving to the Highlands, she was Group Head of Organisational Development for UGL, one of Australia’s leading engineering and outsourced services companies.
Carmel is a Member of the Board of Scottish Enterprise, Trustee of Disability Snowsport UK, Director of consultancy firm Akuiti Ltd. and former Director of software firm Azalient Ltd. She holds an MSc in Organisational Behaviour from University of London and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.
Carmel joined the Board on 1 February 2018. Her appointment runs until 31 January 2021.
David Connolly
David was born and raised in Glasgow and graduated from Strathclyde University in 1980. He spent most of his working life in London, initially working for media sales companies, including Business Press, Trinity Mirror and STV.
David then joined the Media Agency side as a negotiator of advertising media deals with IDK Media before moving to Leo Burnett, where he became Head of Media Negotiations on all accounts including P&G, McDonald’s, UB and HJ Heinz. He then became joint Managing Director of the UK office of global media company, Starcom, in 1999.
In 2003, David was appointed by Ofcom to be the first TV Adjudicator where he had the task of overseeing the undertakings that allowed the merger of Carlton and Granada to form ITV plc. This role involved working closely with all of the UK’s advertisers, broadcasters and media agencies.
David returned to Scotland in 2007 as Commercial Director of STV, before joining the start-up, software company, TVSquared. He is currently the owner of business consultancy company DPFC Ltd. He has lectured in Negotiation Skills at Strathclyde University and spent four years on the Strathclyde Board of Crimestoppers.
David has a 16 year-old son and lives in Glasgow. David joined the Board on 1 February 2018 and his appointment runs until 31 January 2021.
Laura Anderson
Laura holds a degree in Mathematics from Heriot-Watt University and started her career with Dunfermline Building Society as a Business Analyst. Following roles working with the society’s agency network, third-party proposition partners and the branch network, Laura progressed her career with Nationwide Building Society following their acquisition of Dunfermline BS.
Laura continued to progress her career in senior executive roles within the branch network, before leaving in 2017 as a Regional Director to set up her own Business Consultancy specialising in organisational and cultural change. She is currently engaged with CYBG working on the Virgin Money branch integration programme.
Laura holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School and a Law degree from Strathclyde University. Her specialisms are organisational behaviour, leadership and engagement. She has a passion for inclusion and is proud to serve on the Advisory Committee for Scotland.
Laura lives in Dunfermline with her husband Jonathan. She joined the Board on 1 February 2018 and her appointment runs until 31 January 2023.
Stephen Speirs
Stephen has worked for Cisco Systems since 2000. Before this he worked for Atlantech Technologies Ltd, a UK network management start-up that was acquired by Cisco.
Stephen’s earlier career included roles as Sales and Customer Support manager with Objective Software Technology Ltd and as a System Software, R&D Software and Software Engineer for Sun Microsystems, JVC Manufacturing and Honeywell Control Systems. His roles at Cisco have been in Product Management and Network Management and latterly he has been an Advanced Services/ Customer Experience Product Manager covering data centres, cloud and networking professional services.
Stephen joined the Board on 1 May 2019. His appointment runs until 30 April 2022.
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As well as the appointed Members of the Advisory Committee, the Content Board Member, and the Communications Consumer Panel Member for the respective Nations are invited to attend Advisory Committee Meetings.
In Scotland this is:
- Amanda Britain - Communications Consumer Panel
- Maggie Cunningham - Content Board
