Our Team
Our Board of Directors
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Stuart Hay is Head of Living Streets Scotland and is Transform Scotland’s Treasurer Stuart Hay is the Scottish Director of the national walking charity Living Streets. He has worked in policy and development roles for charities and social enterprises for over 17 years. This includes work with Changeworks, Friends of the Earth Scotland, The Scottish Wildlife Trust and Help the Aged. His work has ranged from policy and influencing to developing new projects and partnership with a wide range of funders. He was a founder member of the Edinburgh Solar Coop that raised £1.4 from a community for a schools renewable project. At Living Streets he oversees a team delivering a programme of community street audits and a schools walking project which reaches over 200,000 pupils across Scotland. In 2018, he help to produce the second edition of the pedestrian pound on the economic case for investment in walking. As a director at Transform Scotland he provides strategic advice on campaigns, policy and project development. LinkedIn profile |
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Damien Henderson is Senior Regional Growth Manager at Avanti West Coast Damien has led the rail franchise’s media and stakeholder engagement in Scotland since 2013 and plays an active role in campaigning for sustainable transport. He has worked with Transform Scotland to highlight the positive role cross-border rail has played in reducing Scotland’s carbon footprint while growing passenger numbers. He recently helped establish the Glasgow Connectivity Commission, which under the chairmanship of Professor David Begg published a radical transport blueprint for Scotland’s largest city region, prioritising healthy modes of travel and public transport as well as investment in people-friendly places. Damien sits on Scottish Chambers of Commerce’s Business Advisory Group and was previously Transport Correspondent for The Herald where he covered all modes of transport. He is passionate about understanding the wider societal role transport should play driving in economic development, inclusivity, decarbonisation, better health and urban planning. LinkedIn profile |
Our Policy Forum
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Paul Tetlaw is a committee member of Capital Rail Action Group and is the Convener of Transform Scotland’s Policy Forum Paul spent most of his career in environmental management in the water industry and was formerly a General Manager with Scottish Water. He was born in Yorkshire where he started his career in the water industry before moving to Scotland in 1980. He qualified as Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of the Institution of Water and Environmental Management. He has had a long-term interest in sustainable transport and its relationship to individuals’ quality of life and the built environment. He is a member of the steering group of Capital Rail Action Group (CRAG), who he represents on the Policy Forum of Transform Scotland. Paul also represents Transform Scotland on Transport Scotland’s High-Speed Rail Partnership Group and ScotRail’s Stakeholder Advisory Panel – which he Chaired for three years from 2016 to 2019. He is on the Committee of the Scottish Association for Public Transport and was the Chair of Transform Scotland between October 2006 and October 2010. Currently Paul spends most of his time at Transform Scotland focussing on rail issues aiming to influence the agenda for rail expansion within Scotland and on cross-border services. He is particularly proud of the part that Transform Scotland played in helping to ensure that a tram system was delivered in Edinburgh. LinkedIn profile |
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Stefan Maurice is an Infrastructure Coordinator for Sustrans Scotland Stefan is an Infrastructure Coordinator for Sustrans Scotland’s Places for Everyone programme, where he supports communities and local authorities to design and create active travel infrastructure which improves health, wellbeing, and our physical environment. In 2018, Scotland’s Year of Young People, he was awarded a travel scholarship by CSGNT to examine youth engagement with sustainable urban design across the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. With a background in mathematics and a previous career in software development, Stefan was a passionate proponent of sustainable travel before volunteering and retraining to bring his skills to the transport sector. As a member of the Policy Forum, he supports and informs Transform Scotland’s work on strategic transport developments. In his spare time, Stefan enjoys exploring Scotland’s coastal paths. As a musician, Stefan can be heard in Edinburgh-based band, Hamish Hawk and the New Outfit, or organising the in-house Sustrans band. |
Our Staff
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Director: Colin Howden Colin has managed Transform Scotland since 1998. He has extensive experience in campaigns, public affairs and political relations, is a regular contributor to the Scottish media and has published widely on all aspects of sustainable transport policy and practice. As the Director of Transform Scotland, Colin has overseen the design and publication of numerous campaign reports and publications for diverse audiences, from members of the public to senior business leaders and politicians. He is particularly adept at communicating complex technical information in an easy to understand way. He has in-depth knowledge of transport policy, operations and politics in Scotland, having worked with transport companies and senior stakeholders for over fifteen years. Colin was also Board member and Treasurer of the European Federation for Transport and Environment from 2009 to 2012. He can be reached via this webform. LinkedIn profile |
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Enterprise Manager: Elspeth Wray Elspeth joined Transform Scotland in 2014 to take charge of consultancy, fundraising and membership. An experienced manager, she leads projects for Transform’s partners on everything from researching the benefits of 20mph speed limits to piloting a bike hire scheme or promoting car-free tourism. Elspeth started her career as a botanist before rapidly realising that she prefers talking to people than to plants. She spent several years as an Environmental Consultant at Wood Group, where she advised clients on stakeholder relations and corporate responsibility, before leaving for Pennsylvania and fulfilling her childhood ambition to volunteer as a Ranger for the US National Parks Service. On returning to the UK Elspeth joined the Design Council as Programme Manager, with responsibility for transforming the former government quango into an enterprising charity with diverse income. She holds a master’s degree in Global Environmental Policy from Imperial College London and the Association for Project Management Professional Certificate. Since selling her car Elspeth has rediscovered her love for buses and keeps busy at the weekends taking her family on increasingly complex bus trips around Edinburgh. LinkedIn profile |
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Fundraising Manager: Emma Margrett Emma has worked and volunteered for Transform Scotland since 2013, initially as Development Officer, then Board Member and is currently Head of Fundraising. Emma’s main role is to research, review, write and submit funding applications to support Transform’s core aims. Emma’s background isn’t sustainable transport related but financial, environmental and development. Emma represented Transform on the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund grants panel for three years and was previously on the Boards of Comrie Development Trust and New Caledonian Woodlands. She does not drive (due to emissions plus being a total liability) so her bike is the main form of transport. Emma also likes table tennis and was a founding member of the Transform table tennis club. LinkedIn profile |
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External Affairs Manager: Jess Pepper Jess is the External Affairs Manager at Transform Scotland. She is an experienced strategic communications consultant with a professional background in public affairs, research, events and engaging communication on environmental and community projects and programmes. She combines wide experience in project management with strong communication skills, expertise on Government and Parliamentary processes, community engagement, campaigns and fresh initiatives with wide audiences; and has worked with organisations including WWF Scotland, Living Streets, Scottish Water, Children’s Parliament and Transport Scotland. Jess is on the Board of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, a Climate Reality Leader/Mentor (trained by Al Gore in 2013) and a Carbon Conversations facilitator. She loves trains and electric buses! |
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Communications Officer: Rachel McFarlane Rachel performs the communication tasks for Transform, managing the social media and web platforms, while also assisting on influencing and research. She began volunteering with Transform in 2019 during her third year at the University of Glasgow, where she received an MA in Politics and Sociology with First Class Honours in 2020. It was during her degree that she became interested in environmental policy and communications, deciding to write her dissertation on the role played by social media in engaging members of the public in climate activism. Rachel loves to be outdoors, particularly when she is sitting on the top deck of the CalMac service to the Outer Hebrides. LinkedIn Profile |
Our Volunteers
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Policy Advisor: Nigel Bagshaw Nigel’s job is to monitor Edinburgh City Council’s implementation of the tram project and any other transport plans and issues affecting the city. He has long been involved in transport issues as a local environmental campaigner. Nigel also served as a councillor on Edinburgh City Council from 2012 to 2017 where he spoke for the Green group on transport and planning matters and sat on the Board of Transport for Edinburgh. He spends a lot of time travelling by public transport throughout Europe, particularly the east, always with a keen eye on other cities’ urban transport systems and history. |
Please note that, except from Colin Howden, all of our staff and volunteers work part-time.
All media enquiries should be directed to Colin Howden on 07956 394121 or via this webform.