As a small charitable organisation, the skills and knowledge of our Board of Directors plays an important part in the successful operation of all our services and the strategic management of North Ayrshire Women’s Aid. Outline CVs for the current Board are shown below:
Rhona Hotchkiss (Chair since October 2022)
From West Dunbartonshire, Rhona has lived in Ayrshire for 20 years. After 20 years as a nurse, she joined the Prison Service & was Governor of Dumfries, Cornton Vale & Greenock until her retirement in 2019. A life-long feminist & women’s rights activist, she served on the Board of Stewartry Women’s Aid, before becoming Chair of NAWA in 2022.
Justina Murray
Justina is the CEO of Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs, a national charity supporting anyone concerned with someone else’s alcohol or drug use. She has been a member of the NAWA Board since September 2014 and is currently Chair of the Finance Sub-Group. She has lived in North Ayrshire since 2004, when she became the Coordinator of North Ayrshire Community Planning Partnership. From 2010-2017 she was Chief Officer of South West Scotland Community Justice Authority, a partnership body focused on reducing reoffending. This role included chairing the CJA’s Multi Agency Domestic Abuse Group which aimed to ensure perpetrators of domestic abuse are accountable for their actions. Justina’s previous experience is primarily in research, strategic planning, policy making and partnership working in Scotland and New Zealand. She is a trustee of the Howard League for Penal Reform and is a member of the Governance Group for the Centre for Young and Criminal Justice at the University of Strathclyde.
Fiona Garven
Fiona grew up in North Ayrshire and lives locally. She is Director of the Scottish Community Development Centre, which also hosts the Community Health Exchange, Scottish Co-production Network and Participatory Budgeting Scotland. Fiona has a long term interest in equality issues. Her work focuses on community empowerment, social justice and democratic participation. She is a non-executive Director of the Poverty Alliance.
Margaret Burgess
Margaret has over 25 years’ experience working in the voluntary sector, previously managing a large Citizens Advice Bureau. She was also a director of the national charity, Citizens Advice Scotland. Margaret has extensive experience working with vulnerable groups throughout Ayrshire. She has also served as an MSP minister of Scottish Government. Margaret is now retired.
Maureen Kater
Maureen has recently retired from a busy job in the NHS where she was heavily involved in supporting the GBV work, especially with GPs and in local communities. Maureen joined the Board of NAWA in 2016 and is keen to use her expertise to support NAWA as it addresses the issue of domestic abuse in the local area.
Marguerite Roos.
Marguerite grew up in North Ayrshire and lives locally. She joined the board in 2019.
She is a Chartered Accountant and a partner in Galbraith Pritchards, a firm of accountants who are based in Ayr. Marguerite is involved with many charities professionally as auditor or independent examiner and has also been involved personally with several charities over the years. She has been a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland since 1984 and has sat on a number of their committees including the Audit Registration Committee.
Mary Walsh
Mary is a Chartered Accountant who currently works for a private sector company where she is heavily involved in the social and charity committee. Previously, Mary worked as a financial auditor on both public and private sector clients, including a number of Scottish charities. She is from North Ayrshire and lives locally. Mary joined the NAWA Board in 2019 and hopes to use her financial and local expertise to help support both the Board and finance sub-group.
Jenny Lindsay
Jenny Lindsay is a writer, performer, arts educator and independent events producer, whose work focuses on feminism, social justice, and the politics of power. She was the winner of the inaugural John Byrne Award for Critical Thinking (2020) and has performed nationally and internationally. She is a former Council member of the Saltire Society and was previously a teacher of Modern Studies in Edinburgh. She is now based in South Ayrshire where she works freelance as a writer as well as working regularly with women’s groups in a creative capacity.