Culture and Sport Glasgow (CSG) Board and Culture and Sport Glasgow (CSG) Community Interest Company (CIC) Board

Annette Christie was elected in 2017 as a Glasgow councillor for the East Centre ward and she was appointed as Convener to the Glasgow City Council’s Wellbeing Empowerment Community & Citizen Engagement Policy Development Committee in 2019.

A graduate of the University of Glasgow, Annette also trained as an actress at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama and has been a lifelong supporter of the arts.

Having travelled and worked overseas for many years, Annette has been involved in a variety of business environments and has a broad range of experience in communications, national sales & marketing, business development, product promotion, brand building & reputation management, service delivery and client services.

Her political career has also involved advocacy and empowering disadvantaged communities and campaigning to affect social change, as well as championing the rights of women and girls.

Annette is also a board member of the Glasgow City Integrated Joint Board, and a trustee of Blindcraft Trust.

As Chief Executive, Susan leads Glasgow Life in its mission to inspire every citizen and visitor to Glasgow to become engaged and active in a city globally renowned for culture and sport.

Susan took over as Chief Executive of Glasgow Life in 2022. Previously as Deputy Chief Executive and Director of City Marketing and External Relations, Susan had strategic responsibility for a diverse portfolio within Glasgow Life, including Tourism; Museums and Collections; Arts, Music and Cultural Venues; and Marketing and Communications; as well as deputising for the Chief Executive.

Susan is a senior leader in culture and sport with a background in outdoor and site-specific theatre performance and events. She brings extensive experience in the management of large and complex public sector organisations and also in operating Glasgow Life as a charity.

Susan is well known as a strong advocate for Glasgow's tourism and visitor sector, and her work supporting the visitor economy has been well received at a national level.

Originally from Sweden, Eva Bolander has been a Councillor with Glasgow City Council since 2015 and was elected Lord Provost between May 2017 and October 2019. As a Councillor she represents Ward 10, which includes Glasgow City Centre and parts of the West End.

Before moving to Scotland in 1995 she studied Archaeology and other Social Sciences at University of Stockholm and was working for the Museum of National Antiquities and related services for ten years. She has also worked with corporate and management development and producing training materials for topics related to this.

Her keen interest in music brought her to Scotland as a learner and player of the bagpipes. Being an active band member in Stockholm Caledonia Pipe Band for over 10 years, she also took great interest in playing non traditional music on the pipes. Having also played the violin her music interests are wide and eclectic.

After studying Multimedia Production and Electronic Publishing at Glasgow College of Building and Printing she started her own business and was freelancing as a Website Designer and Consultant, specialising in accessibility. She has also worked for John Wheatley College/Glasgow Kelvin College as website editor and designer in the IT department, setting up websites and intranets and was part of the team working with communication during the merger of Colleges in Glasgow.  

She has always had a keen interest in local community and been instrumental in setting up local residents’ associations and held various positions in local Community Council and other associations.

Amongst other appointments as a Councillor, she is a board member of Glasgow Life, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Glasgow Jazz Festival and Chair for Merchant City Festival. 

Councillor Holly Bruce is an LLB and LLM law graduate who served as a student union President at the University of Aberdeen.

In 2022, she ran a record-breaking campaign to become an elected councillor on Glasgow City Council. Holly is one of the youngest women to serve on the council and vice-chair of the Environment and Liveable Neighbourhoods Committee. She is also chair of the Glasgow Violence Against Women Partnership and the Green Group’s spokesperson on Equalities, Active Travel and Sport.

Holly is a feminist activist, who played a key part in the 2021 Young Women Lead research report – Glasgow: A Feminist City? She successfully passed her Feminist City motion in October 2022 committing the council to embed a feminist town planning approach into its city development plan.

Councillor Bruce is passionate about ensuring culture and sport are accessible to people who are often excluded. She is particularly interested in helping remove barriers for women, non-binary and trans people participating in sport.

John graduated with a MA (Hons) in History and Economic History from Glasgow University in 1967 and taught in a Glasgow comprehensive school while completing a MEd Degree.

He joined BBC Education in 1970 and held a number of senior positions before taking up the post of Controller of BBC Scotland in 1992, responsible for all BBC activities in Scotland.

John retired from the BBC in 2004 retired from the BBC in 2004and has held a range of appointments including, Chairman of the SQA, Chairman of the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Electoral Commissioner for Scotland. He is currently vice-chair of Scottish Opera.

A passionate Glaswegian, Anita graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a law degree and diploma in legal practice. Having spent a decade as a solicitor focusing on charity law and latterly transport projects, for the last 17 years she has turned her attention to risk management, governance, strategy and planning in the financial services industry.

Anita brings a wealth of experience as well as huge enthusiasm for the work Glasgow Life does to improve the lives of the people of Glasgow and an insatiable desire to promote equality, accessibility and opportunities for all.

Iain is the Founder & CEO MCR Pathways, Chair of MCR Foundation & MCR Holdings.

Glasgow born and educated entrepreneur, Iain’s career has been taken him internationally in the development of 18 companies as Chairman or CEO and an adviser to over 100 others. Experienced in leading change in large scale organisations and also having led 3 successful new business start-ups, Iain has a particular track record in helping develop teams and individuals to realise their full potential.

After setting up his Charitable Foundation in Glasgow in 2006, Iain has now dedicated 5 years to lead and develop the transformational MCR Pathways mentoring and talent development programme. With staff now in every secondary school in Glasgow supporting over 1,500 of the most disadvantaged young people each week, the programme is now being embedded within the education system across the country. The plan is to establish MCR as a national model to ensure that the young people are defined by the talents and potential and never their circumstances.

Siobhan was raised and schooled in Clydebank; and went on to study economics at Strathclyde University.  Having stopped work to raise a family, Siobhan became very active in Volunteering; with Toddler groups, children's sports groups and Barnardos. She has also been heavily involved, over many years, with Citizen Advice Edinburgh as both an advisor and activist in helping save bureaus from closure. These experiences have made her a passionate advocate of empowering individuals and communities to better their lives through active local engagement. She, along with her husband Sandy, set up a family foundation in 2019 to support a range of philanthropic causes.

Shahid was born and raised in Glasgow, graduating from the University of Strathclyde with a Law degree and post-graduate diploma in Professional Legal Practice. He became an ICAS Chartered Accountant with PwC, gaining an eclectic wealth of experience as a senior leader in finance and commercial roles over the past 25 years, which have taken him across Europe and Australia.

Having gained multi-industry experience within FMCG, Financial Services, Aviation and Real Estate; Shahid has honed his expertise with some notable blue chip and SME organisations; Pernod Ricard, Baxters Food Group, AGS Airports (formerly BAA), RBS and Ageas Insurance. His key strengths include managing complex financial and commercial operations, including mergers and acquisitions, major capital investment, restructuring, income generation and cost efficiency.

Lynn is a chartered accountant with over 30 years’ experience of working in the public, private and third sectors. She is currently employed as a Senior Lecturer and Chief Adviser of Studies at the Adam Smith Business School in the University of Glasgow, where she specialises in audit and public sector accounting. She is also a Board member of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator where she chairs the Audit and Risk Committee.

Before joining the university, Lynn was a Director with Audit Scotland, the body responsible for auditing the Scottish public sector. In her spare time, Lynn is a regular audience member of Glasgow Life’s events.