Our trustees

Charles Dundas

Charles is the Chief Executive of the Borders Forest Trust and Chair of Scottish Environment LINK. He champions the value of new native woodland, and the benefits of landscape-scale ecological restoration as well as the urgency with which society needs to address the twin climate and biodiversity crises. Charles has an MA (Hons) in History from the University of Glasgow, and a passion for cinema, improvisational theatre, quizzing and literature.

Kate Pearson

Kate is a physiotherapist working in Glasgow. Previously, Kate worked as a fundraising manager for organisations such as Ataxia UK and WWF Scotland, before taking the role as Deputy Head of Charities at People's Postcode Lottery for a number of years. Despite moving into the field of healthcare, her interest in the voluntary sector remains, and she continues to act as a trustee for multiple organisations with a specialist interest in fundraising.

Joe Traynor

Joe Traynor is Head of Museums Development at Museums Galleries Scotland. Having worked with the MA Board as Councillor in Scotland, the Committee of the Scottish Museums Federation, and as a Museum Mentor, Joe is a real advocate for meaningful engagement with, and advocacy of, museums in Scotland. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management, a Chartered Manager and an Fellow of the Museums Association.

Lorraine Barclay

Lorraine is a Board level executive with over 20 years of experience in Financial Services, currently a member of the Senior Management team at the Bank of England with responsibility for shaping and leading all finance aspects of the One Bank Strategic Transformation. During the pandemic, Lorraine worked pro-bono as Interim COO and acting CEO for Best Beginnings, a charity reducing child health inequalities, supporting the board on Business Strategy, Income Generation, Operating Model and Governance.

Lorraine is the Treasurer of Leadership Through Sport and Business; now Chair of Best Beginnings and Patron of West Ham Foundation.

Iain Valentine

Iain Valentine DSc CBiol BSc FRSB FLS is Director of Zoocraft Limited, a professional Zoo and Aquaria Consultancy Company, working principally with established and new zoo and aquaria projects and operators in China.

Previously while at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland he held various senior positions within the organisation over the 15 years he was with the organisation, latterly as the Director of Giant Panda Programme and Senior Policy Advisor.

Before this his role Iain was Director of Animals, Education and Conservation, responsible for all aspects in the running of RZSS’s two animal collections, animal, all the educational and ex situ and in situ research & conservation projects work and staff within RZSS.

He is a Chartered Biologist, Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London and a member of the IUCN Conservation Breeding Specialist Group.