Our board
Samantha Bedford, Convener and Treasurer
Samantha has worked in digital innovation for over 20 years with brands such as Match.com and Vodafone. More recently Samantha was responsible for innovation and new ways of working at Virgin Money. She is a passionate advocate of women in technology and is a trustee with Scotland Women in Technology. Samantha is also a mindfulness teacher. She enjoys running, yoga and vegan cooking and strives to live as sustainably as she can.
Jenifer Johnston, Vice-Convener
Jenifer is the Head of Communications and Public Affairs at Colleges Scotland. She is a highly experienced communications and political expert, with previous roles at the Scottish Human Rights Commission, Scottish Government, Citizens Advice Scotland, the Commonwealth Games Bid Team, and with the Scotland Stronger in Europe campaign. Jen was previously a Board Member at West College Scotland. Her career began in journalism at the Sunday Herald newspaper and is an occasional contributor for the Sunday Times Scotland, the Sunday National and Reform Scotland blog. She is passionate about tackling inequality and building a fairer Scotland.
Claire Fleming
Claire is a communications professional specialising in the third sector, having previously worked at Cancer Research UK, National Lottery Good Causes and Diabetes UK. Currently with Mental Health Foundation, Claire works to ensure effective communications enable the organisation to fulfil its objectives. This includes raising awareness about mental health problems and prevention methods as well as campaigning for improved care and equality of access to good mental health. Claire is a Chartered Member of the CIPR.
Alison Byrne
Alison is Chief Executive of the National Records of Scotland. Alison is a senior civil servant who has worked in the Scottish Government for 23 years. She has wide-ranging government experience across portfolios including child poverty, health, housing & regeneration, finance and external affairs. Alison led the devolution of social security in Scotland, overseeing the programme to transform the design and delivery of benefits for people living in poverty and disabled people and their carers, including the introduction of the Scottish Child Payment. Alison was appointed as Director for Equality, Inclusion & Human Rights in January 2022 where she led Scotland’s national response to the war in Ukraine, providing safe refuge for 26,000 Ukrainians. Alison is passionate about diversity and inclusion, and delivering person-centred public services that improve outcomes for all Scotland’s people and communities.
Dr Rebecca Mason
Rebecca is a multi-disciplinary feminist researcher and policy professional, with a PhD in History from the Centre for Gender History at the University of Glasgow. She specialises in gender and feminist legal history, with a focus on women’s navigation of legal systems and property relationships in early modern Scotland. She has held postdoctoral research positions at the University of Glasgow and the Institute of Historical Research. She currently works for The Young Women’s Movement, a non-profit feminist organisation that seeks to ensure young women’s voices and experiences are meaningfully heard and incorporated in research and policy to lead collective action and challenge systemic inequality.
