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.
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 historian, feminist researcher and policy professional with over a decade of experience in the Scottish academic, third and public sector, specialising in women’s economic, legal and social rights and access to justice in historical and legal perspective. She has a PhD in Gender History from the University of Glasgow, and she has held prestigious postdoctoral research positions at the University of Glasgow and the Institute of Historical Research. More recently she has worked in policy and research for the Scottish Parliament and a national women’s charity where she specialised in a range of legal policy areas aimed at improving gender and legal equality for women and marginalised groups. She currently works in legal regulation where she enjoys bringing data, insights and the voices and lived experiences of underrepresented groups into policy making, particularly when seeking to improve access to justice and legal services across Scotland.
Kat Riach
Kat is Professor at Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow and visiting Professor at Monash University, Australia. Over the past 20 years she has led award-winning research exploring age and gender-based inequality in and around the labour market, as well as working collaboratively with policymakers and business leaders to address bias and promote inclusion within organisational cultures and structures. Kat was appointed chair convenor of the forthcoming International Standard (ISO) for menstruation, menstrual health and menopause at work in 2024 and is currently UK delegate for the G20 taskforce on gender equality, the W20.
Susan Duffy
Susan has recently retired from her role as a member of the Scottish Parliament’s senior leadership team. In over 20 years with the Parliament, Susan worked directly with elected members as clerk to various committees before becoming Head of Committee Office and latterly, Head of Engagement and Communications. Susan was previously a trade union official. Always passionate about equality and women’s advancement, Susan led work on the Parliament’s diversity and inclusion strategy, sponsored the Women’s Network, led work to address sexual harassment and sexist behaviour and was the lead official on the Presiding Officer’s gender sensitive audit of the Parliament.
Dr Catriona Cannon
Catriona is a Lecturer in Equality Law at the University of Glasgow and a member of its GO Justice Centre, the mission of which is to empower communities and individuals to use the law to access justice and achieve social and economic inclusion. She is passionate about gender equality and part of the Women in Law Project which researches the past, documents the present and advocates for the future of women in law. Catriona is also an associate of the People’s Justice Network, set up by the new Centre for People’s Justice, Secretary of the Scottish Discrimination Law Association and a member of the Law Society of Scotland’s Equality Law and Employment Law sub-committees.
