Eileen Mackay

Eileen Mackay was a non-executive Director of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (1996-2005), and is on the board of Edinburgh Investment Trust plc, and Scottish Financial Enterprise. She is also chair of the trustees of the David Hume Institute, and a trustee of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland where she chairs the audit committee. Mackay is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a member of its Science Centre and Society Steering Group.

In 2003 Mackay was named the 12th most influential woman in Scottish business by the Sunday Herald.:

Having been one of the UK's highest-flying mandarins (she was principal finance officer at the Scottish Office) Eileen Mackay forsook her civil service career in 1996. Today she sits on the boards of Royal Bank of Scotland, Edinburgh Investment Trust, the Economic and Social Research Council and Scottish Financial Enterprise. She is also chairman of the trustees of the David Hume Institute. One reason Mackay curtailed her civil service career was because of possible conflicts of interest with husband Sir Muir Russell following his promotion to head of the Scottish Office. There is now speculation that another conflict of interest - this time with Russell's position as principal of Glasgow University - could force Mackay to step down from the court of Edinburgh University.

Biographical extract from the British Library website:

Previously, Miss Mackay had pursued a civil service career holding posts in Scotland, HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office. She was Principal Finance Officer at the Scottish Office. In the latter post she was responsible for resource allocation and budgetary and monitoring processes, oversight of the internal audit function, arrangements for ensuring compliance with the rules of Government Accounting and personal responsibility to advise Ministers and top management on issues of accountability and propriety.

Miss Mackay was educated at Dingwall Academy and the University of Edinburgh where she obtained a Masters of Arts in Geography. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland.

Miss Mackay was appointed to the British Library Board for her financial experience and Scottish background. She serves on the Board's Audit and Finance & Planning Committees.

Also a member of the Commission on Local Government and the Scottish Parliament