Anne Mearns

Anne Mearns is the convener of Forward Scotland and Director of the Scottish Parliament Business Exchange. A geographer and chartered town planner, member of the Royal Town Planning Institute, member of the Chartered Management Institute, and Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Anne followed an early career as an urban planner, and later corporate policy planner, becoming Depute Town Clerk of Glasgow City Council and subsequently Chief Executive of Aberdeen City Council.

As its first Chief Executive, Anne was responsible for establishing the Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board through amalgamating seven organisations. Seeking private sector experience, she took up an appointment with the Scottish Enterprise network as a business adviser to small and medium sized enterprises in commerce and education, in the Edinburgh and the Lothians area, seeking to enhance business and people performance. From here, she was seconded to the Scottish Parliament to set up a scheme for promoting mutual understanding between parliamentarians and business people leading to her current appointment.

Anne is a founding trustee of the Clerk Maxwell Cancer Research Fund, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and member of the executive council of the Town and Country Planning Association Scotland. She relishes every opportunity of encouraging all communities of interest to work in a spirit of mutual respect and responsibility in achieving a sustainable quality of life. Source: [1]