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My Experience
I believe I have the right mix of experience to bring to the role of Senior Member of Finance Committee - what does this mean?
Objective analysis: in my job, I am required to review grant proposals, journal papers, workshop proposals and conduct interviews of staff and students. I am able to understand conflicts of interest, and remain impartial. In my role as a technology transfer consultant, I am able to quickly assess a situation and provide input that will lead to a decision. I am not a member of any political party - although I would consider myself a Liberal Democrat, I tend to vote based on local issues.
Experience of Working Life: I am not someone who has just graduated. I have spent the last 7 years developing a career which balances between academia and industry. I lead a software engineering team and participate in new research into databases and service oriented architectures. I have to deal with budgeting issues on projects collectively worth over £15 million (with direct control over about £1.1 million a year). I work with leading academics at universities across the UK, Europe and the world, and major companies such as BT, IBM, Fujitsu and Microsoft.
Experience of Student Life: I am still very much in touch with student life at Edinburgh. I still use the Unions on a regular basis and am still an active committee member of the Film Society. I supervise MSc student projects. Although never a major part of EUSA, I have contributed articles to both Hype and Student, was a member of Societies Executive, helped organise Physics Problem classes run by honours students for 1st years, been a member of many societies and a few sports clubs, and eaten more burgers in Pleasance bar than I really should have.Managing teams: I bring strong skills at managing teams, both on a professional and volunteer level. In my job as a Project Manager, I directly manage 20 staff and am responsible for coordinating the work of 12 partners across 6 countries. My team was runner-up in the SC2004 Software Challenge for its innovative approach to multisite working. I am a Chair of a Working Group on a technical standards organisation. Whilst President of the Film Society, I ran a small cinema with a volunteer staff of 15, showing films 6 times a week on a turnover of over £25,000 and won the Engholm Award for the best overall Film Society in the UK.
Strong representation: I have effectively represented different groups at different times. I am currently the Vice Chair of BFFS Scotland, and represent all of its Scottish members at a national level. I am involved in formulating policy and am at present developing a revised corporate governance structure for a national charitable volunteer organisation.