Our Chief Executive

Mark Bibbey joined Venture Trust in November 2011 following senior roles in both the public and private sectors. Throughout his career, Mark has been an advocate for personal development initiatives that encourage confidence and motivation, having experienced this first hand, working with young men and women during his time in the military. He is passionate about developing alternatives that offer individuals, who because of their life circumstances may be vulnerable or marginalised, the chance to have a stake in society and is committed to enabling Venture Trust to further its distinctive and transformational programmes.

Our Patrons

We are delighted to have the support of two highly-respected sector experts as Patrons of Venture Trust’s work.

Venture Trust UK: Baroness Vivien Stern

Vivien Stern, Member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, and renowned author on the subjects of penal reform and criminal justice, is our Patron for Venture Trust in the UK: "I am very happy to be a Patron of Venture Trust. Everything I have seen of the Trust’s work is very impressive and it is clear that their personal development wilderness journey work is very challenging and really does help young people to find strengths in themselves that they didn’t know they had".

Venture Trust’s 'Moving On - Malawi' programme: Dr. Mary Shawa

Dr. Mary Shawa, Secretary for Nutrition, HIV and AIDS in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) in Malawi, has joined us as Patron for Venture Trust Malawi:

“It was an honour for me to be asked to serve as the Patron for Venture Trust Malawi”

Our Board of Directors

Mairi Brackenridge (Chair)

Mairi started her career as a social worker in London, with a number of social work roles in Glasgow and Strathclyde before becoming Head of Adult and Justice Services, in South Lanarkshire, with responsibility for a range of adult services including substance misuse, mental health, disability and justice services. In 2009, following early retirement, Mairi has moved into consultancy and holds a non-executive role with Indepen-dance, a company that offers integrated dance with disabled people.

Brian Cole

A career civil servant, Brian worked across a range of Scottish Office/Executive departments including education, home, agriculture and fisheries, industry and justice. For the 12 years, prior to retirement in late 2009, Brian held lead responsibility for community penalties and the wider criminal justice social work agenda within the Community Justice Services Division. During this period, he was responsible for the introduction of Drug Treatment and Testing Orders, drug and youth courts and pre-disposal interventions, and worked with the Association of Directors of Social Work to achieve improvements to the delivery of community service orders. Most recently he had policy lead for preparing draft legislation and operational guidance for Community Payback Orders.

Gillian Gray

Gillian is a qualified Chartered Accountant. She spent 17 years with the large professional services firm, Andersen, specialising in audit and corporate finance. Since 2002, Gillian has been providing senior financial and corporate finance services as a business consultant to high growth, predominantly technology companies. Gillian brings to the Board a track record and expertise in business start-up and growth coupled with an in depth knowledge of financial management and strategy.

Gillian is also a non executive Director of Couples Counselling Lothian and Art in Healthcare.

Professor Peter Higgins

Peter Higgins is a Professor of Outdoor and Environmental Education at the University of Edinburgh, and is the only personal chair in the field in Europe. He holds high-level instructional awards in a wide range of outdoor activities, and teaches practical and academic aspects of postgraduate outdoor and environmental education programmes. He is a member of national and international advisory groups and EU and UNESCO educational projects, and has advised the UK and Scottish Governments on outdoor and environmental education, access to the countryside and related environmental issues. He has conducted extensive research and published widely in these fields.

Alan Mackay

Alan Mackay spent over 25 years at BBC Scotland. His early years in broadcasting were as a radio reporter in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Dundee. In television he went on to cover many major news stories including the period of industrial unrest in the 1980s and the campaign for a Scottish Parliament. He was awarded 'TV Broadcaster of the Year' in 1996, and now runs his own consultancy business.

Jill Stevenson

Jill Stevenson is a solicitor in the corporate division of Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP in Edinburgh. She advises companies on issues of securities law, mergers and acquisitions and fundraisings. In 2010, Jill undertook a secondment as a Performance Advisor with Inspiring Scotland, a venture philanthropy organisation born out of the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland. In this role, Jill was able to use her experience of venture capital investment to work with organisations in the third sector.