Our senior leadership team is responsible for all aspects of Venture Trust’s work. The team have extensive experience working in the personal development, youth work, criminal justice, charity and outdoor learning sectors.
Mike Strang – Interim CEO
Mike joined Venture Trust in November 2016. Mike has 20 years’ experience in the third sector delivering and managing personal…
Mike Strang – Interim CEO
Mike joined Venture Trust in November 2016. Mike has 20 years’ experience in the third sector delivering and managing personal development programmes in the outdoors with hard to reach groups.
Mike holds a BA in Outdoor Education in the Community, a wide range of outdoor leadership and instructional qualifications, is a Master Practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming and a certified practitioner in Choice Theory and Reality Therapy. Recently retired Chair of The Institute for Outdoor Learning in Scotland and sits on various industry working groups.
Shared practice and sector development are important to Mike and he has led our involvement in a European project called From Outdoors to the Labour Market. Mike has been working with partners in Ireland, Spain and Poland to set up programmes using outdoor learning to move young people struggling with employment closer to the Labour Market.
Mike works closely with Youthlink, the national agency for youth work and sits on the National Youth Voluntary Sector Leaders forum (NYVOS), the policy planning group and the Outdoor Learning group. Youthlink champions the value of the youth work sector, challenging government at national and local levels to invest in your development.
Mike is also a busy outdoor dad and enjoys adventuring with his little people… open canoe is the preferred adventure mode.
Tejesh Mistry – Director of External Affairs
Tejesh joined Venture Trust in January 2020. He joins us with a wealth of Third Sector experience having started his…
Tejesh Mistry – Director of External Affairs
Tejesh joined Venture Trust in January 2020. He joins us with a wealth of Third Sector experience having started his career in community outreach work with young people and quickly developing on to Senior Leadership roles. Starting his career with Cycling UK he developed national behaviour change programmes, launched a monitoring and evaluation unit and developed a new business plan for the national training department.
After moving to Scotland in 2016 he led the development of community services supporting older people for Royal Voluntary Service, before joining University of Edinburgh as a Change Manager on the ambitious Service Excellence transformation programme delivering improved services to over 50,000 students and staff.
With a passion for community and volunteering Tejesh is often involved in local activities with his family, exploring by bike or dabbling with woodwork. He is also Vice Chair for mental health charity Amaudo UK delivering rehabilitation programmes in Nigeria.
Andrew Russell – Head of Performance and Impact
Andrew joined Venture Trust in September 2017. Andrew has 20 years’ experience in data modelling, designing and running qualitative and…
Andrew Russell – Head of Performance and Impact
Andrew joined Venture Trust in September 2017. Andrew has 20 years’ experience in data modelling, designing and running qualitative and quantitative research projects, performance evaluation, data presentation, setting KPIs and programme design. Andrew started his career in commercial market research, where he learned to use data and research to help businesses make better decisions.
In 2009 Andrew moved to the third sector, joining Macmillan Cancer Support. Working in the third sector, Andrew has been involved in research, evaluation and programme development. From time to time, Andrew has also presented research findings to the media, appearing on live TV and radio as well as being interviewed by the Financial Times and the Economist. To his regret, Andrew had to turn down his one opportunity to appear on the sofa with Richard and Judy.
Since joining Venture Trust, Andrew has taken responsibility for programme evaluation, developing management information tools, and programme design.
Stuart McMillan – Interim Director of Operations
Stuart has 20+ years of experience delivering and managing innovative projects in both the statutory and charitable sector. He joined…
Stuart McMillan – Interim Director of Operations
Stuart has 20+ years of experience delivering and managing innovative projects in both the statutory and charitable sector. He joined Venture Trust in 2009 and has been a key member of the Operations Group for the last 12 years. During this time, he has designed and lead a wide variety of projects at Venture Trust, establishing the Employability Team, expanding the SQA centre and setting up Venture Trust’s Glasgow office.
He has extensive experience in the areas of employability support, mental health support services, criminal justice, restorative justice and personal development.
Gillian Donald – Head of Finance
Gillian is a qualified chartered accountant with over 30 years’ experience of charity accounting, governance and audit, having worked within…
Gillian Donald – Head of Finance
Gillian is a qualified chartered accountant with over 30 years’ experience of charity accounting, governance and audit, having worked within the sector and volunteered on charity boards all her career. She joined Venture Trust on a temporary basis as our interim head of finance when the Coronavirus pandemic interrupted her “gap year” participation in a round the world yacht race.
