In recognition of the need to address board diversity head-on and reflecting the growing desire for equality amongst the industry, the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) has appointed three women among seven new additions to its governance Board
Alison Watson MBE, founder and CEO of Class of Your Own Ltd, Jeanette MacIntyre, managing director of Indeglas Ltd and Sara Thiam, regional director of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Scotland have been appointed as Board members.
They join renowned industry expert Mark Farmer, founder of Cast Consultancy and author of ‘Modernise or Die’ – the UK Government Review of the Construction Labour Model in 2016, Dave Philp, Global BIM Consultancy Director at AECOM, Steve Petrie, Business Improvement Lead for Balfour Beatty and Douglas Morrison, STEM and Innovation Lead at City of Glasgow College, bringing the number serving on the board to 16.
Chaired by John Forster of the Forster Group, the CSIC governance board provides strategic guidance and direction to the Innovation Centre.
The board made a conscious effort to seek out new and diverse voices, and has chosen representatives with a variety of skills, experience and industry knowledge to support this – from Alison Watson MBE’s STEM-centric secondary school and further education learning programme and qualification suite, to Steve Petrie’s leading role in transforming tier 1 contractor Balfour Beatty, and Douglas Morrison’s expertise in digital disruption and gender diversity issues.
The seven new recruits bring the CSIC board’s gender ratio to 25:75 female to male – on target to achieve 50:50 representation by the time CSIC completes its second phase of board evolution in 2019.
John Forster, CSIC board chair, said: “CSIC is on a mission to drive innovation across the Scottish construction industry, so we are extremely proud to have attracted such an outstanding group of new members with global reputations to our board who will help us achieve this.
“Alison, Sara, Jeanette, Mark, Steve, Dave and Douglas represent some of the finest talent and expertise available in the industry and will be instrumental in helping CSIC build a diverse, inclusive, dynamic, opportunity-focused, digitally connected construction industry fit for the 21st century.”
