Jackie Brierton MBE – LAG Chair
CEO of GrowBiz
Jackie is the Chair of the PK LEADER LAG.  She has more than 30 years’ experience in business, social enterprise, policy development and EU Funded projects.  Jackie is a member of the newly-formed National Council of Rural Advisers, which will provide advice to the Scottish Government on future policy and support for the rural economy.  She is also the Enterprise Manager for GrowBiz and Vice-Chair of Women’s Enterprise Scotland CIC.

John McCrone
LAG Accountable Body Representative & Place Development Manager, Perth and Kinross Council
John is a chartered town planner with over 30 years’ experience working in the public, private and voluntary sectors. John has a background in land use planning, city and town centre management and economic development and a focus on the delivery of physical and economic projects through the establishment of public and private partnerships and multi-disciplinary project teams. John has managed a range of Services within the Council, worked with Scottish Enterprise, undertaken freelance planning consultancy and acted as a Technical Adviser to a range of economic development, tourism and conservation Trusts. John is a fellow and former Director of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society

Dr Tom Flanagan
Transform Scotland
Tom is an independent consultant in the fields of economic development, planning and transport. Previously, Tom was Head of Economic Development at Perth & Kinross Council with oversight of the LEADER programme and continued to support the programme as Partnership Director of Tactran up until April 2020. Over that period Tom also acted as Chair of the Rural Enterprise Roundtable national group.

Caroline Warburton
VisitScotland
Caroline is VisitScotland’s Regional Leadership Director (East). She has over 20 years of tourism experience from both the public and private sectors and has particular interest in how tourism enterprises at a local level can support local communities through collaboration.

Kate Maitland
National Farmers’ Union Scotland
Kate…

Jane White
Secretary & Treasurer of Crieff Community Trust (CCT)
Jane has been secretary and treasurer of Crieff Community Trust for 3 years. During this time, she has taken the lead on delivering the Crieff Community Action Plan refresh and the creation of the Uniting Crieff forum and website, which was a key priority emerging from the new community action plan. She has also been very involved in the marketing and funding for CCT’s co-working space, Can Do Crieff, as well as a number of other projects such as the refurbishment of James Square and fundraising for new paths. She began her working life in market research, sales and marketing, then retrained as a modern language’s teacher.

Clare Cooper
Bioregioning Tayside, Cateran Ecomuseum, Owner of Self-Catering Cottages
Clare is a founding director of ELLi (Assisted Living Technology) Ltd. Winner of the 2017 Scottish Women in Business Innovator Award, Clare works across the fields of public health, arts, culture & heritage & tourism. She is also the founding director of the Alyth Development Trust.  Alongside this she is also an independent producer of arts, culture and heritage projects, a member of @fleetcollective, co-founder and co-director of @thsscotland, co-proprietor of @vanorascottages and co-founder of Alyth Craft Tourism.

Lori Hughes
PKAVS
Lori….

Heather Boag
Centre for Enterprise at Perth College UHI     
Heather is the Business Link Manager at Perth College UHI – Centre for Enterprise and has over 20 years’ experience of providing an exceptionally high level of customer services in a variety of large national and international organisations as well as working for SMEs and herself.

Roz Taylor
Operations Director at Elevator
Having been born and brought up in Agriculture, it is no surprise that Roz’s professional interests in agriculture and the rural environment/economy are truly imbedded into her 22-year career with Elevator. In her role as Business Advisor, Roz’s core focus and passion are very much in the rural areas within North-East of Scotland. Over a ten-year period, she proudly supported 1000’s of businesses – both in the start up stage and of course growth. Such success was first rewarded with the position of Operations Manager within the Aberdeen City and Shire region. In 2020, Roz’s commitment to both Elevator and the Scottish entrepreneurial ecosystem saw her promoted to her current role as Elevator Operations Director. In this directorial role, Roz manages 4 Business Gateway contracts across Scotland, with a dedicated team of more than 50 advisors and support staff. With a continued passion and understanding for the agricultural and rural industries, Roz ensures Business Gateway support is delivered to those individuals who might not normally reach out to the service.

Iain Mathieson – LAG Vice Chair
Luncarty, Redgorton & Moneydie Community Council 
Iain joins the group following a long career involving agriculture, fisheries, crofting and rural development and policies, European Funding throughout Scotland and he played a key role in the previous Ayrshire LEADER funding rural communities’ development and the Intereg IVA programme.

David Smythe MBE
Perthshire Tourism Partnership               
David is Chairman of the Perthshire Tourism Partnership and a small farmer, now heavily involved in the tourism world through running on-farm self-catering cottages and the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers. He enjoys the challenge of representing and promoting tourism, especially the self-catering sector, in Scotland.

Lorna Watson
Interface
Lorna is the Business Engagement Executive covering Tayside. Lorna graduated from Heriot Watt University with a BA in Business Management. Lorna’s previous role was as a Business Adviser with Business Gateway assisting start up and growth businesses and facilitating Women into Business events.

Denise Jackson MBE
Auchterarder Community Sports Association and Rotary 
Denise is currently the 37 President for Auchterarder & District Rotary Club. She is also the Chair of the Auchterarder Community Sports Association which aims to promote sport and active recreation within the local area. Prior to this she founded Auchterarder Gymnastics Club and remained the Head Coach until 2008.

Sharon Rice-Jones
External Funding, Monitoring & Performance Team Leader
Tel: 01738 476517
Mob: 07500 918060
Email: SRJones@pkc.gov.uk
ExternalFunding@pkc.gov.uk

Laura Martin
Rural Perth & Kinross Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) Coordinator
Tel: 01738 475240
Mob: 07766 133744
Email: LauraMartin@pkc.gov.uk
ExternalFunding@pkc.gov.uk