New board and committee members

Following a competitive recruitment process, Registers of Scotland (RoS) is delighted to welcome four new Non-Executive Directors to its board and Audit and Risk Committee.

Neil Mackay will join the RoS Board , and Martin Ettles, James Gumble, and Tabatha McCree-Cox  will join our Audit and Risk Committee.

Neil Mackay

Neil has spent his career predominantly within the financial services sector and has held executive roles across a broad spectrum of disciplines including commercial management, risk, and compliance.

He holds a number of non-executive board positions; The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator – ‘OSCR’, Redress Scotland, and Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland – ‘CHSS’.

Martin Ettles

Martin is currently a Risk Director with Royal London.  He is an Actuary and Risk Professional and has spent the majority of his career in financial services. He was previously Chief Risk Officer with Nucleus Financial, and prior to that, spent 20 years at Standard Life in various roles, in both the UK and overseas.

Martin brings a range of knowledge and experience to his role at Registers of Scotland with extensive experience in risk management, actuarial and financial management.

He is a fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

James Gumble

James is an expert in technical product development and business development. His focus is on public sector procurement, impact tracking, and cybersecurity. With 17 years in public sector technology, he has developed and commercialised software for public and academic sectors across the EU. He holds a degree in Computing and Information Systems.

He has founded two technology companies serving over 20 clients from bases in Northern Ireland and Scotland since 2015. He has led research and development projects on Open Data standards, securing funding from Innovate UK and Horizon Europe. James has experience in implementing Machine Learning and AI into applications and has managed large-scale data / R&D projects across Europe.

As the founder of a Scottish technology SME, James builds strategic partnerships with public sector, academic, and corporate entities and has led research on impact frameworks to measure public sector investments. The work has achieved significant cost and time savings whilst delivering comprehensive results.

Tabatha McCree-Cox

Tabatha is Director and Co-Founder of an award-winning Scottish Gin Distillery – Pentland Hills Gin.

Tabatha has a strong business and technology background spanning startups, private, charity, and public sector organisations across the globe.

She brings a range of knowledge and skills to her role at Registers of Scotland with extensive experience in digital and organisational transformation, Interim Management, AI and global major system deployments.

Tabatha is Chair of the WATIF charity foundation, she is also Trustee for Changing the Chemistry and Board advisor to Partners for Inclusion.

Jennifer, Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, said:

"I am delighted to welcome new non-executive colleagues to our Audit and Risk Committee and to our Board. Their diverse expertise in governance, risk management, and strategic planning will be of immense benefit to us, as we continue to deliver our strategic priorities, and prepare for the future. Their fresh perspectives and diverse insights will strengthen our decision-making processes, enhance our risk oversight, and help RoS drive forward with confidence and clarity, as we continue to thrive and deliver against our vision to provide the best public service for Scotland."

Andrew Harvey, Non-Executive Director and current Audit and Risk Committee Chair said:

“Like Jennifer I am delighted to welcome our new non-executive Audit and Risk Committee members and I look forward to working with them to support RoS, at this vital stage, in the coming months.  I also welcome the confirmation that Dónall Curtin will be ARC chair designate, taking over from me in October 2025.”