Meet Our board of trustees

Shona was appointed as a DSUK Trustee in 2017 and appointed to Chairperson in June 2021.  Shona comes from a Scottish skiing family and has been involved in the snowsports industry all her life. This has included racing for Scotland and instructing in many parts of the world, she has held such roles as Secretary to the BASI board, BASI Alpine Trainer, Snowsport Scotland Tutor and is currently an IASI Alpine Trainer through which has given her the opportunity to attend 2 World Interski Congresses and be in the Demo Team for Ireland in Bulgaria in 2019. For the last 18 years Shona has worked winters in the Chamonix area of France where she now lives with her husband, they run a British Ski School there and teach all levels and ages of guests. Getting people involved in skiing, keeping participants safe and helping them enjoying the sport is her passion. Shona keeps very active supporting the charity’s fundraising events and supporting the training for the snowsport school staff.

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John is a commercially focused Chartered Management Accountant with experience gained across a number of sectors, in particular the financial services industry, where he held senior management positions in both Finance and Risk during 20 years at RBS. John has a broad skill set with a focus on Financial Planning & Analysis, Business Partnering, Stress Testing and Strategic Change Leadership. Currently working with Virgin Money UK developing the banks stress testing capability, he is an outdoor enthusiast with a passion for snow sports and adventure racing. John is also trustee and treasurer of Reusing IT, a charity transforming lives through redeployment of computer equipment to those without access both in the UK and Africa.

Robbie is qualified as a solicitor and notary public in Scotland, as a solicitor in England & Wales and is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute. Appointed to the Board in March 2021, he has over 20 year's international legal, compliance and company secretarial experience from across multiple business sectors including financial services, food and agribusiness, engineering, oil and gas, power and industrial and mining. Currently Head of Legal and Risk for Insights, Robbie enjoys spending as much of his spare time as possible outdoors practising various nordic and alpine snowsports, watersports and cycling. He is an ardent supporter of empowering people to realise their full potential through sport. Robbie is the Company Secretary for DSUK.

Lauren has been involved with DSUK for over 10 years. Initially as a volunteer with local groups and ski schools in Central Belt and Castleford as a teenager before joining the team as an instructor in Scotland and on DSUK Holidays. Lauren holds BASI Adaptive and Alpine Qualifications and can be found regularly on out Central Belt slopes. Alongside her passion for skiing Lauren works as a Specialist Occupational Therapist in NHS with a background of working with both young people and adults. As part of this role Lauren regularly provides training and education to range of professionals. Lauren believes that the mountains should be accessible to all. She is passionate about the power of snowsports to increase independence and the positive impact it has on health and wellbeing, as well as increasing disability awareness and accessibility. Lauren has taken on the role of Safeguarding Champion on the Health and Safety Committee.

Rachel is a qualified accountant with more than ten years 'of experience working in the charitable sector and holding voluntary trustee roles on boards. She brings considerable charity finance expertise to the organisation and will help DSUK to deliver its strategy over the coming years. She is a member of the audit and risk committee.

Rachel is a keen skier and has a personal connection to wanting to see those with disabilities given the same opportunities to take part in snowsport. Rachel is passionate about snowsport and even met her husband skiing!. Rachel is also a trustee of Edinburgh Leisure.

Anne joined the board in May 2020 and has jumped straight onto the Nominations, Renumeration and Governance Committee. She brings a background in technology consulting and people development to the board. Anne is a diversity, inclusion, and equity advocate, particularly women in technology but also now disability awareness and inclusion. Anne grew up skiing and is an active DSUK Volunteer and fundraiser. She can often be found at Hemel Hempstead snow centre with DSUK members and was a ski instructor in a former life in Canada and New Zealand. The mountains are Anne’s happy place.  Anne has been appointed Equalities Champion on the Board.

Shona has a background in tourism, working for tourist board, consulting for businesses in the sector and working for global travel platforms. Having spent time travelling and planning activities with a disabled family member who loved adventure, she led the business operations for Accomable (‘Airbnb for people with disabilities’) which was later acquired by Airbnb. She is currently CEO of a career development company for the charity sector and works with University entrepreneurship programmes and start-up incubators, supporting early-stage business founders to bring their ideas to life.
Skiing has also been a life-long passion, and Shona is a qualified Alpine and, more recently, Adaptive ski instructor, and is passionate about enabling people with disabilities to experience the joy of the mountains and reducing barriers to the outdoors.

Josh had his first DSUK lesson in 2016 and fell in love with skiing. He went on a skiing holiday to Beitostølen in Norway three years later.Josh was having so much fun; his family almost had to drag him off the slopes at the end of each day! Having cerebral palsy, Josh uses his experience to inform him professionally. Josh works part-time as a Graduate Inclusive Design Consultant for an inclusive design consultancy based in London. Josh supports more senior consultants as they prepare inclusive design guidance and access audits to remove barriers for disabled people. Josh also contributes to Network Rail’sBuilt Environment Accessibility Panel (BEAP) and an ethics committee for a longitudinal research project known as ALSPAC.

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Peter has been a member of DSUK for over 10 years, accompanying a family member as they made the journey from nervous beginner to confident mountain skier. He has been involved in the local group in Glasgow, participated in overseas holidays, and supported a variety of other events. Professionally he has over 30 years’ information technology experience ranging from software development to programme management. He is a qualified information security professional with around 15 years’ experience in this area.

Peter is a keen skier and cyclist when time permits. He is also the vice chair, trustee and data protection officer for City of GlasgowSeals, a swimming club for those with a disability.

Debbie has worked in fundraising since the day she left University and loves it with a passion. She is passionate about people and enabling teams to achieve goals and targets. Debbie is deeply motivated by building strong, sustainable relationships, connecting supporters and volunteers to the cause and delivering the very best experience.

Debbie says  "My life passion is snowboarding and there is no greater feeling of escape than being at the top of a mountain and picking my way backdown. It is an feeling which should be equitable to all, hence my motivation to join the board of DSUK, to reduce barriers and ensure that no matter the disability our mountains are home to everyone."