Andrew has worked in the media and communications industry in Scotland for 30 years. He spent 10 years in local and national journalism, before taking up senior communications leadership roles in the police service where he worked until 2017 when he became Head of Communication at Scottish Water. He recently took up the post of Head of Corporate Affairs. He is a supporter of WaterAid and a volunteer Board member of Mountaineering Scotland.

Kirsty started her career in the finance sector but soon realised it wasn’t for her. She moved into the charity sector in 2007 and has never looked back. She’s worked in a number of in-house communication roles before going freelance in 2015. In 2018 she took on an interim Social Media Manager role at the British Red Cross and worked on two emergency appeals. Kirsty was the interim Social Media Manager at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (GOSH) in 2021/22 where she worked on a number of high profile campaigns. As well as specialising in social media, Kirsty is a copywriter and writes regularly for Third Sector and Charity Digital. After a high-profile charity Twitter crisis, Kirsty realised there was very little resource and support, in terms of wellbeing, for those working in social media. So in 2019 she authored the Wellbeing Guide for Comms Professionals for CharityComms, which is still their most-read resource. She has also featured on a number of podcasts, including CharityComms, Do more good, Third Sector, Tech for Good Live and more.

Stephen Penman is the Head of Strategic Communication at North Lanarkshire Council, responsible for functions across multiple communications disciplines including campaigns, media relations, digital media and internal communication. In addition, he has responsibility for community partnerships and customer service. He is a member of the corporate management team at North Lanarkshire, Scotland’s fourth-largest local authority serving 350,000 residents. Prior to joining North Lanarkshire Council in 2009, he was a senior executive in national newspapers, latterly as deputy editor of the Sunday Herald.