A Big Hello and a Fond Farewell!

SIET has added four new trustees to our board, and wished a fond farewell to three longstanding board members.

At its meeting in early December, the Trust's board officially welcomed its new members, Kelly Finnan, David Mungall and former SIET award recipients, Alistair Somerville and Jenny Thornton. Between them, they bring huge experience in development, alumni networks, charitable governance and organisational leadership.

David, Kelly, Jenny and Alistair have joined the SIET board.

The new trustees also bring an international perspective, with David recently returned from working in Singapore and Alistair currently based in Nairobi.

Speaking after the meeting, SIET Chair, Nick Bibby, said: "We are incredibly fortunate to have secured the support of four such talented and committed trustees. As well as welcoming home two of our own by adding more SIET fellows to the board, we will also benefit from their professional experience in critical areas such as grant-making, fundraising, effective board oversight, and establishing and maintaining international networks."

The outgoing trustees are Diana Murray CBE FRSE FSA Scot, Prof Stephen Hillier OBE FRCPath FRCOG, and Prof Donna Heddle FHEA FSAScot FRSA FRSE. All three of them have been great supporters of the Trust for many years, and their advice and guidance as trustees has been invaluable. The fourth new trustee will also fill the seat of Prof Sir Geoff Palmer KT OBE, who died earlier in the year.

The new trustees will replace Diana, Steve and Donna, who are retiring from the board, and Geoff, who sadly died earlier this year.

The SIET board meets four times each year, with two board meetings devoted to making grants, and the others to the management of the Trust. At their first meeting, the new trustees joined their fellow board members in discussing fundraising strategies, how to better communicate with former recipients of awards and financial governance.