Our Board Members

Citizens Advice Edinburgh is a charity and a company limited by guarantee. 

It is run by a Board of volunteers with a wide range of charity, business, legal, media and financial experience.

The Board adheres to NCVO's Good Governance Code 

Our Board Executive Officers​

​Pete Philp (Chair)​

Pete joined the Board of CAE in March 2021 and was elected Board Chair in December 2022. Pete worked for The Royal Bank of Scotland throughout his career where over a 40 year period he held many roles, mainly in Human Resources. He is well versed in people and change management as well as employee relations, industrial relations and mergers & acquisitions. He retired in late 2020 from the role of Head of Reward and Employment Policy & Governance at the Bank. ​

Pete is married to Linda and they have 2 grown up children and one grandson. He lives in Balerno on the outskirts of Edinburgh and appreciates living close to the Pentlands where he can enjoy his hill walking.​

Patrick Tyler (Vice Chair)​

Patrick Tyler joined the Dundas Street Bureau as a general adviser after his retirement in April 2014 and as well as Vice Chair of the Board, currently chairs the Nominations Committee.  He spent his early childhood in Switzerland, and then was brought up in Liverpool where he began his working life with an international firm of insurance brokers. He moved within the company, first to London and later, in 1984, to Edinburgh where he took charge of a new office providing Professional Indemnity insurance services to architects and other professional groups. He is a past Chair of the British Insurance Brokers Association of Scotland and he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland for services to business. ​

In his leisure time Patrick has a keen interest in local history, is a past Convener of the Friends of Mansfield Traquair Centre, and Chair of the Broughton History Society. He is also an enthusiastic club tennis player and enjoys playing bridge, theatre and country walks. ​

​

Euan Tulloch (Treasurer)​

Euan joined the CAE Board in February 2023. He is a Chartered Accountant with extensive prior audit and advisory experience of the charity sector. Euan currently leads the corporate governance advice and support for audit and disclosure governance within NatWest Group Plc where he has worked for over 15 years. He also has experience of risk management governance advice, data management, and internal control over financial reporting from prior roles within NatWest Group. Prior to joining NatWest Group, Euan had over 12 years of experience within the Accountancy profession, with the majority of that experience within a large Big Four firm.

Other Board Members:

Alison Muckersie​

Alison has spent much of her career in public policy roles, working in both local and central government. Areas of interest have included social care, education and economic development. Recent achievements have included shaping the development of a cities policy framework for Scotland, producing an economic strategy for the city and leading the bid for a £1.2 billion city region deal. The current focus of her work is skills development, in particular ensuring that as many people as possible prepare for a future, technology-driven, world of work. She leads a multi-partner team, working out of the University of Edinburgh, looking at innovative approaches to enhancing data literacy skills across the region’s population. She has extensive experience of partnership working across the public, private and voluntary sectors and has a deep understanding of the economic and social issues facing cities and their regions. ​

Alison chairs our Social Policy Committee.​

​

Andrew Anderson​

Andrew has been a volunteer adviser since 2020 and joined the Board in 2021. Now retired from full time work, he spent most of his working life in banking after a brief period as a junior academic as a biological anthropologist. He worked for various banks; the longest time was with Bank of Scotland. He spent eight years on the Court of Napier University as a lay (roughly equivalent to a non-executive director) member. ​

He is a member of Trinity Community Council, where he is Vice Chair and has responsibility for planning issues. 

Gemma Gourlay​

Gemma has been on the Board since November 2022.  She is Head of Social Impact at University of Edinburgh, joining the university in March of 2022 bringing 13 years experience in Social Impact delivery in private sector and with a passion in providing purposeful and impactful results for either internal or external customers. This requires tailoring communication, understanding audience and listening to requirements before responding.​

Responsible for overall coherence, coordination, management and measurement and reporting of the Universities local social and community impact across all of it's functions. Bringing together work on community plan, volunteering, measurement of social impact, social enterprise and social investment activity and relations with city deal programme and community benefit activities.​

​

Gill Hogg

Gill was elected to the Board in November 2023. She started volunteering at Citizens Advice Edinburgh in 2022 after taking early retirement from her role as a Professor and Deputy Principal at Heriot-Watt University. She spent most of her academic career teaching and researching consumer behaviour and has worked at the Universities of Strathclyde, Stirling, Glasgow Caledonian as well as Heriot-Watt. She was the Heriot-Watt lead for the successful Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, and has been actively involved in the development of national and international management education.

In addition to the Board of Citizens Advice Edinburgh, Gill is currently senior independent member on the Board of Newbattle Abbey College and secretary of her local residents association.
​

​Jane Maclennan​

Jane is a qualified solicitor and specialised in pursuer reparation litigation. She currently works part time for a management consultancy as its Business Services Director. She has volunteered with Edinburgh Sick Children’s Hospital Charity and during the COVID pandemic with Empty Kitchens, Full Hearts. She joined CAE as a volunteer adviser in 2022, becoming a Board member in November 2022.​
​

Lorna Brough

Lorna spent 20 years in diplomatic service with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), in a career which spanned a variety of roles in the UK and overseas. These included policy formation, operational management and leadership, security and risk assessment and advice, and crisis response. During her tenure at the FCDO she also gained valuable experience of leading corporate transformation work-streams. She returned from her most recent overseas tour as a Deputy at the British High Commission in Hong Kong in 2021, at which point she moved with her husband and two teenagers back to Edinburgh. She now works as a security and risk consultant in the private sector. Lorna volunteered as a part-time adviser for Citizen Advice Edinburgh for two years until Summer 2024. She joined the Board in November 2024.

Mike Crockart​

Mike Crockart joined the CAE Board in November 2022.  He was born and brought up in Perth and became the first of his family to attend University in 1984, graduating 3 years later from Edinburgh University. He joined Lothian and Borders Police in 1990 but left 8 years later to train as computer programmer with Standard Life where he worked for 12 years, eventually managing the systems of Standard Life Healthcare. Becoming more involved in politics during these years, he was elected at his 6th attempt and became MP for Edinburgh West in 2010. He served initially as Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Scotland Office but resigned over Government policy on student tuition fees. After losing his seat in 2015, he joined the digital Directorate of the Scottish Government where he has worked since on the transformation of Scottish public services. Married with two sons, he lives in Ratho with his wife Sarah.​

​

Nigel Falcon​

Nigel Falcon joined CAE as a generalist adviser in early 2022 after his retirement and joined the Board in May 2023. He moved to Scotland from London over 35 years ago. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and spent his career working in operational and project management roles for BP and INEOS, much spent at the Grangemouth Petrochemical Complex. He has worked extensively overseas with roles in France, Belgium, Japan, Philippines and USA. While working in Florida between 2010 and 2016 he was a board member for a novel bio-ethanol production company and board chair for the local branch of the American Red Cross, a highlight of which was supervising a public shelter during a Category 4 hurricane. ​

Nigel is married to Carol and they have two adult children. He is a keen walker, angler and long distance cyclist.​

​

Ray Scott​

Ray has been a generalist advisor since January 2022 and a Board member since May 2023. He worked for NatWest / Royal Bank of Scotland throughout his career, which started in London and the South East before he relocated to Edinburgh for work in 2003.​
His background is diverse but mostly in Risk Management, specifically Credit Risk, Governance, Regulation and Policy. For 5 years he was an Industry Adviser to the UK Government's Money Advisory Service on Problem Debt.​

Ray is also a volunteer/trustee at a local social innovation charity, and a volunteer at a recently established community hub. ​

He is a keen sports follower, mostly rugby and football, and also enjoys the theatre.

Vicky Peakman

Vicky is an experienced Human Resources and Product professional and is currently a Director of Product at Payscale, a compensation software company. She specialises in reward, with a particular focus on pay fairness and transparency. By developing tools for organisations and individuals, her aim is to make a wider impact and help solve this entrenched issue. She also has experience of all other aspects of Human Resources, having worked both internally and as a consultant, and is a Fellow of the CIPD. She moved to Edinburgh in 2014 having spent time in London, Doha and Geneva. She joined the Board in March 2024.

Our Company Secretary

Kath Allan

Kath was appointed Company Secretary in February 2024. Kath has spent over 20 years in various in-house legal and governance roles in NatWest Group plc having qualified as a solicitor in Scotland, England and Wales. She currently leads the executive governance centre of expertise for the bank. Earlier in her career, Kath ran legal clinics at West Lothian Citizens Advice Bureau.

In her spare time, Kath can usually be found at the side of a football, rugby or hockey pitch supporting her children, or taking her dog for a run on Cramond beach.

Our CEO

Benjamin Napier

Benjamin joined CAE in April 2016. He started his career as a Child Protection Social Worker, where he worked in both Northern Ireland and Scotland. He became a Team Leader, before leaving the local authority to take up a Service Manager Role, expanding and developing the ChildLine Service in Edinburgh and Aberdeen. He was later promoted to two roles within ChildLine and its umbrella organisation the NSPCC, including introducing the ChildLine Schools Service throughout Scotland. Before coming to Citizens Advice, he was Head of Service Development for Capability Scotland.

In addition to managing voluntary sector services, Benjamin has volunteered on the Board of a children’s charity in Edinburgh and coaches his local children’s running club.

Benjamin is a keen athlete, having completed multiple ultra marathons and long distance cycling events. Over the years, he has raised over £40,000 for local charities, doing various fundraising events.