GO Awards Scotland 2022/23 Judges

Nick Ford​

Director of Procurement and Property, Scottish Government​

Nick spent eight years as Head of Commercial and Procurement at the Department for International Development.

Following over 25 years within the private sector specialising in procurement, commercial and project management in roles across the UK, USA, Australia, and Spain, Nick joined the public sector as part of HMG’s Commercial Functional Leadership Group.

Nick is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. Previously a CIPS Regional Chair and regular keynote speaker at conferences, Nick is also an active mentor for Procurement and Commercial professionals.

Click here to watch Nick’s ‘Judging Insights’ on what he’s looking for in this year’s entries. 

Julie Welsh​

Chief Executive, Scotland Excel

Julie Welsh is the Director of Scotland Excel, the Centre of Procurement Expertise for local government. As the organisation’s senior officer, she provides leadership and strategic direction to ensure its services are aligned to the needs of the sector. Since taking up her post in September 2014, Julie has implemented strategies to extend the range of services provided by Scotland Excel, extend the influence of the organisation in the wider public sector landscape, and secure its future as a leading shared service.

 

Click here to watch Julie”s ‘Judging Insights’ on what she’s looking for in this year’s entries.

Claire McCallum​

Head of Operational Procurement and Compliance and Deputy Chief Executive, APUC

APUC is a Centre of Expertise for the Higher and Further Education Sector in Scotland and was formed in 2007. APUC is owned by Scotland’s Universities and Colleges and operates entirely in the interests of these institutional stakeholders. Claire has been with APUC for over 4 years and is responsible for Operational Procurement to ensure that compliant collaborative Framework Agreements are delivered under a Category Management structure to meet the needs of the sector driving benefits and efficiencies in line with the relevant Regulations.

Paul Hansen

Head of Account Management, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland & Crown Dependencies, Crown Commercial Service

Crown Commercial Service plays an important role helping the UK public sector save money when buying common goods and services.  Paul has been with CCS for more than 13years, and leads the Crown Commercial Service Devolved Administrations and Crown Dependencies Team.  Prior to that  Paul held commercial roles in organisations such as the Ministry of Defence and Scottish Procurement & Property Directorate and has worked in the profession for more tnan 30 years.

Gordon Beattie

Director of NHSS National Procurement, National Services Scotland

Gordon joined National Services Scotland (NSS) in December 2019 from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, where since January 2001, he has held various senior procurement roles. During this initial period in his new role Gordon has led the national procurement response to Covid19 emergency. Gordon said, “I’ve been immensely proud of the way National Procurement, Health Board procurement , Scottish Government colleagues and our key suppliers have responded to the emergency. It gives a real insight to the benefits of working together to a common objective. In my new role, a key focus for me will be to maximise how we collaborate and partner across the health and social care sector, in turn providing benefits to patients, customers and the wider economy.” National Procurement sits within the Procurement, Commissioning and Facilities strategic business unit of NSS alongside Business Development, Health Facilities Scotland and National Specialist and Screening Services.

Grahame Steed​

Content, Research and Communications Director, BiP Solutions

Grahame joined BiP Solutions in 2003 and has held the positions of Senior Executive Officer, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Sales and Marketing Director, MD for Media and Marketing Solutions and Director of Business Intelligence and eSourcing, Now, as Content, Research and Communications Director, Grahame is responsible for driving the growth of the business through the creation and delivery of the most accurate, relevant and actionable data, content and insight available.

Eddie Regan​

Principal Consultant, PASS Procurement​

Eddie is BiP Solutions’ Principal Procurement Consultant and working alongside the Client Services team, he frequently assists public sector organisations with clarification and interpretation of EU Directives and a wide variety of legislative issues. For the last 21 years Eddie has lectured regularly on procurement policy and processes at conferences and events, both on behalf of BiP and for a variety of other organisations. He also provides in-house training on the tendering process to personnel in both the public and private sectors

Mark Elliot

Director, CivTech Scotland, Scottish Government

Mark has a long, successful track record working in both the creative and the business sides of the digital and creative industries. While CEO of the highly successful DigitalCity in NE England he helped hundreds of companies grow as fast and effectively as possible, and was a key player in The Difference Engine – Europe’s first tech accelerator. Moving north in 2013 he ran the UP Accelerator, Edinburgh and then joined the fun at CivTech, first as its Head of Accelerator until taking over as Programme Director in summer, 2019.