Elizabeth Pirrie is CEO of AccelerateHER and brings over 20 years of accounting experience, including a decade as Finance Director for one of Scotland’s largest independent care home providers. For the past thirteen years, she has worked in economic development, supporting start-ups and scale-ups across life sciences, technology, and tourism. Passionate about driving growth and empowering founders, Elizabeth combines her financial expertise with a deep understanding of what businesses need to scale sustainably. Through her leadership at AccelerateHER, she continues to champion female founders and innovative companies contributing to Scotland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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Jackie Waring is a pioneer of women angels, recognised for transforming Scotland’s investment landscape by bringing more women investors into the ecosystem. An active angel investor, she founded Investing Women Angels, Scotland’s first all-female angel group, which has invested over 90% of its funds in female-founded ventures. An entrepreneur herself, Jackie founded AccelerateHER to help women founders scale globally. She also serves as a Non-Executive Director at CPI, a leading deep-tech innovation company, and was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2023. Jackie’s passion lies in empowering entrepreneurs and driving inclusion within investment.
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Rhona Campbell is an expert in global product management and marketing, with over 25 years’ experience helping SMEs and multinational technology companies achieve growth in international markets. She specialises in commercialising new products, entering global markets, and developing impactful marketing strategies. As founder of Rhona Campbell Associates, she advises start-ups and investor-backed businesses on assessing commercial strategy, refining product roadmaps, and bringing leading-edge technology to market. Rhona’s practical, strategic approach helps founders bridge the gap between innovation and commercial success.
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Nicola Thomson-Berwick is the Chief Operating Officer of Investing Women Angels and a Strategic Advisor to AccelerateHER. She is an experienced operations leader with 20 years in technology and service delivery, ranging from corporates such as easyJet, Menzies Aviation and Amey, to multiple SMEs, and, more recently, over the past decade, in Start-ups and Scale-ups.She builds strong operational foundations for start-ups and scale-ups, driving investment readiness and supporting growth. Nicola has helped businesses secure over £10 million in funding, leading teams of up to 150 people. Her expertise spans strategic planning, investor due diligence, financial modelling, and technology development & implementation. With a focus on efficiency and scalability, Nicola enables ambitious founders to build businesses primed for long-term success.
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Tricia Bey holds an Engineering Science degree from Durham University and an MBA from London Business School. She spent 14 years with Deloitte Consulting, including two years as Managing Partner of the Dutch consulting practice. She later became Managing Director of a London-based management development school before founding her own award-winning Ayrshire cheese-making business. A member of Investing Women Angels, Tricia combines her experience in corporate leadership, entrepreneurship, and mentoring. She is currently Chair of Finance, Risk and Audit for Cricket Scotland and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
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Catherine Muirden is a business leader specialising in Human Resources and Organisational Change. She has held senior People Director roles at Barclays, Marks & Spencer, the UK’s Co-op, and the John Lewis Partnership. A Non-Executive Director and Chair, Catherine is an experienced mentor and coach who champions inclusive leadership and talent development. Known for her ability to connect people across industries, she brings deep expertise in strategic transformation and culture change, helping organisations and individuals thrive through times of transition.
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Dr Jen Jenkins is a Business Psychologist who began her consultancy practice in 2012 following an academic background in psychology and over a decade in biotech and pharmaceuticals, where she held senior international roles in Commercial Operations and Learning & Development.
Combining psychological expertise with commercial insight, Jen supports organisations in enhancing leadership effectiveness, strengthening team dynamics, and building psychologically safe cultures where people can thrive. As an experienced coach and mentor, Jen helps founders overcome mindset barriers, manage stress, and develop the skills required to accelerate performance and build for long-term, sustainable success.
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Jennifer Nicoll is a senior finance and operations leader with over 30 years of experience across PwC, EY, and global financial services firms. She has delivered major transformation projects, corporate finance initiatives, and operational change across complex organisations. More recently, she’s focused on supporting early-stage and growing businesses to develop clear, constructive growth and funding strategies. Jennifer brings a unique perspective from roles spanning the public sector, investor, non-executive and executive leadership positions, including serving as CFO/Director of a rapidly expanding rural broadband business. A mentor and angel investor with Investing Women Angels, she helps founders align finance and strategy to achieve sustainable long-term growth.
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Kirsty McIntosh is a life sciences executive specialising in guiding early-stage, research-led companies from clinical development to commercial readiness. She has extensive experience operating in regulated healthcare environments, combining strategic insight with practical delivery to support scaling ventures.
As former CEO of Softcell Medical, she led the company through clinical validation, regulatory planning and investment, positioning the business for market entry and strategic partnership.
Kirsty focuses on helping teams translate complex scientific innovation into clear regulatory, clinical and commercial pathways, with a strong emphasis on investor readiness and strategic positioning.
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Frances Hudson is an investment professional with 35 years’ experience spanning stockbroking, market strategy, and global asset analysis. A former global thematic strategist and thought leader in multi-asset investing, her work covers ESG, energy, AI, disruptive technologies, and behavioural finance. Frances has managed diversified portfolios across bonds, equities, hedge funds, and private assets. Known for her foresight and analytical depth, she brings a strategic, cross-market perspective that helps founders and investors navigate complex global trends and emerging opportunities.
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Gill Scott is an experienced leader known for fostering environments where people and organisations thrive. Formerly Chief People Officer at Aegon UK, she now holds a portfolio career, including as Chair of Foursquare Scotland, a homelessness charity, and as REMCO Chair for NFU Scotland. Through her consultancy work, Gill supports leaders through transformation, culture change, and personal development. She is passionate about helping individuals realise their potential and enabling businesses to create inclusive, high-performing workplaces.
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Michelle McClure is the Founder of Hoojy and a strategic marketing consultant with over 16 years of experience in digital marketing and leadership. As a Fractional CMO, she helps businesses build clarity and consistency across their marketing communications. Michelle specialises in SEO, digital strategy, and mentoring female founders on growth planning and execution. Her collaborative, hands-on approach empowers teams to align strategy with results, creating measurable impact across channels. Passionate about people and performance, she combines creativity with commercial insight to help brands grow sustainably.
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Sarah Bond is an executive product leader in Healthcare and Medical Devices with a DPhil in Engineering from Oxford and an MEng from Cambridge. Formerly VP Product at Genomics and Chief Product Officer at Mirada Medical, she has delivered both clinical and consumer health products to market. Earlier, she worked in technology transfer at Oxentia and as a scientist at Siemens. Now a freelance consultant, Sarah supports early-stage medtech companies and universities to commercialise innovation, while co-founding a spine health start-up. She is passionate about developing products that combine technology, innovation, and patient value.
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Sam Rhynas is the Founder and Managing Director of 17 Points, where she helps organisations use data and AI to grow, scale and succeed. She brings clarity and confidence to complex topics, supporting leaders to make sense of technology and put it to work in practical, purpose-led ways. With expertise spanning data strategy, product build, operations and Data & AI skills initiatives, Sam offers a unique blend of technical insight and strategic perspective.
Through engaging workshops and tailored programmes, she helps teams at every level build the skills, understanding and momentum needed to turn insight into real impact. Sam advises start-ups, scale-ups and boards on embedding innovation, design and meaningful adoption of data, AI and automation. Vice-Chair of the Digital Dairy Chain Skills Board and former member of Scotland’s AI Alliance Leadership Circle, she is also a passionate advocate for diversity in tech and leads Girl Geek Scotland.
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Cami Rose Alexander is a leadership coach and facilitator specialising in human-centred development. Since qualifying in Person-Centred Counselling in 2006, she has worked with leaders and teams to build resilience, improve communication, and navigate change. Formerly an in-house coach and trainer at DC Thomson, she led development programmes using tools like Insights Discovery and Belbin Team Roles. In 2023, she founded The Happy Human Training Co., supporting SMEs and start-ups to create thriving, emotionally intelligent workplaces. Cami helps founders strengthen leadership confidence and overcome imposter beliefs to unlock their full potential.
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Rohini Sankati is a technology strategist and early-stage investor who partners with mission-driven founders to build products and companies that scale with purpose. With deep expertise in SaaS, cloud architecture, and product strategy, she helps founders scale their companies with clarity and intention. Her experience spans AgriTech, HR Tech, IoT, logistics, and manufacturing, giving her a cross-industry lens on how technology, people, and systems work together to create long-term value. Rohini is known for bringing clarity to ambiguity, empowering teams, and architecting sustainable paths from vision to execution. She is passionate about helping visionary entrepreneurs amplify their mission, build strong teams, and create inclusive solutions that deliver both commercial success and social value.
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Sooz Young is the Founder of Technology Coaching and creator of the Digital Mindset framework. With over 16 years of experience in digital skills training, including at Apple, she helps entrepreneurs grow, scale, and stay visible online. Sooz combines strategy and simplicity to make technology accessible, delivering CPD-accredited courses and strategic consultancy across Innovation, Web Presence, Social Media Marketing, AI & Automation, Cybersecurity, and Data. Passionate about diversity in tech, she empowers women founders to build investor-ready, digitally confident businesses through engaging, practical learning and mindset work.
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Claudia Freigang founded and led a medtech startup in 2017, Hearing Diagnostics Limited, building a novel hearing screening device incorporating both software and hardware development from concept through to a finished, commercial product. Before starting the company, she was working in hearing research, with a PhD in auditory neuroscience.
As CEO, she took the company from early R&D to clinical and commercial readiness, covering operations, regulatory, hiring, product development and validation, IP including a granted EU patent, and international business development. She led collaborations, formalising an NHS clinical trial, and building partnerships across academia, clinical and industry.
Under her leadership, the company secured £2.5m in funding, comprising £2.2m in investment and £390k in grants from bodies including Scottish Enterprise and Innovate UK.
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Shona is an energetic startup builder with deep expertise in launching and scaling direct-to-market platforms and digital marketplaces. Over the past three years, she has led major UK tech accelerator programmes, including the Scottish Government’s Techscaler and the Ministry of Justice’s LawtechUK. She has also supported academic entrepreneurship and public-sector innovation. Earlier in her career, Shona was the first employee at Accomable, the traveltech startup known as ‘the Airbnb for people with disabilities’. She grew the company through to its acquisition by Airbnb, where she led financial due diligence and integration across supply, product, and operations before joining the Airbnb Experiences team to lead business growth for Northern Europe.
Alongside her hands-on start-up roles, she has served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Falmouth University, taught on Oxford University’s MBA programme, and supported multiple early-stage platform launches. Shona also sits on the board of VisitScotland and chairs Disability Snowsports UK, reflecting her passion for travel, tourism, accessibility, and the outdoors.
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Susan Lindsay is the Founder of Radial, a firm specialising in connecting clients with top Marketing, Comms, and Creative talent. But her true differentiator is her deep, practical experience. Having launched and scaled diverse businesses, from e-commerce to property development across Scotland and Australia. Susan has personally worn all the hats, from finance to sales, and faced the pressures of leadership and rapid growth head-on. This journey gives her a unique empathy and strategic insight into the hiring process. As a mentor, Susan is passionate about sharing proven insights on how to shape, scale, and build successful, commercially focused marketing teams that drive measurable results and overcome common growth-stage hiring challenges.
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Jacqueline Morrison is the Founder and CEO of Napkin Innovation, a start-up developing large-scale engineering solutions for offshore renewables. She has first-hand experience of the challenges of securing funding and building the strategic partnerships required to take innovative technology to market. A recipient of the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award, Jacqueline also serves as a Non-Executive Director at Queen Margaret University and South Lanarkshire College, where she supports students through mentoring and pitch competitions. Known for her practical approach, she believes in engaging closely with customers, seeking feedback early, and communicating ideas clearly. Mentoring allows Jacqueline to give back by sharing the lessons she has learned as a founder building in a complex, technical sector.
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Tara Askham is a qualified lecturer, published author, and award-winning finance educator with over 20 years in accountancy and 12 years of training experience. She co-founded a multi-award-winning social enterprise and wrote the UK’s first Accountancy Access to Higher Education Diploma. Tara designs and delivers finance, accounting, and spreadsheet training for global organisations, helping leaders make strategic, data-driven decisions.
A consultant and external quality assurer for the Association of Accounting Technicians, she also writes and moderates exam materials for leading publishers worldwide. Her approachable teaching style builds confidence in understanding and challenging financial information.
Named one of Small Business Britain’s f:Entrepreneur Top 100 and a Theo Paphitis SBS winner, Tara mentors with UnLtd, Santander Women in Business, and Enterprise Nation, and sits on NatWest’s Social & Community Capital funding panel.
She’s part of the government-backed Maple Review Steering Committee and Xero’s Financial Confidence Taskforce, helping improve financial capability for small businesses and underrepresented founders across the UK.
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Lisbeth Macmillan is a strategic Chartered Accountant with over 30 years of experience at a senior level across the UK and US financial services markets. She has worked closely with executive teams to shape strategy, lead transformation programmes, and communicate complex proposals clearly and confidently to Boards, shareholders, regulators and analysts. Her expertise spans strategic reviews, restructuring, integration, cost programmes and regulatory change, including engagement with HM Treasury, the Regulators and the Scottish Government.
In recent years, Lisbeth has focused on supporting transformation within the charity sector, bringing financial clarity and strong governance to organisations navigating change. She also serves as a Chair and Treasurer and mentors professionals through the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. Lisbeth is keen to help companies simplify complex financial issues and help leadership teams analyse options, influence stakeholders, and make confident strategic decisions.
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Judith Thorpe is a founding Director of TMM Recruitment, which she established at 24 with her business partner. Over more than two decades, she has built a multi-disciplinary, award-winning recruitment business recognised for its values-led approach, strong client relationships and long-term impact across the north-east of Scotland.
A Heriot-Watt University graduate, Judith is an experienced recruiter, executive coach and mentor with a passion for supporting entrepreneurs, leaders and founders through key career transitions. As a Thomas International Accredited Practitioner, she brings a practical, commercial lens to coaching, grounded in real business experience.
Committed to giving back, Judith has held senior non-executive and ambassadorial roles with organisations including Entrepreneurial Scotland, the RGU Business School Advisory Board, Developing the Young Workforce, the Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, Cornerstone, The Sandpiper Trust, PSYBT, and Young Enterprise Grampian. She is currently a trustee of Aberdeen-based charity SHMU and recently completed three years as an MCR Pathways mentor.
Judith is motivated to help others build confidence, make clear decisions, and lead with authenticity and purpose.
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