Previously she served as director of the Scottish Arts Council for nine years, and before that Assistant Director (Strategy and Regional Development) of Greater London Arts; Director of Shape; Head of Public Relations Ballet Rambert; Press and Publicity Officer at Northern Dance Theatre; Business Manager, Lincoln Theatre Royal and a freelance arts Consultant working with the Arts Council of Great Britain and the London Contemporary Dance Trust.
[4] She is Chair of the British Council Scottish Advisory Committee, British Council Trustee, Vice Chair of Wasps Artists Studio and on the Board of the Edinburgh International Cultural Summit Foundation.
Previously she has been Trustee of Tate, Chair of the National Theatre of Scotland,[5] and Deputy Chair and Scottish Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund,[2] Scotland’s Fulbright Commissioner,[6] Chair of Cove Park, Guest Chair of the Saltire Society Scotland Housing Design Awards; a member of the DCMS Advisory Panel for the Selection of UK City of Culture 2017; a Commissioner on the Scottish Broadcasting Commission; a member of the Knowledge and Evaluation Committee of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Vice Chair of the Lighthouse Centre for Architecture, Design and the City in Glasgow, and on the boards of The Arches and of Suspect Culture Theatre.
As well as securing funds from public and private sources for these initiatives, secured increased core funding from Scottish Funding Council recognising the diseconomies of scale for small, specialist institutions, the GSA's distinctive studio-based educational model and the GSA's research standing as recognised in the UK-wide Research Assessment Exercise.
[3] She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours,[10] both for services to the creative industries.