About The Board of Management

David Newall

David Newall has been Chair of the Board of Management at Glasgow Clyde College since July 2016. In that capacity he is also a member of the Glasgow Colleges’ Regional Board and of the Colleges Scotland Good Governance Steering Group.

David is a history graduate and an accountant (CPFA). He has held management positions in local government and higher education, most recently as University Secretary & Director of Administration at the University of Glasgow (2004-17).

Jon Vincent

Jon Vincent is the Principal and Chief Executive of Glasgow Clyde College and he commenced this position in September 2017.

He has substantial experience of both further and higher education sectors having held a variety of teaching, management and leadership positions at colleges throughout the United Kingdom. Prior to commencing his current role, Jon was Principal and Chief Executive of Tyne Metropolitan College in the North East of England. At the time of appointment, Tyne Metropolitan was struggling with poor financial health, declining student recruitment and success rates. Under Jon’s leadership, the College recovered its financial standing, student numbers grew and success rates dramatically improved, leading to highly complementary reports from both Ofsted and QAA. Over this period the College became one of the first in the UK to achieve the coveted STEM Assured and Investors in Innovation accreditations.

A qualified teacher, he initially taught sport studies/science before becoming involved in initial teacher training and quality management roles. Jon has held a variety of non-executive and trustee positions outside of the education sector including involvement with a family poverty charity and economic development organisations. He is currently the Chair of a large secondary school and a Fellow of the Institute of Knowledge Exchange.

Sandra Heidinger

Sandra Heidinger is the Special Advisor to the Principal at the University of Strathclyde. Prior to that, Sandra was the Director of Human Resources at the University of Strathclyde from 2009 until July 2020 where she was responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of human resources, organisational development, safety, and corporate risk and business improvement. Sandra has worked at the University since 2001.
Sandra previously worked at Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow Colleges of Nursing and Midwifery, and InterCity Scotland. She has also held a number of non-executive director roles.

David Watt

Until retirement in October 2014, David spent 36 years in professional practice with KPMG, where his clients included publicly-funded and not-for-profit bodies in further and higher education, central and local government and the NHS.

Current appointments include membership of the trustee boards of the Church of Scotland and Quarriers, alongside independent membership of the audit committees of the University of Glasgow and Scottish Canals.

David is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.

Clare Walker

A Senior Student Adviser based at the Langside campus, Clare has held a number of positions throughout her 10 years with, first Langside College, and now Glasgow Clyde College - from project management to teaching and now advising.

Clare has a considerable amount of experience with students, teaching staff and support staff, all of which helps her play as full a part as she can, as the support staff member of the Board.

Gordon McGuinness

Gordon is a Depute Director at Skills Development Scotland (SDS), the National Skills Agency, where he leads its Industry and Enterprise Team, which supports and promotes skill enhancement within each of the Government’s Growth Economic Sectors and ensures connectivity to the development work of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Islands Enterprise and recognised industry trade bodies.

Gordon also leads teams responsible for the delivery of SDS’s Employer Engagement Strategy and also the agency's Research and Evaluation activity. He plays a significant role in SDS’s Stakeholder Relationship Programme and supports SDS’s activities within the Scottish Parliament and Economic Taskforce responses.

Prior to joining Skills Development Scotland, Gordon had 17 years' experience with Scottish Enterprise and was based in Paisley at Renfrewshire Enterprise in a range of operational roles from developing and delivering Employability Initiatives, Inward Investment Support and lead multi-disciplinary teams on Regeneration Projects such as Riverside Inverclyde.

Gordon was the Chair of the Board of Management at Reid Kerr College in Paisley, prior to its merger into West College Scotland, he is a Director of Engage Renfrewshire and Chair of Radio City Association Ltd, a Healthy Living Centre Initiative. Gordon is also a member of the SQA Advisory Council.

Michael Payne

Michael is a qualified actuary with around 25 years of post-qualification experience and around 35 years of experience of working in life assurance and pensions. Michael is currently working with KPMG, and previously he was the COO for Customer & Innovation at M&G plc where he held a number of senior Finance and Actuarial roles. In addition to this, Michael also held a number of Non-Executive roles at M&G, including Prudential International Assurance and Prudential Financial Planning Limited, as well as being a member of Prudential’s Independent Governance Committee. Before joining M&G (Prudential), Michael spent a number of years working at Scottish Widows now part of Lloyds Banking Group, Scottish Friendly, and Scottish Amicable, in a variety of senior positions.

Runa McNamara

Runa is the Company Director of Amethyst Global Ltd.
Runa has worked in Further Education Colleges in England and Scotland including Salford College, Stoke on Trent College, Kirklees College, James Watt College and Coatbridge College where she progressed from lecturing, through curriculum and quality management to senior management and directorate.
Runa led the national development of qualifications in Beauty Therapy for Scotland, Botswana and India. Runa was also a HMIe Associate Assessor for 9 years for hairdressing, beauty and complementary therapies.
Runa’s experience includes working as an Examiner, External Verifier, Regional EV, Technical Expert, Business Development Manager and International Sector Skills Consultant.

Alan O'Donnell

Alan O'Donnell is the UK & Ireland Country Director for a Norwegian company which aims to shape the future of electricity with their innovation of both hardware & software for Electric Vehicle Charging solutions. Easee are now the fastest growing start-up in Scandinavian history.

Alan is one of the leading experts within electric vehicles in the UK thanks to over 4 years working as an Electrical Engineer for Tesla prior to joining Easee.

Glasgow Colleges have been pivotal in his career & personal development. He started aged 16 at Cardonald College as an apprentice electrician and pursued further education at colleges across the city, including Langside, City of Glasgow, Stow and Kelvin colleges.

Lindsey Paterson

Lindsey joined the Board of Glasgow Clyde College in February 2021. She is a politics graduate and a chartered accountant. She is a former partner of PwC, where she worked for some 27 years, prior to which she worked in local government. Her role at PwC primarily focussed upon leading the delivery of risk assurance services to a wide range of clients, with a focus on education, health and transport. In addition to her client facing roles, Lindsey also lead PwC’s Place and Purpose agenda in Scotland, with a key responsibility in relation to Inclusion, Communities and Wellbeing.

Sunita McKenna

Sunita McKenna is the President of the Glasgow Clyde College Student Association for the session 2022/23

Atiqa Chaudhry

Atiqa Chaudhry is Vice President of the Glasgow Clyde College Student Association for the session 2022/23.