SSN Conference 2009

Born in 1964, John Swinney MSP joined the Scottish National Party in 1979 and went on to graduate from Edinburgh University with an MA (Hons) in Politics. He has worked for the Scottish Coal Project, Development Options and Scottish Amicable.

Prior to his election as Westminster MP for North Tayside in 1997, he held a number of posts in the SNP at local and national level. In 1999, he became the MSP for Tayside North, remaining as the constituency's MP until standing down from Westminster at the 2001 General Election.

Having served as the SNP's Deputy Leader since 1998 and became Leader in 2000. After relinquishing his post in 2004, Mr Swinney became Convener of the Scottish Parliament's European and External Relations Committee.

He was re-elected as an MSP at the 2007 Scottish Parliament election and appointed Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth. The Cabinet Secretary's responsibilities include: the economy, the Scottish Budget, public service reform, local government, public service delivery, cities and community planning, procurement, business and industry, trade and inward investment, corporate social responsibility, voluntary sector and the social economy, community business and corporate development, European Structural Funds, energy, tourism, land use planning system, climate change, building standards, and transport policy and delivery.

John has two children and is married to Elizabeth Quigley. He lives near Blairgowrie in his constituency and his hobbies include cycling and hill walking.

Tim Jackson leads the Sustainable Development Commission's Economics steering group, and was the author of the recently published Sustainable Development Commission report 'Prosperity Without Growth? - The Transition to a Sustainable Economy'.

Tim Jackson is also Professor of Sustainable Development in the Centre for Environmental Strategy (CES) at the University of Surrey. His current research interests include consumer behaviour, sustainable energy systems, ecological economics and environmental philosophy. In the last twelve years he has pioneered the development of an 'adjusted' measure of economic growth - a 'green GDP' - for the UK. Since January 2003, Tim has been employed at CES under a research fellowship on the 'social psychology' of consumer behaviour. Supported by the Economic and Social Research Council, the fellowship aims to review the extensive literature on consumer behaviour and tease out the implications for sustainable consumption policy. In addition to his academic work, Tim is a professional playwright with numerous radio-writing credits for the BBC.

David Kennedy is the Chief Executive of the Committee on Climate Change. Previously he worked on energy strategy at the World Bank, and design of infrastructure investment projects at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He has a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) is an independent body established under the Climate Change Act to advise the Government on emissions targets, and to report to Parliament on progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The CCC's Priorities are to:

- Provide independent advice to Government on setting and meeting carbon budgets and targets.
- Monitor progress in reducing emissions and achieving carbon budgets.
- Conduct independent research and analysis into climate change.
- Engage with representatives interested in climate change from across the UK in order to share research and information on climate change and gain input into our analysis.

Peter Vadesz was born on January 29, 1944 in Bad Hall, Upper Austria. Peter was a teacher of English, Geography and History, and he has been the Mayor of Gussing since 1992. From 1996 to 2005 Peter was a Member of Parliament of the province of Burgenland. Peter has also been the President of the European Centre for Renewable Energy (EEE) since 1996. Peter is married with three daughters and four grandchildren.

In 2001 the town of Gussing in Austria became energy self-sufficient using 100% renewable energy sources. By 2010 the district in which Gussing sits, with a population of 27,000, will also attain a self-sufficient energy supply.

Peter Vadasz has been integral to a sustainable transformation that has seen Gussing move from a "dying region" to one that has attracted more than 50 new enterprises, created over 1000 new jobs, developed a thriving eco-tourism industry, and in which its citizens enjoy a high quality of life.

Ian Marchant was appointed Chief Executive of Scottish and Southern Energy in October 2002, having been Finance Director since 1998. He has worked in the energy industry since 1992, when he joined Southern Electric. He is a member and former Chairman of the UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Chairman of the Scottish Climate Change Business Delivery Group, and a member of Ofgem's Environmental Advisory Group and the Energy Research Partnership.

Stephen Boyd is STUC Assistant Secretary with responsibility for economic and industrial policy, the environment, utilities, transport and arts and culture.

He is currently a member of the First Minister's Energy Advisory Board for Scotland, the National Textiles Forum, the Aerospace, Defence and Marine Industry Advisory Group, the Highland Economic Forum, the Scottish Council for Development and Industry's Executive Committee, the Scottish Government's Small Business Consultative Group, the Scottish Government's Public Procurement Advisory Group and the Scottish Government's Regulatory Review Group.

Prior to joining the STUC in 2003, Stephen was a policy officer with the Scottish Government.

Colin has worked with national and local government for 25 years. In Autumn 2004 he become the first Chief Executive of the 'Improvement Service' - a partnership between national and local government in Scotland created to 'support improvement in the efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of local public services'.

Derek (born 30th July 1977) joined the SNP in 1994 and was elected to Renfrewshire Council in May 1999 at the age of 21, representing the Blythswood Ward in Renfrew. He was re-elected in 2003 with 64% of the popular vote and remained on the Council at the subsequent 2007 elections representing the new Renfrew North multimember ward.

Leading the Renfrewshire SNP council group in opposition from 2004 on 17th May 2007 he helped form the first SNP-led Council Administration, and thereby become Council Leader.

Derek has a particular interest in health issues, serving as Chair of Renfrewshire Community Health Partnership and as a member of Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board.

In 2009 Derek was elected as SNP Group Leader at the CoSLA, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.

Robin Presswood is Business and Strategy Manager with Fife Council Development Services, with responsibility for planning policy, economic development, sustainability and business infrastructure. He has 15 years experience in local government economic development, and is currently Chair of the Scottish Local Authority Economic Development Group (SLAED). He is a Non-Executive Director of Business Gateway Fife.

In his spare time, Robin has a strong interest in the arts having served on the Scottish Arts Council, and is currently Chairman of Dundee Contemporary Arts. He is also a keen skier and is married with two daughters.

John is a senior research fellow in the Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York, where he leads the Future Sustainability Programme that conducts research on understanding the impacts of both consumption and production patterns while also addressing the policy implications. John has advised numerous government departments, organisations and companies on sustainable consumption and production issues including the measuring of carbon footprints, having recently undertaken the carbon footprint of the NHS. John understands the technical issues associated with understanding our impact on the environment by developing the most detailed set of material flow, Ecological Footprint and Carbon Dioxide Emissions accounts for the UK that form part of DEFRA's evidence base. John also appreciates the political and policy implications of these issues having developed policy tools that are now being used by over 80 government agencies to assess the effectiveness of policy decisions. He is an advisor to a number of government departments across the world having advised ministers in Thailand, Sweden and the UK. John was one of the lead advisors to DEFRA in relation to the development of PAS2050 and was commissioned DEFRA to lead research on understanding the carbon footprint of trade. This model provides a detailed understanding of the global impact of UK consumption and industry.

John has appeared on Radio 4 news and discussion programmes, written numerous policy reports on SCP issues for a wide range of audiences and has built his academic reputation through the publication of a number of peer-reviewed papers.

Scottish Enterprise is Scotland's Enterprise, Innovation and Investment agency, playing a leading role in implementing the Scottish Government's economic strategy.

As newly appointed Director for Energy and Low Carbon Technologies (August 2009) for Scottish Enterprise, Adrian has responsibility for working with Industry to set priorities for investment and growth in the energy and clean technology sectors.

Previous roles included Director for Digital Markets and Enabling Technologies for Scottish Enterprise. Before joining Scottish Enterprise he held a number of commercial and financial management positions across the UK for Marks and Spencer plc.

Adrian has a Bachelor of Accountancy degree from Glasgow University and an MBA from the University of Strathclyde.

Jan Bebbington is Professor of Accounting and Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews and Director of the St Andrews Sustainability Institute. Since 2006 she has been Vice-Chair of the Sustainable Development Commission in Scotland.

Her research interests focus around the themes of corporate reporting on sustainable development, full cost accounting and modelling as well as governance for sustainable development. Professor Bebbington has worked with many organisations who are seeking to model their sustainable development impacts and to transform their activities.

She is also the Chair of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Committee on Social and Environmental Committee and Associate Director of the Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research and was previously an external advisor to the Scottish Cabinet Sub-Committee on Sustainable Scotland.

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