Staff

Ealasaid MacDonald, CEO

Ealasaid is the Ceannard (CEO) of Bòrd na Gàidhlig and has been in post since September 2023.

Ealasaid, hailing from the Western Isles and with her home in Stornoway has extensive experience of working in both mainland and island settings.  In her previous role as Director of Strategy and External Affairs with MG ALBA she lead on corporate and stakeholder communications. With experience of working in the public sector and as a freelance policy and public affairs consultant, Ealasaid has been at the forefront of many initiatives and developments to promote the needs of Gaelic speakers throughout her career.

Based in Stornoway, Ealasaid works closely with Board members and the senior management team, and also with Scottish Government, public bodies and Gaelic communities.

Iain MacMillan, Director of Development

The Director Development develops and influences appropriate strategies, and builds partnerships with individuals and other organisations in order to grow the Gaelic language and culture within communities.

Email: iain@gaidhlig.scot

Research and Corpus Planning Manager

Dr Peadar Morgan is in the Usage team, and provides support across Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s services.

Peadar leads on Bòrd policy, partnership and recommendations on corpus planning; matters relating to the language itself, for example vocabulary, grammar and orthography and names.

A major part of his work is compiling and presenting data on population and education in charts, graphs and maps to illustrate the situation of Gaelic for the public and – in more detail – for policy and decision makers.

Peadar is the main contact for researchers working on behalf of Bòrd na Gàidhlig to make sure they become properly acquainted with the state of Gaelic,. In addition, there is much to learn from research and from other languages, and Peadar keeps up to date with new international data which shows challenges or opportunities for Gaelic.

Email: peadar@gaidhlig.scot

Partnerships & Development Manager

Brian Ó hEadhra works across the Bòrd na Gàidhlig team and with external partners to ensure that more people are using and benefitting from Gaelic at work, at home and in the community.

He helps ensure that Bòrd na Gàidhlig and external partners are fully engaged with the delivery of strategic collaborations and furthering the aims of the National Gaelic Language Plan.

Brian leads on Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s involvement in international Gaelic language partnership projects in collaboration with other strategic development bodies including Foras na Gaeilge and the Colmcille initiative.

Email: brian@gaidhlig.scot

Language Plans Officers

Our Gaelic Language Plans Officers, Christie MacLean, Anna Walker and Kyle Orr, are responsible for advising, guiding and directing relationships with public authorities through the legislative process in developing and publishing the plans. their Gaelic language.

Plan officers also work with colleagues in the Language Planning Team to support the overall effectiveness of the statutory language planning process.

Email: christie@gaidhlig.scot, anna@gaidhlig.scot, kyle@gaidhlig.scot

Plans Implementation Officer

Our Plans Implementation Officer, Chirsty Graham, is responsible for monitoring the implementation of public authorities’ Gaelic Plans.

The Implementation Officer also works with colleagues in the Language Planning Team to support the overall effectiveness of the statutory language process.

Email: chirsty@gaidhlig.scot

Funding and Projects Manager

Steven Kellow is in charge of co-ordinating the administration and delivery of Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s funding schemes. He works with a mixture of public authorities, Gaelic organisations, community groups and individuals to support them in delivering projects that promote Gaelic.

Email: stevenk@gaidhlig.scot

Administrator (Grants)

As a member of Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s funding schemes team Theresa MacAulay is responsible for the general administration of grants and supporting  the applicants with their projects.

Email: theresa@gaidhlig.scot

Jennifer McHarrie, Director of Education

Jennifer McHarrie is the Director of Gaelic Education and leads the Education Team at the Bòrd. Jennifer works closely with colleagues in the Education Team to fulfil the commitments in the National Plan for Gaelic – working in partnership with a wide range of national agencies, Local Authority education teams and the Scottish Government. She took up the post in 2022.

E-mail: jennifer@gaidhlig.scot

Education Manager

Our Education Manager, Zoey MacLeod, is responsible for assisting in the development and implementation of the Board’s Corporate and Operational Plans and ensuring that the priorities and actions relating to learning are implemented effectively.

As part of Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s education team, Zoey works with Local Authorities and other stakeholders involved in Gaelic-medium and Gaelic learner education to support the development expansion of these areas of education.

Email: zoey@gaidhlig.scot 

Development Officer (Teachers)

Sian Baldwin has responsibility for supporting Gaelic teachers and Gaelic speaking teachers at all levels, and contributes to the wider work of the education team in supporting schools and local authorities. She has a particular responsibility to provide advice about and advertise the opportunities and benefits of Gaelic teaching to pupils, students and adults in the world of work. These include professional development opportunities, the Education Grants Scheme, school visits and careers fairs.

Email: sian@gaidhlig.scot

Education Development Officer

Màiri Morrison is employed as an Education Development Officer within the Education Team at Bòrd na Gàidhlig . Màiri also has responsibility for managing the Early Years Team who keep groups updated with support information and advice throughout Scotland.

Màiri also works closely with Comann nam Pàrant to disseminate early years funding to groups across Scotland and to support numbers of children continuing into Gaelic medium education. She also supports parents and children with advice and information on how to learn and use the language in their homes.  Màiri also organises and plans training for play leaders in partnership with the Early years Team and with Stòrlann. Màiri is also a member of the national early years steering group and also advises on development of resources to help families learn and use the language in their homes.

Email: mairit@gaidhlig.scot

Nicola Pearson – Head of Finance and Corporate Affairs

As Head of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Nicola Pearson has overall responsibility for finance, corporate affairs and operations.  As a member of the SMT, Nicola has a key role in planning and monitoring the strategic direction of Bòrd na Gàidhlig, through the Medium Term Finance Plan (MTFP), budgeting, forecasting and financial reporting processes and works to ensure maximum value for our Grant-in-Aid.  She supports the Finance Administrator in ensuring all day-to-day activities take place with appropriate financial control, ensuring that finance remains fit for purpose and that enhancements to our systems and process are planned and delivered when necessary and also has responsibility for managing the year-end audit process with our external auditors.

In Corporate Affairs, Nicola works closely with the administration team to manage the end-to-end committee and Board meeting processes to support good governance.  Another important aspect in that part of her work is managing the day to day working relationships with Internal and External audit ensuring all recommendations are appropriately implemented;  and managing the progression of actions on Bord na Gaidhlig’s continuous improvement plan.   Nicola also provides support to the Operations Manager, who has oversight of corporate functions, including procurement, IT and HR, and to the Communications team for delivering our internal and external communication strategies.

Email:  nicola@gaidhlig.scot

Finance Officer

Helen Walker is responsible for all Finance based administration Including accounts and supporting the head of finance.

Email: helen@gaidhlig.scot

Operations Manager

Karen Smith is responsible for leading on and monitoring operations and ensuring that each element of operations complies with regulations and internal processes. She also has responsibilities for business administration, human resources, internal communications and information technology.

Email: karen@gaidhlig.scot

Compliance Officer

Carol Johnson manages Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s electronic and manual filing systems, ensuring they are up to date and maintained in accordance with the Records Management Plan, Data Protection, Freedom of Information and GDPR obligations.

Email: carol@gaidhlig.scot

Business Administrator

Our Business Administrator, Orla MacDonald, supports the Operations Manager in providing support in the management and co-ordination of all aspects of the administrative functions of the organisation. Through her work at Bòrd na Gàidhlig and studying remotely with RGU she is working towards a degree in Business Management.

Email: orla@gaidhlig.scot

Communications Officer

As Communications Officer at Bòrd na Gàidhlig, Ruairidh Hamilton oversees internal and external communications, including social media, media requests, press releases, events, project support and much more.  He works closely with the various departments of Bòrd na Gàidhlig to support communication initiatives and such like.

Email: ruairidh@gaidhlig.scot

BnaG Leadership Team Declaration of Interest at 11/09/2023

Disclosure of High Earners

In line with Scottish Government guidelines Bòrd na Gàidhlig publishes the name, job title and salary of senior staff (equivalent to Senior Civil Service Grade 2 and above) on our website.

At this time no Bòrd na Gàidhlig officers fall into this category, however Senior Leadership Team data is available in our latest annual report found here.

This information is up to date as of April 2024.