WIREDGOV

Ofcom yesterday announced the appointment of two new Advisory Committee for Scotland members. The new members are Amanda Bryan, a rural development consultant, and John Trower, an advisor to the private equity industry and founding member of staff at Scottish Telecom.

Ofcom’s National Advisory Committees provide advice to Ofcom about the interests and opinions of people living in the Nations and Regions of the UK on all communications matters. The Committees were established under the terms of the Communications Act 2003.

Laura Alexander, Chair, Advisory Committee Scotland, said: “The Advisory Committee for Scotland will benefit from the knowledge of our two new members who offer particular expertise in infrastructure rollout and rural issues, both key issues for communications in Scotland that invariably come up at meetings of the Committee. Amanda Bryan and John Trower are joining an excellent complement of existing members. We look forward to welcoming them.”

Amanda Bryan is a rural development consultant who works predominantly in the Highlands and Islands.  Her work crosses all sectors and takes in land reform, community land and asset ownership, forestry and land management, the environment and conservation, community consultation and access to services.  In this role she has worked with some of the most remote and fragile communities in Scotland.

Amanda is also a part time lecturer at the Scottish School of Forestry in Inverness and a Research Associate at the UHI’s Centre for Remote and Rural Research.

Amanda currently holds the position of Forestry Commissioner for Scotland and is Chair of the Forestry Commission’s National Committee Scotland.  Previously she served on the Board of Scottish Natural Heritage, chairing its North Areas’ Board and has been a member of the BBC Trust’s Audience Council for Scotland and Chair of the BBC’s Scottish Rural Affairs and Agriculture Advisory Committee.  Amanda was also an advisor to the Scottish Government’s Land Reform Review Group from 2012 to 2014.

Having grown up in Caithness, Amanda is now based in Strathglass, west of Inverness where she lives with her husband and two daughters.

John Trower is a self-employed consultant acting as an advisor to the private equity industry.  Having graduated with an Honours Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Strathclyde University he worked in Scottish Power in the Telecoms Branch.  He was subsequently a founding member of staff at Scottish Telecom where he became the Operations Director.  After a period as assistant to the CEO, he became Head of Corporate Sales at THUS plc and then Sales Director of THUS Ltd after it was taken over by Cable & Wireless.  Recently he has served on the Boards of Metronet UK in Manchester and My1Login in Glasgow.

John is married with three children, one of whom is profoundly handicapped, which has fostered his interest in disabled rights and equal access.  He has a non-remunerative role as Secretary and volunteer within a local charity which helps homeless and destitute people

The new appointments to the Advisory Committee for Scotland are for a three year term commencing with immediate effect. The terms of two existing members, Stuart Gibson and Peter Peacock, will also be extended by one year.

More information can be found at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/how-ofcom-is-run/committees/scotland/