Hugh Shaw, Chair
Elected by the Commissioners (receives a remuneration). Commissioner since August 2018 and co-opted until 31 March 2027. Secretary of State’s Representative (SOSREP) 2008-2018. Served in the Merchant Navy as a Deck Officer before moving into HM Coastguard, now part of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency were he spent 28 years. In that time has specialised in a number of fields including search and rescue and counter pollution and salvage.
Commodore Brian Archibald, Vice Chair
Elected by the Commissioners (receives a remuneration). Commissioner since April 2020 and co-opted until 1 April 2029. Orkney Islands Council Harbour Master and Head of Marine Services, Engineering and Transport from 2012 until 2020. Prior to joining Orkney Marine Services, he served in the Royal Navy for 36 years, leaving in 2012 in the rank of Commodore. As a naval warfare officer and Master Mariner (warship), he held a number of navigation appointments, three sea command appointments and latterly, positions at the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall and in charge of warship support and procurement within the Bristol based Defence Equipment and Support organisation.
The Rt Hon Dorothy Bain KC
Lord Advocate for Scotland. Commissioner since 21 June 2021. Previously served as the Principal Advocate Depute from 2009 to 2011, becoming the first and highest-ranking woman to hold the prosecutorial position in Scotland. Attended the University of Aberdeen School of Law, graduating with an LLB and a Diploma in Legal Practice. In 1994, she became an advocate and in 2007 she was appointed to the Queen’s Counsel Served as an Advocate Depute in the Crown Office from 2002 to 2011 and was appointed the first female Principal Advocate Depute from 2009 to 2011. In 2008, she was commissioned to report on the prosecution of sex crimes in Scotland, the outcome of which led to the formation of Scotland’s National Sex Crimes Unit in 2009. She returned to private practice in 2011.
Ruth Charteris KC
Solicitor General for Scotland. Commissioner since 21 June 2021. Has extensive experience in civil and criminal law. She qualified at the University of Glasgow and came to the Bar on completion of her post as Legal Assistant to the Lord President. She held the role of Standing Junior to the Scottish Government from 2012 and Second Standing Junior to the Scottish Government from 2016 to 2020. Ruth was also an ad hoc Advocate Depute with the Crown Office from 2010 to 2016 and took up a full-time commission last year before her appointment as Solicitor General.
Sheriff Principal Gillian Wade
Sheriff Principal for Tayside, Central and Fife. Commissioner since 4 August 2023. Appointed as a full time Advocate Depute and served as a Senior Advocate depute from 2011 until 2014, during which time she conducted a number of high profile criminal appeals and prosecutions and was appointed head of the National Sexual Crimes Unit. She took silk in 2013. In 2015 became a full time sheriff in Tayside, Central and Fife and has been a resident sheriff in Perth since 2016. In 2018 she was appointed as a part time judge of the Court of Session and regularly presides over High Court trials. In 2022 she was appointed to the Sheriff Appeal Court. SP Wade is a designated commercial sheriff and held positions as Chair of the third sector group Relationships Scotland Tayside and Fife, Sheriff member, Criminal Courts Rules Council, and Vice President of the Sheriffs and Summary Sheriffs Association.
Sheriff Principal Aisha Anwar
Sheriff Principal of Glasgow and Strathkelvin since 19 May 2023 previously Sheriff Principal of South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway, Commissioner since August 20 April 2020. Appointed as a part-time sheriff in 2011 and a resident sheriff at Glasgow Sheriff Court in 2014 and has been a designated family law and commercial law sheriff. Graduated from the University of Edinburgh (LLB Hons) in 1996 and from the University of Oxford (Bachelor of Civil Law) in 1998. She co-authored the Civil Bench Book for Sheriffs on behalf of the Judicial Institute and was appointed to the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service Board in 2018 before her appointment as Sheriff Principal.
Sheriff Principal Sean Murphy
Sheriff Principal of North Strathclyde. Commissioner since December 2022. Appointed Sheriff Principal of North Strathclyde in December 2022 after being appointed Temporary Sheriff Principal in June 2022. . He was appointed as a sheriff in 2007 and has sat as a temporary judge since September 2008 and as an appeal sheriff since May 2015.
Sheriff Principal Andrew Miller
Sheriff Principal of Grampian, Highlands and Islands. Commissioner since March 2026. After a few years in private practice he joined the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in 1995 and held a number of posts in the Procurator Fiscal’s Offices in Hamilton and Glasgow and in the Crown Office Appeals and Policy Units. He became a Solicitor Advocate in 2003 and was appointed as District Procurator Fiscal for Dumbarton in 2005. He held that post until 2008, when he was appointed as an Advocate Depute and then Senior Advocate Depute, prosecuting serious cases in the High Court. In 2013 he was appointed as a Sheriff in Grampian, Highland and Islands. He has served as a Sheriff in the Highlands, at Peterhead Sheriff Court and, since 2017, at Aberdeen Sheriff Court. He was appointed as a temporary High Court judge in August 2022.
Sheriff Principal Nigel Ross
Sheriff Principal of Lothian and Borders. Commissioner since 1 May 2022. Appointed as a part-time sheriff in 2003 and as a full-time sheriff in 2006, initially at Glasgow Sheriff Court and from 2013 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. Designated commercial, extradition and personal injury sheriff and has sat in the Sheriff Appeal Court since 2017. Qualified as a solicitor in 1988 and called to the Bar in December 1991. His practice was mainly in the newly- established Commercial Court in the Court of Session. Appointed Standing Junior to the Department of Trade and Industry in 1999.
Sheriff Principal Kate Dowdalls
Sheriff Principal of South Strathclyde, Dumfries & Galloway. Commissioner since June 2023. Graduated from the University of Strathclyde in 1984. She then completed her traineeship and worked in private practice in Lanarkshire, Glasgow and Stirling. She was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 2000 and took silk in 2013. She specialised in family law, litigating in the Sheriff Court, Sheriff Appeal Court, Court of Session and UK Supreme Court. Sheriff Principal Dowdalls KC has also represented parties in fatal accident inquiries and a core participant in the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. From 2018 until May 2023 she was a Scottish Law Commissioner, leading the Aspects of Family Law project.
Councillor Robert Aldridge
The Rt Hon The Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Commissioner since May 2022. An elected member for Drum Brae/Gyle, Cllr Aldridge is the council’s longest-serving member with over 30 years experience. He was part of the Council administration from 2007-12, serving as Environment leader, and has been a Bailie since 2012.
Councillor Jacqueline McLaren
The Rt Hon The Lord Provost of Glasgow. Commissioner since May 2022. Glasgow’s First citizen was first elected as a councillor in 2017 and was returned to represent the area where she was born and has strong family connections earlier this month. In her five years as a councillor, Lord Provost McLaren has been a passionate advocate of community empowerment and the social and physical regeneration of her ward.
Councillor David Cameron
Lord Provost of Aberdeen. Commissioner since May 2022. Started a career in food safety as a laboratory technician and then as a quality manager before attending the University of Aberdeen, graduating in 1973. He was a Senior Lecturer in the School of Nutritional Science at the Robert Gordon Institute of Technology (now the Robert Gordon University). In 1990, Dr Cameron launched his own food safety consultancy, which was Grampian Small Business of the Year 1994. He was twice the President of the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland has provided food safety advice to industry, including oil and gas, around the world. Dr Cameron has been a councillor for the Kingswells, Sheddocksley and Summerhill ward of Aberdeen City Council since 2012. Immediately prior to becoming a councillor, he completed two terms of office as the Chairman of NHS Grampian Board, having been a Board Member since January 2005. He was also a UK board member of the Food Standards Agency and Chair of the Scottish Food Advisory Committee.
Councillor Bill Lobban
Convener of Highland Council. Commissioner since 18 May 2017. Independent Councillor. Chair of the Badenoch and Strathspey Area Committee, member of the Corporate Resources Committee, member of the Pensions Committee, member of South Planning Applications Committee and Chair of the Re-Design Board. Member of Cairngorms National Park Authority Board and Advisor to Board of Grantown Museum. Species Champion for Lepus Timidus (Mountain Hare).
Councillor Dougie Philand
Provost of the Council of Argyll and Bute. Commissioner since May 2024. Worked in mental health for 37.5 years retiring as service manager of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services for Argyll and Bute. Elected as a Local Councillor in 2007 for the ward of Mid Argyll and served as Area Chair for Mid Argyll Kintyre and the islands and first Chairman of the Argyll and Bute Health and social care partnership. Became Provost of Argyll and Bute Council in 2024.
Dick Welsh
Nominated by the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man and elected by the Commissioners. Commissioner since 1 June 2022 and co-opted until 31 May 2028. Director/Chief Marine Surveyor of Isle of Man Ship Registry (2006-2019), responsible for the regulation and certification of a key part of the British Red Ensign registered fleet. Previously surveyor with Isle of Man Ship Register, Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and
Lloyd’s Register(LR). Ex-Seagoing Marine Engineer Officer. President of King George’s Fund for Sailors (KGFS), Isle of Man.
Jamie Finlay
Elected by the Commissioners (receives a remuneration). Commissioner since 1 April 2023 and co-opted until 31 March 2029. Maritime consultant, Master Mariner and Specialist Navigator. Previously spent 22 years at sea in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, sailing in all ranks from Cadet to Captain across a wide variety of ship types. Prior experience at board level with the UK Chamber of Shipping and Maritime UK. A graduate of Kings College London, Plymouth University and the Defence Academy of the UK.
Ron Robson
Elected by the UK Secretary of State for Transport (receives a remuneration). Commissioner since 30 April 2024. A chartered accountant, Ron is currently a director of Clyde Munro Group, Scotland’s largest chain of dental practices. He started his career in the Merchant Navy, serving 4 years with P&O and qualifying as a navigator working on a DSV in the North Sea. Ron has held several senior executive and finance positions throughout his career, including as a Managing Director of a US based private investment group, Finance Director of a shipping company and Finance Director of Belhaven Brewery. His non-executive experience includes serving as Deputy Chairman of one of the UK’s largest pub and restaurant groups, Mitchells & Butlers, and 7 years as a director of Tottenham Hotspur football club.
Fiona Larkin
Elected by the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Transport (receives a remuneration). Commissioner since 1 April 2025. Fiona is a Chartered Accountant and currently the Chief Financial Officer at Aquacultured Seafood Limited.
