QNIS Council
The QNIS Council has up to fifteen Trustees who meet quarterly to provide governance and direction on strategic, legal, financial, and operational issues. As ambassadors of QNIS, our Trustees help uphold its mission while ensuring compliance with Scottish charity law.
They also take collective responsibility for Council decisions and contribute to a shared sense of purpose in delivering the aims and objectives of the QNIS Constitution.
Erica Reid
Erica has served as a QNIS Trustee since June 2020 and was elected Vice Chair of Council in Spring 2022. She became Chair in August 2023.
During a 37-year nursing career, Erica spent two decades providing direct patient care before progressing into senior leadership positions within both the NHS and the Scottish Government. She has played a pivotal role in shaping national policy and is the only nurse in Scotland to have been awarded the prestigious Institute of Healthcare Improvement and the Health Foundation Quality Improvement Fellowship. This enabled her to learn from global experts in healthcare improvement across North America and Europe. She studied Clinical Effectiveness at Harvard University and developed skills in leading community-based change at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
In addition to her clinical and strategic experience, Erica brings expertise in charity governance, public engagement, and executive coaching. With nearly four decades of work in healthcare leadership, delivery, and improvement across Scotland, she is deeply committed to building leadership capacity within the nursing profession.
Rhona Hotchkiss
A former prison governor, Rhona, a QNIS Associate Fellow, joined the QNIS Council in August 2019. She was the Scottish Government’s first Director of the Nursing and Midwifery Practice Development Unit. With 35 years of experience in the public sector in both health and criminal justice, firstly at practitioner level, then with the Scottish Government and laterally at Executive level, she has a good understanding of operational issues and governance arrangements from more than 20 years of senior level experience. Rhona has a longstanding relationship with QNIS having been involved with the organisation in several capacities.
Sarah Ballard-Smith
Sarah joined Council in 2025, having been the Scottish representative for the Florence Nightingale Foundation in the past.
She qualified in London in 1985 and spent her early career working in London, the Southeast, and Southwest. She held a variety of clinical, managerial, and educational roles culminating in two Executive Nurse Director posts in England.
She moved to Edinburgh in 2011 having married a Scotsman. She was the Nurse Director for the acute hospitals in NHS Lothian; her remit included midwifery, FNP, and the City of Edinburgh Health Visitors. For the past six years Sarah has been working part time/ad hoc, largely on governance-related projects.
She has been involved with charities since 1999, most recently an Edinburgh-based charity for unpaid carers.
Jan Beattie
An experienced professional advisor with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital and health care industry, Jan joined the QNIS Council in 2022. She is skilled in risk management, strategic planning, organisational development, and business process improvement, and has strong business development expertise, having graduated from the Institute of Healthcare Improvement in Boston, USA.
Hazel Borland
Hazel joined the QNIS Council in August 2022. She started in the NHS as a nursing auxiliary in 1984, going on to become a registered general nurse (RGN) in 1988. Hazel has held a number of clinical roles, most recently Nurse Director at both NHS Dumfries & Galloway and NHS Ayrshire & Arran, and Deputy Chief Executive at NHS Ayrshire & Arran. She was Interim Chief Executive for NHS Ayrshire & Arran, from June 2021–January 2022, leading the organisation through a challenging time for patients, staff and families. Hazel retired from her leadership role in Ayrshire & Arran in March 2022. She is passionate about the profession and still proud to be a nurse after all these years.
Hazel is a Health Foundation Fellow, has an MSc in Leadership (Quality Improvement) and is an Honorary Professor at the School of Health and Nursing at the University of the West of Scotland. She also became Deputy Chair of Ayrshire Hospice in August 2023.
Mike Connor
Mike became a member of the QNIS Council in 2023, bringing with him more than 35 years of experience in investment management. Throughout his career, he specialised in managing portfolios for a wide range of clients across the charitable, private, and public sectors.
Now retired, Mike offers valuable insight in his role at QNIS. His in-depth understanding of financial strategy makes him a key asset in liaising with our portfolio investment manager and supporting the work of the Finance and Risk Committee.
Ann Gow
Ann recently retired from her post as Nurse Director and Deputy Chief Executive at Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS). She joined HIS in May 2017 as its first nursing, midwifery, and allied health professions (NMAHP) director. Before this she held various senior leadership posts as interim executive nurse director, associate nurse director for primary care, and IJB lead nurse in NHS Ayrshire and Arran before moving to Greater Glasgow and Clyde as chief nurse for regional services. She has worked for the Scottish Government contributing to the development of policy on early years and on public health nursing. Core to all of these roles has been a drive to improve the quality of care for those receiving services and a desire to improve experience for staff.
She spent two years as Chair of the Scottish Executive Nurse Directors, is an adviser to the RCN Foundations Grants Committee, judges the UK Nurse of the Year award and is a fellow of the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland.
She has a passion for child health, inequalities, and improving care for vulnerable people.
Nicky Connor
Nicky joined the QNIS Council in July 2018 and has more than 25 years of experience in professional and leadership roles across health and social care. Driven by a passion for person-centred care, she has led and inspired teams to deliver meaningful change in communities throughout her career.
Her commitment to improving lives guided her through senior nursing leadership roles and into the position of Chief Officer and Director of Health and Social Care in Fife. Now serving as Chief Executive of NHS Tayside, Nicky has come full circle – she began her nursing career at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, where her lifelong dedication to health and care first took root on the hospital’s medical wards.
Her diverse career spans acute care, including cardiology, as well as community nursing and health visiting. She has also led major initiatives focused on managing long-term conditions in community settings, bringing strategic insight and compassion to every role she undertakes.
Michael Stewart
Michael joined the QNIS Council in 2022. He is currently Head of Litigation at the NHS Central Legal Office. He advises NHS Boards on a range of litigation issues, including negligence claims, interventions under mental health legislation, consent, incapacity, family health practitioner discipline, GDPR issues, organisational duty of candour and end-of-life decision-making.
Michael spent a decade sitting on the Children’s Panel. His experience of governance issues was first developed as Chair of the Parent Council at the school attended by his children. Later, he became increasingly aware of the importance of effective governance while overseeing the delivery of legal services to Health Boards involved in Public Inquiries.
Sian Tucker
Sian assumed her position on the QNIS Council in 2018 and brings a wealth of clinical and strategic experience to her role. She is Deputy Medical Director at National Services Scotland, which delivers critical services and expert advice to the NHS and the wider public sector.
Alongside her leadership responsibilities, Sian remains firmly grounded in frontline care. She continues to work as an out of hours GP in Edinburgh, providing care during evenings and weekends. For more than five years, she has also served as a Primary Care Out of Hours Advisor to the Scottish Government.
Sian represents the Royal College of General Practitioners on both the UK and Scottish RCGP Councils, ensuring the voice of primary care is heard at national level.
Jenny Wilson
Jenny is the Executive Nurse Director at NHS Ayrshire and Arran. She has previously held senior leadership roles within the organisation, including Assistant Director of Quality Improvement and Interim Deputy Nurse Director.
Jenny qualified as a registered nurse in 1996 and has developed a diverse clinical and strategic career across multiple healthcare settings, including Orthopaedics and Intensive Care. The majority of her career has been spent in Primary Care as a General Practice Nurse, a role she remains deeply proud of. Her work in this area has included extended responsibilities in community nursing, health protection, urgent care, and the management of long-term conditions.
She has also held national roles, including Professional Nurse Advisor with the Scottish Government and National Clinical Lead (Nursing) for Primary Care at Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
In her current role as Executive Nurse Director, Jenny is responsible for providing strategic leadership to the nursing, midwifery, and allied health professions workforce. She leads on quality improvement, patient safety, and public protection, ensuring that services are informed by the experiences of patients, carers, and staff.
David Williams
David was invited to join the QNIS Council in 2018. He is Chief Executive of GMAC (Glasgow Media Access Centre), a charity dedicated to empowering underrepresented communities through film and storytelling – ‘Making Films; Changing Lives.’
With a lifelong career in the cultural sector, David has held roles with renowned organisations including Theatre Royal Stratford East, English National Ballet, Scottish Ballet, and the King’s Theatre & Theatre Royal Glasgow. He brings to the Council valuable expertise in organisational development and governance, along with a fresh and creative perspective shaped by his work in the arts.
Angie Wood
Angie, who joined the QNIS Council in 2022, spent many years working in mental health community settings before moving to management within the newly formed HSCPs. Working in Aberdeenshire, she brought together teams from both health and social care to deliver placed-based integrated teams, focused on improving outcomes for the people living in those communities. After 18 months as Interim Chief Officer in Aberdeenshire, Angie took up a role as Professional Advisor in Scottish Government before moving to her current Co-Director of Social Care and NCS Development role in November 2022.
Becoming a Trustee
QNIS Trustees work alongside staff to shape the future vision of our charity. If you are inspired to make a difference and would like to support our mission on a voluntary basis, you can check for any available opportunities.
Trustee opportunities