She manages various areas, including student welfare and support, academic administration, recruitment, admissions, examinations, quality assurance and governance.  Suzanne’s strengths include strategic planning, policy development and project management.

Early in her career, Suzanne held several international positions in the private sector but found her calling in the third sector and has, for the last twenty years, worked to improve equality and opportunities for young people.

Suzanne joined the Board in September 2020 and is excited to support Capella in achieving its vision.

For the last 10 years, Colin has been Managing Director of Omnia Creative, a creative agency based in Edinburgh. Over that period, clients have included several larger charities where Colin has supported by creating awareness campaigns and fundraising collateral.

Colin has extensive experience in managing projects with complex, technically demanding and budget-sensitive delivery requirements. Another key area of expertise is in staff training and development.

Colin has twin daughters, both of whom have learning disabilities and are on the Autistic spectrum. They are both students at Teens+.

Colin began volunteering with Teens+ in 2017 to provide technical support on IT projects and was subsequently asked to join the Board of Capella in 2018.

He has experience in Leadership & Management, Strategy, Return on Investment, Customer Relationship Management and providing HR and health and safety solutions to all types of businesses.

Richard has always been interested in supporting healthy living in children and young people, which led him to join the Capella board. He is a dad to twin boys and understands how essential sleep is to health and well-being, alongside a good diet and plenty of exercise.

She currently works at the University of Edinburgh, where, over the last year, she has been bootstrapping a new research centre focused on growing capacity for data-led and digital research across the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.  She has led and contributed to a wide range of research and educational support projects, both national and international.  Over the last ten years, Lisa’s work has increasingly focused on adopting digital technologies in the educational context. Other key areas of expertise are strategic development and planning, proposal development, educational design, communications and community building.

Lisa joined the board in September 2020.  She’s delighted to have the opportunity to use her professional skills to support other families: she’s passionate about supporting learning opportunities for young people and, as a parent, knows how important good sleep support can be.

Alison has held leadership roles in the public and private sectors, in organisations small and large. She has considerable experience in strategy, business development and managing change to grow resilient and sustainable businesses. She is Chair of ScotlandIS, the trade body for the tech sector in Scotland.

Alison’s son has learning disabilities and Autism and is a student at Teens+. She joined the board in 2022 and is keen to support the organisation to strengthen and grow to enable more young adults to live fulfilling lives as active participants in their communities.

Julia is experienced in project and programme management and leading a wide range of research initiatives. An early focus was to promote the participation of young people, their families and carers in informing the content and process of the research.

Much of her work has been directed at developing effective partnership environments to improve health and care outcomes for individuals, and she supported the national development of health and social care partnerships. Other key areas of interest include young people’s mental health, using research to inform policy development and exploring how we can best measure impact – how we know what we are doing and whether we are doing it well.

Julia joined the board in December 2020.

Maria has experience of over 20 years as a sleep scientist in clinical and research settings.  Her research work incorporates a variety of research methodologies and draws from psychological interventions, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia. The primary focus of her research aims to explore the onset and maintenance of sleep and circadian difficulties across the lifespan and their association with physiological and environmental factors.

Maria joined the board in May 2022 and hopes to support the organisation with her sleep research skills and her understanding of the dynamic interplay of sleep with mental health conditions, especially for children and young people. She is also a Senior Sleep Lecturer for the organisation, hoping to bring closer the training facilitators and the members of the board.

Established in 2002, Ekosgen are one of the UK’s leading independent companies providing economic and social research, analysis and consultancy advice.

Prior to Ekosgen, Marc was the Head of Research and Policy for ScotlandIS. ScotlandIS builds, supports, and enables the digital technology ecosystem in Scotland. They are at the heart of Scotland’s digital economy, shaping, changing and driving it forward. They work with members and partners to support the wider digital transformation of business and society. Marc spearheaded all Research, Policy and Public Affairs activity for ScotlandIS to Ministers, senior Civil Servants, Academics and private sector leaders.

Marc’s expertise is in Policy and Public Affairs with experience in the public and non-governmental sectors. He is skilled in Research, Political Analysis, Stakeholder Management and managing SPSS data.

Marc joined the board in January 2023 and is keen to strengthen and build new partnerships between the charity, public sector and private sector.

He is also keen to explore how Capella can be an example of third-sector environmental sustainability and demonstrate excellence in our environmental credentials.

Marc holds a Master’s with Merit Postgraduate degree from the University of Edinburgh in US Foreign Policy.

Colin started his career advising small companies looking to raise funding. He has since spent over 20 years investing in small and mid-sized businesses across Europe looking to grow.

He has also previously been treasurer of 2 small charities focused on fundraising to help children with additional support needs.

Colin joined the board of Capella in February 2022.