Our Board

Halena Gauntlett

Chair

As Chair of OPFS, I feel very privileged to work with our families, Satwat, the OPFS team, our Board and partners. Professionally I bring experience in equality, education, safeguarding and systems thinking, all the while, my personal experience as a lone-parent to teenagers is one lived in technicolour! The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is the internationally mandated children’s rights framework that informs our strategies and programmes. This is central to my core values and deep personal commitment to our mission at OPFS to support families and to advance the fundamental rights of children and young people through our policy, partnerships and practice.

Keir Mitchelmore

Vice Chair

Keir is delighted to be appointed Vice Chair of OPFS and as a solicitor brings her transferable legal skills to the boardroom table. When a single parent herself many years ago, Keir would have loved to access the services OPFS offer today and looks forward to supporting them in their important work.

Rosalind Paterson

Company Secretary

Rosalind joined OPFS as Finance Manager in July 2021 and was appointed Company Secretary in December 2021. Rosalind has been a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Certified Accountants since 1994 and has experience of working in a variety of diverse areas including Local Government, Care at Home and Professional Practice.

Kerry McKenzie

Lead for Child Poverty, Public Health Scotland

Kerry is Head of Service in Public Health Scotland and most recently their Lead on Child Poverty. She has over 20 years’ experience leading and delivering health improvement programmes at both national and local levels in NHS and local authority across a wide range of public health policy areas in complex systems.

Susan Smith

Susan Smith is currently the Head of communications at CHSS and previously was the campaigns manager at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. Before that she was editor of Third Force News for over a decade and has a background in journalism. Previous board appointments include five years as a trustee of the Sheila McKechnie Foundation. Susan is a single parent by choice so understands the social, emotional and financial challenges of managing family life alone. She doesn't have much spare time but enjoys reading, films, theatre, and cycling and swimming when she gets the chance.

Addie Dinsmore

Head of Communications & Fundraising (Scotland) at WWF-UK

Addie is the Head of Communications & Fundraising (Scotland) for WWF-UK and has worked in the charity sector for over a decade. Having been brought up in a single parent family, Addie understands the unique challenges that single parents and their children face and is passionate about the essential work that OPFS does in Scotland.

Dr Andrew Sharman

Managing Partner, RMS Switzerland

Andrew is a seasoned Non-Executive Director and Trustee, his roles have included Chair of the Board of the Institute of Leadership & Management and President of the Institution of Occupational Safety & Heath. He founded the One Percent Safer Foundation in 2020 with the aim of eliminating 28,000 work-related deaths globally every year. Andrew teaches at several executive business schools and consults on leadership, organizational culture, and wellbeing, globally. Following the sudden death of his mother when aged 11, Andrew grew up in one parent family in Scotland.

Whitney Barrett

Principal Educational Psychologist

Whitney Barrett, former Principal Educational Psychologist for Clackmannanshire Council and currently CEO for Wellbeing Scotland, with over 20 years’ experience in the areas of child development, education, and mental health and wellbeing. Whitney brings skills and knowledge in the areas of child development, education and mental health and wellbeing, particularly trauma and loss, as well as systems-thinking and research and evaluation. Whitney is a single parent and feels very strongly that raising children is one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences in life. However, doing this on your own is not easy and all parents and carers, whether on their own or not, need a strong support system in order to help them regulate so that they can remain present for their children. It really does take a village to raise a child and Whitney feels we need to better support all parents and carers and, in particular parents and carers who are doing this on their own, to have access to good quality, sensitive and respectful support and she is delighted to part of an organisation that helps build this ‘village’.

Alison Livesey

Alison works for J.P. Morgan ("JPM") in their payments business and is a seasoned Non-Executive Director, currently sitting on the Board of JPM's Payments Institution in Ireland and previously has sat on the Boards of three JPM Credit Institutions. Alison is passionate about volunteering and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Having really enjoyed her time assisting OPFS as a volunteer on a three-month piece of work, she was honoured to be asked to join the Board of OPFS and to help support their critical work as an organisation. Alison is a qualified Barrister and the mother of twins.

Fiona Duncanson

Chartered Accountant

Fiona is a Chartered Accountant with over ten years’ experience of financial and management accounting, financial analysis and strategic planning and advice. She has been working in the education sector for the last five years and is passionate about improving the lives and opportunities of young people.