Meet the Team

Deirdre was appointed Chair of Scottish Water on 1st January 2024. Deirdre is a senior leader and business executive in the global energy industry with significant experience in both executive and non-executive roles. Deirdre’s experience covered the energy value chain before Deirdre was appointed as CEO of Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) in 2015, a position that she held for almost 8 years. During her tenure at OEUK, Deirdre was instrumental in landing the landmark North Sea Transition Deal, aimed at helping to deliver UK net zero by 2050. She was also a leading member of several industry and government forums, including the UK Government’s North Sea Transition Forum, the Fiscal Forum, the Scottish Energy Advisory Board and the Women’s Business Council.

Deirdre was also sponsor of the UK AXIS network, aimed at improving gender equality in the workplace. Deirdre is currently a Board member of Opportunity North East Ltd. Deirdre was awarded an OBE for her services to the energy Industry (2018), an Honorary Doctorate from Robert Gordon University (2021), and a Fellowship from the North East of Scotland College (2019). 

Jo trained as a chartered accountant while working in private practice. She joined the Finance team at Scottish and Southern Energy in 1998, before leaving to join Scottish Water’s Finance team in 2002. In 2006, she was seconded to Business Stream to create the governance framework, funding structure and strategy for Business Stream, which went on to become the first retailer licensed to operate in the Scottish competitive water market.  Jo became Finance Director of Business Stream in 2006 and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in October 2014.

During Jo’s time as CEO, she has led the successful delivery of the company’s ambitious growth strategy,  helping cement Business Stream as one of the leading players in the UK water market. This has included two acquisitions of scale; acquiring the non-household customer bases of Southern Water and Yorkshire Water, and securing a number of high profile, multi-million pound contracts, including the Scottish public sector water and waste water framework contract.

Jo is a member of the Business in The Community (BITC) Scotland Advisory Board, a business-led membership organisation dedicated to promoting responsible business by inspiring members to build thriving communities in which they live and work and to make a positive difference to the environment. In 2021, Jo also became Chair of the BiTC Scotland Climate Action Group, which was established to support small businesses across Scotland to reduce their carbon emissions and accelerate the journey to net zero.

Douglas was appointed Chief Operating Officer in August 2019.  He joined Business Stream with over 15 years’ experience in the retail utility sector and a breadth of operational, commercial and financial experience.  His role and remit include overseeing Customer Service, Operations, Sales, IT & Transformation.

Prior to this appointment, Douglas was most recently Chief Operating Officer at Castle Water and UK Operations Director for Scottish Power Energy Retail.

A Law graduate and Chartered Accountant by profession, Douglas spent nine years with PwC prior to moving into industry roles.  This encompassed audit, assurance and due diligence assignments across multiple industry sectors and territories, including two years in Toronto with PwC Canada.

In September 2023, Douglas also joined the Board at Turning Point Scotland (TPS), Scotland’s leading social care developer and provider. Douglas attends the TPS Board in his capacity as a Non-Executive Trustee and member of the Audit Committee.

Having joined Business Stream in March 2022 as Interim Finance Director, Lynne was appointed Chief Financial Officer in May 2023. As part of her role, Lynne oversees the company’s finance, procurement, regulation and strategy functions.

A qualified Chartered Accountant by profession, Lynne has over 23 years of experience, spending many years working overseas in the Oil & Gas and Renewable Energy industry in the Far and Middle East with Sumitomo Corporation, a company listed on the Japanese stock exchange.  As Vice President of Finance and Business Development, Lynne led the Eastern Hemisphere finance team through an IPO and was also responsible for establishing new entities throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.   

Lynne has held senior finance positions in retail, including at Menzies Distribution Ltd and, latterly, Dobbies Garden Centre Group where she was Interim Chief Financial Officer. During this period, Lynne played a key role in the delivery of the company’s expansion plans, including acquiring and integrating over 30 new garden centres into the Group and also project managed a significant transformation programme, including the implementation of a new ERP system, web platform and supply chain partnership.

Michelle was appointed as a Non-Executive Director at Business Stream in 2019 and is Chair of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit Committee.  Michelle has a broad range of senior executive experience gained from operating at board level within a number of complex organisations in the public, private and third sector.  As a Director at SSE plc for over 18 years she has gained considerable experience in a regulated industry within a commercial FTSE 100 organisation.  Michelle has held several senior roles across the SSE Group where she has driven change, R&D and innovation and has led Corporate functions including Property, Facilities Management, Fleet and Logistics.  More latterly, Michelle has worked on strategic disposals and leading the separation of SSE’s Retail, Gas Networks and Contracting businesses from the Group and is currently leading the integration of a newly acquired international renewables businesses into the Group.

Michelle previously spent 13 years at Scottish Enterprise with a focus on economic development, working with small to medium sized enterprises across Scotland.  She held the positions of Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee at the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission and was a Trustee of Scottish Business in the Community.

Michelle is a graduate of Strathclyde University and holds a PhD and MBA.

Stuart Wallace is the Chief Operating Officer and on the board of Forth Ports Limited, as well as a Non-Executive Director at Business Stream. Stuart’s responsibility covers both the port and marine activities across the Group. Stuart’s day to day responsibilities include overseeing the operational activities of the business and working with the ports and marine management teams to ensure that the port and marine activities are undertaken safely and efficiently.

Stuart led on Forth Ports interaction with the UK Government’s Freeport initiative both as a key member of the Thames Freeport bid and with both Scottish and UK Governments on the successful bid for the Forth Green Freeport, one of only two successful Green Freeport bids in Scotland.

Stuart has been with Forth Ports since 2002, joining in the first instance as Financial Controller for the Scottish Operation. Stuart then went on to manage the day to day operations across Scotland prior to undertaking a two-year secondment to the Port of Tilbury where he managed both the general port activity as well as London Container Terminal, returning to Scotland in January 2013. Stuart was then appointed Divisional Director for the Scottish Operation overseeing the commercial activities of all eight Scottish ports and the marine management teams operating on the Forth and Tay estuaries. Stuart assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer for the Group in 2017.

Prior to joining Forth Ports, Stuart was a Business Financial Analyst with Motorola Semi-Conductors, Financial Manager with John McGavigan and Company Limited (Automotive printers and moulders) and prior to this completed his Chartered Accountancy qualification with KPMG in Glasgow.

Jo trained as a chartered accountant while working in private practice. She joined the Finance team at Scottish and Southern Energy in 1998, before leaving to join Scottish Water’s Finance team in 2002. In 2006, she was seconded to Business Stream to create the governance framework, funding structure and strategy for Business Stream, which went on to become the first retailer licensed to operate in the Scottish competitive water market.  Jo became Finance Director of Business Stream in 2006 and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in October 2014.

During Jo’s time as CEO, she has led the successful delivery of the company’s ambitious growth strategy,  helping cement Business Stream as one of the leading players in the UK water market. This has included two acquisitions of scale; acquiring the non-household customer bases of Southern Water and Yorkshire Water, and securing a number of high profile, multi-million pound contracts, including the Scottish public sector water and waste water framework contract.

Jo is a member of the Business in The Community (BITC) Scotland Advisory Board, a business-led membership organisation dedicated to promoting responsible business by inspiring members to build thriving communities in which they live and work and to make a positive difference to the environment. In 2021, Jo also became Chair of the BiTC Scotland Climate Action Group, which was established to support small businesses across Scotland to reduce their carbon emissions and accelerate the journey to net zero.

Douglas was appointed Chief Operating Officer in August 2019.  He joined Business Stream with over 15 years’ experience in the retail utility sector and a breadth of operational, commercial and financial experience.  His role and remit include overseeing Customer Service, Operations, Sales, IT & Transformation.

Prior to this appointment, Douglas was most recently Chief Operating Officer at Castle Water and UK Operations Director for Scottish Power Energy Retail.

A Law graduate and Chartered Accountant by profession, Douglas spent nine years with PwC prior to moving into industry roles.  This encompassed audit, assurance and due diligence assignments across multiple industry sectors and territories, including two years in Toronto with PwC Canada.

In September 2023, Douglas also joined the Board at Turning Point Scotland (TPS), Scotland’s leading social care developer and provider. Douglas attends the TPS Board in his capacity as a Non-Executive Trustee and member of the Audit Committee.

Having joined Business Stream in March 2022 as Interim Finance Director, Lynne was appointed Chief Financial Officer in May 2023. As part of her role, Lynne oversees the company’s finance, procurement, regulation and strategy functions.

A qualified Chartered Accountant by profession, Lynne has over 23 years of experience, spending many years working overseas in the Oil & Gas and Renewable Energy industry in the Far and Middle East with Sumitomo Corporation, a company listed on the Japanese stock exchange.  As Vice President of Finance and Business Development, Lynne led the Eastern Hemisphere finance team through an IPO and was also responsible for establishing new entities throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.   

Lynne has held senior finance positions in retail, including at Menzies Distribution Ltd and, latterly, Dobbies Garden Centre Group where she was Interim Chief Financial Officer. During this period, Lynne played a key role in the delivery of the company’s expansion plans, including acquiring and integrating over 30 new garden centres into the Group and also project managed a significant transformation programme, including the implementation of a new ERP system, web platform and supply chain partnership.

Jim is a Qualified Chartered Accountant with over 30 years industry experience across multiple sectors including nineteen years in the water industry. He was Financial Controller for Scottish Water during the financial transition and integration of its predecessor bodies (NOSWA, ESWA & WOSWA). He delivered financial and procurement ERP systems for Scottish Water and was Chief Finance Officer for Scottish Water’s first Business Solutions JV, an eight-party JV..

Prior to re-joining the water industry in 2015, Jim spent seven years working in the commercial Pharmaceutical and Defence sectors. His defence role focused on securing and growing order books to support the expansion of manufacturing and semiconductor operations. During his time working in the pharmaceutical industry, he fronted a $400m sale and due diligence response of Aptuit’s Clinical Trials Division stake to Catalent on behalf of private equity owner Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe and held a lead role within Aptuit in delivering significant OPEX savings through multiple company restructures. He was also the Finance lead on the integration of Aptuit’s acquisition of Evotec and the sale of its Preclinical operations.

Jim held a lead role in Business Stream’s Southern and Yorkshire acquisitions and their successful integration into the core business.

Jim is a Non-Executive Director of The Central Market Agency which provides the technology platform to facilitate the effective operation of the Scottish retail water.

Gail joined Business Stream in June 2023 as People Director. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of People Development, Gail has been appointed to develop and deliver Business Stream’s new People strategy, as well as oversee the company’s dedicated people and development function.

Prior to joining Business Stream, Gail spent close to 20 years with the country’s leading whisky distributor, Edrington UK, as the company’s Human Resources Director.

Jo joined Business Stream as Customer Operations Director in May 2016, a role vital to strengthening Business Stream’s senior team in advance of the opening of England’s water market. With an extensive background in customer service positions, Jo has played a key role in delivering Business Stream's aim of providing industry-leading customer service both in Scotland’s established market and in the English market, which opened fully to competition in 2017.

Before joining Business Stream, Jo was Head of Customer Experience at Standard Life and has previously worked across both the utilities and financial services sectors.

Following six successful years as Head of Commercial Development at Business Stream, Tom was appointed Director of Sales in May 2023. As part of this new role, Tom will take the lead in delivering Business Stream’s ambitious retention and growth strategy overseeing the company’s Sales, Account Management, Proposition Development and Added Value Solutions function.   

Tom has over 20 years’ experience of working in a range of sales, business development, management and consultancy roles. This included 3 years as Commercial Director for Data Centre services company, Pulsant, working on both the sales and operational side of the business. During this period, he played a key role in the delivery of three successful business acquisitions that saw the company grow by over 400%.

Amanda joined Business Stream in March 2020 as Transformation Business lead, helping the business to deliver its multi-million pound digital transformation programme, which was completed in February 2023. In May 2023, Amanda was appointed Director of Operations in a new role designed to support the delivery of operational excellence across key areas of the business including metering, billing and credit management.

Prior to joining Business Stream, Amanda was Director of Operations at Castle Water, and spent nearly 20 years with Thames Water where she was a member of the retail leadership team, overseeing the metering, billing and collection areas for both household and non-household customers.