Organisation

The Scottish Parliament

Like most people working in IT, Tommy fell into a career in IT rather than necessarily seeking such a career out after graduating from Napier University in 1993. His career started by working with West Lothian NHS Trust on a range of clinical audit projects – and learning more than he ever wanted to about chiropody -  before helping to install the first ever PC network for the hospital.

His experience there helped him move into mainstream IT support and development for Shepherd & Wedderburn WS and then onto the fledgling Scottish Parliament in setting up its IT Customer Relationship Management function in 2001. After helping deliver several significant IT change projects, Tommy became the Parliaments first Business Continuity Manager in 2009. Since then Tommy has helped the Parliament improve its planning processes, its ability to respond to incidents and, in general, be more resilient.

Tommy is keen to promote – and learn from – others good practice on BC, communications, risk management and audit. He also plays a leading role in an international group of BC practitioner representing legislatures from the UK, Canada and New Zealand. 

Being visually impaired himself, Tommy is also keen on promoting diversity and inclusion in professional and private life and co-chairs the Scottish Parliaments “ParliAble” workplace equality network. 

His role as Treasurer of the Scottish Continuity Group is to encourage and attract new members, collect subscriptions and manage the financial affairs of the group.