Meet The Team

SAMH Trustee Board

Shona Littlejohn

Chair

Shona Littlejohn currently works for The Open University in Scotland where she is the mental health lead. Prior to that she was Vice-Principal at Robert Gordon University where her portfolio covered student experience, including the wellbeing and counselling service. Read more

Shona has also worked as a volunteer and latterly volunteer and client co-ordinator for a social enterprise working with those experiencing long-term and enduring learning disabilities and mental health issues; and is a former board member of North East Scotland College. Shona lives in Edinburgh and loves walking – city streets, hills and country paths and beaches. Her interest in mental health is both professional and personal.

Elizabeth Humphreys

Trustee

Elizabeth Humphreys has over 30 years of leadership experience in the public and third sectors in the areas of justice; marine management; culture; and health and social care. Read more

She has extensive board-level strategic, policy and governance experience, with particular expertise in assurance and risk management; championing equality and diversity; leading change, and business resilience. She is currently a non-executive director and the Whistleblowing Champion for the Scottish Ambulance Service and Public Health Scotland and is a Member of the Audit and Accountability Committee of the Police Investigations and Review Commission. She is also Vice-Chair of Independent Living Fund Scotland. In the voluntary sector, in addition to her role with SAMH, she is Chair of Drake Music Scotland.

Alexandra Wright

Trustee

Alexandra is a Research Fellow within the University of Edinburgh’s Global Health Policy Unit, where she is also completing a PhD on alcohol policy in Scotland. Read more

Prior to moving to Scotland, Alex was a project manager in the World Health Organization’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Geneva. Alex has extensive research experience in the areas of mental health, homelessness, tobacco control, and other areas of public policy, having worked at universities in Australia, Canada and the UK. Alex lives in Edinburgh with her husband and yellow Labrador, and you can find her most Saturday mornings participating in her local ‘parkrun’.

Ross McAdam

Trustee

Ross is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland (ICAS) and is currently an Associate Director at Craig Corporate Ltd, a business management consultancy based in Glasgow working with mostly privately owned businesses. Read more

He is passionate about the importance of good mental health and wellbeing, particularly amongst young men and in the workplace. Ross lives in Glasgow with his wife and daughter, is a passionate football fan, cyclist and average golfer.

Stuart Mackenzie

Trustee

Stuart is a leading marketing and communications professional with over 15 years of experience, predominantly in the sport, entertainment and FMCG sectors. He is passionate about mental health in the workplace, and the links between mental health and creativity, productivity, and overall business performance. Read more

Stuart spent over a decade volunteering with Commonwealth Games Scotland, representing Team Scotland as a member of the general team management for the 2010 Games in Delhi, the Isle of Man Youth Games in 2011, Glasgow 2014, and finally at the Gold Coast in 2018. His love of sport transcends into his personal life where he is a firm believer that it’s the taking part that counts.

Rachel Birch

Trustee

Rachel joined SAMH as a trustee in early 2023, and has a range of experience in third sector management and senior leadership. Rachel’s core passion is in creating large scale system and culture change which enables accessibility, inclusion, and wellbeing for all. She is particularly passionate about ensuring people have a voice and power in decisions and subjects which impact them. Read more

Rachel’s interest and drive in this work comes from her own personal experiences as an autistic and neurodivergent person who has experienced challenges in her mental health from a young age. She has also experienced mental health challenges within her family and friendship circle. These experiences have cemented her belief in the vital importance of reducing shame and stigmas within mental health. In addition to her trustee role at SAMH, Rachel is currently a Director at Autistic Knowledge Development CIC, trustee at SWAN, co-researcher at STARTS Network focusing on autistic people in Scotland’s research priority of mental health, and a Driver in the Scottish Government’s review of mental health services for autistic people. Rachel has previously worked in leadership and consultancy for some of the largest organisations in the sector, such as Scottish Autism and the National Autistic Society, and for grassroots peer led organisations such as Moray Wellbeing Hub CIC.

Ruth Moss

Trustee

Ruth’s background is health care research and she is currently a Lead Clinical Research Nurse in NHS Lothian, overseeing the delivery of commercial and academic research trials. As a member of the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group, she led the development of support services for people bereaved by suicide, and suicide crisis support. Read more

Ruth is a research reviewer on the Ethics Committee for ‘Samaritans’, and works alongside the Scottish Fatalities Investigation Unit (Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service) to improve the experience of families that go through Fatal Accident Inquiries. In addition, Ruth chairs the Bereaved Families for Online Safety (BFOS) group, that in collaboration with 5 Rights Foundation and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), are campaigning to introduce effective ‘Online Harms’ legislation in the UK. She became an honorary council member of NSPCC, and in 2022, was awarded the Scotland’s Champions ‘Making a Difference Award’ for this work. Ruth lives in Edinburgh with her family and is a keen hillwalker. She is currently on her second round of munros.

Barry Fitzsimmons

Trustee

Barry is currently Group Finance Director at Aggreko, the global leader in temporary power generation, which has revenues of £1.8bn and operates in 80 countries worldwide. He has 25 years’ experience in international finance and is member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) where he sits on the Policy Leadership Board, the body responsible for providing strategic direction, oversight and challenge to the policy work undertaken by ICAS. Read more

Barry is committed to trying to use his skillset to improve the lives of people in the local community and on a voluntary basis is Vice-Chairman and a Director of Strathleven Regeneration C.I.C, a vehicle established to support the regeneration of an area of Dumbarton impacted by the closure of the J&B Bottling plant which impacted some 470 people. The work of this company, which has senior level Board presence from both the public and private sector, has led to around £100m of investment, the creation of over 700 jobs and the building over 350 homes. Barry lives in Glasgow with his wife and three daughters and is a keen runner and footballer.

Executive Team

Billy Watson

Chief Executive

Billy joined SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health), Scotland’s largest mental health charity, as Chief Executive in November 2008. Read more

He has led SAMH through two ambitious strategies which has seen the organisation work to reposition mental health as one of the leading causes in Scotland; delivering award winning campaigns, national behaviour change programmes and community support services all across Scotland which continue to deliver high quality outcomes for the individuals who need it most. SAMH’s future areas of focus include care, workplace, wellbeing and therapeutic; all underpinned by a determination to end mental health stigma and discrimination. Prior to SAMH, Billy was with RNIB for 10 years, latterly as UK Group Director. Pre third sector was spent in NHS management for 12 years, variously in positions from General Management Trainee to Hospital Administrator and Business Manager.

Jo Anderson

Director of Influence and Change

As Director of Influence and Change Jo has responsibility for developing SAMH’s impact and influence on mental health issues. She leads on public affairs, communications, campaigns, and national behaviour change programmes on suicide prevention, sport and physical activity, See Me and respectme. Read more

Jo has spent over twenty years in the charity sector, previously working for the NSPCC, Cancer Research UK and CHILDREN 1ST. She is passionate about the sector and its power to make a difference in the world. Moving to SAMH in 2011, Jo led on the delivery of a number of ground breaking campaigns and major policy wins including: the Two Too Many Campaign, Scotland’s first ever suicide adverts on daytime television; and the Going To Be campaign on young people’s mental health, highlighting that at the time 19 young people were turned away from CAMHS every day. Jo also contributes to national suicide prevention efforts through her work with the NSPLG (National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group), specifically the development and delivery of United to Prevent Suicide and FC United.

Alex Cumming

Executive Director of Operations

As Executive Director of Operations, Alex has responsibility for supporting our 70+ services across Scotland, encompassing our registered services including hospital in-reach, community-based and primary care, and children and young people programmes. He is also responsible for the implementation of new services with a focus on psychological wellbeing. Read more

For the last 20 years, Alex has worked in the statutory and charity sector covering portfolios of youth services, community safety, youth justice, education and mental health.

Jason Bryce

Chief Operating Officer

A member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, Jason joined SAMH in September 2021 and was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in March 2023. Jason previously worked in the corporate and charity sectors in a number of senior-level finance, risk and governance roles. Read more

As Chief Operating Officer, Jason has responsibility for a wide portfolio comprising finance, human resources, internal audit, information systems and property management. In addition, in his role as Company Secretary, Jason is responsible for organisational governance and compliance. His role draws together these various specialist areas within SAMH to provide and support efficient and effective operations, enabling our teams to have the greatest possible impact.