Jan has a strong reputation in Scotland’s third sector as a committed and effective campaigner passionate about the rights of disabled people and their family carers, and more recently, as a strong advocate for better working conditions for the social care workforce. As a member of the Executive Team in her current role at ENABLE Scotland, Jan has directorate responsibility for the external affairs portfolio which includes campaigns, policy, participation, communications, fundraising, public affairs, digital marketing, and leadership of strategic development priorities.

Through Jan’s leadership, ENABLE Scotland remodelled its participation structure to place members in the lead of their own campaigns for an equal society. Notable campaign success followed: winning the 2015 Herald Society Campaign of the Year Award and being short-listed as a finalist twice – in 2016 and 2017. Jan also led the team to win SCVO Campaign of the Year Award in 2017 after being a finalist for this award in both 2016 and 2015. 

Jan combines her role at ENABLE Scotland with representing the interests of children and adults who have a learning disability on a number of external forums, including as Chair of the Scottish Government Advisory Group on Additional Support for Learning. 

Jan’s passion for driving change and as an advocate of the rights of disabled people in Scotland has shaped her 17 year career in the public and third sectors. Jan previously held positions as Scotland Director of the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS), Chair of Disability Agenda Scotland (DAS), member of the SCVO Policy Committee, a founding member of the For Scotland’s Disabled Children (fSDC) campaign coalition, and a researcher/press officer in the Scottish Parliament.