Our People

Atholl Duncan (Acting Chair)

Atholl Duncan is Chair of the leadership development and technology business, Black Isle Group. He is also Chair of the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation and Chair of UK Coaching. Atholl worked for the BBC for around twenty years and was Head of News and Current Affairs at BBC Scotland from 2006 to 2011. He is an Insead certified executive coach who works with senior leaders in the UK and in international markets. He is a former interim Chair of the British Horseracing Authority, which governs the UK’s second largest spectator sport. He has studied leadership and strategy at Harvard, Insead and Cranfield.

Atholl chairs the Audit & Risk Committee and is a member of the Nominations Committee.

Sarah Baxter

Sarah joined the Board in 2016. An associate member of BAFTA and a qualified lawyer, she is a business owner, with executive search experience gained in Scotland, London and the USA. She has worked in membership organisations (The Royal Academy of Arts, London; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and The National Galleries of Scotland) and organised fund raising events for charities such as Make-A-Wish. She has strong networking skills and contacts in both the public and private sectors, and was a volunteer in the Protocol Team at Glasgow 2014.

Sarah is a member of the Nominations Committee.

Alison Cornwell

Alison is a Chartered Accountant and spent 5 years in corporate finance in London before joining The Walt Disney Company where she was CFO for Disney’s TV distribution, Disney Channel and TV equity portfolio driving its expansion in all markets outside the USA. Subsequently Alison became CFO of an international broadcasting business which was transformed and sold to NBC Universal in 2007. Following this she was appointed CFO of a business operating in the international film distribution and film financing sectors with notable titles including The Woman in Black starring Daniel Radcliffe. She led the successful sale of the business to a listed trade player in 2013 after which she joined Vue International plc as Group CFO. Vue is a world class film exhibitor and operates in 9 countries. Alison is a former Governor of the British Film Institute and is currently a member of the Governing Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and chairs its Oversight Board.

Alison is a member of the Audit & Risk Committee.

Gavin Davis

Gavin is a qualified lawyer and mediator and Head of Litigation and Regulatory Investigations at the global asset management company Abrdn plc. He has served on the CMI Board since December 2016.

Gavin is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and the Nominations Committee.

Brandon Malone

Brandon is a lawyer and arbitrator with almost 30 years’ experience in dispute resolution.

He was on the board of Filmhouse between 2005 and 2013, EIFF between 2011 and 2013, and re-joined the board of CMI in 2015. 

Brandon is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Lawrence Mearns

Lawrence joined the Board in 2020 as part of Arts and Business Scotland’s New Voices: Fresh Perspectives initiative.  After graduating from university, where he studied History and Film he joined the Scottish Government’s Graduate Development Programme. 

Lawrence currently works in the Scottish public sector as a senior policy advisor focusing on children’s participation and human rights.

Katharine Otway

Katharine set up her own Glasgow based business affairs consultancy in 2009 to advise on and negotiate contracts in respect of all aspects of film and television development, production, financing and distribution and now acts for various independent film and TV production companies.

Katharine is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and the Nominations Committee.

Mairead Ferguson

Mairead is a Marketing and Communications specialist with extensive experience in supporting a wide range of sectors from Biotechnology to Broadcasting, Agribusiness to Electronics, International  Healthcare to Inward Investment. Mairead started working for the BBC in 1995 and remained with the broadcaster in a number of roles,  launching three television channels in that time as well as marketing many memorable shows and leading international media conferences such as the International Press Institute, during its hugely successful conference in Edinburgh. A senior leader at both a Scotland and UK level, Mairead was Head of Marketing, Communications & Audiences with BBC Scotland from 2007 during years of immense and seemingly continual change for audiences, broadcasters and service providers alike. She retired in 2021. 

Yen Yau

Yen Yau is a screen industries professional with over 25 years’ experience of working in the sector. Her passion is supporting new entrants who want to work in the film and television sectors.

Currently, as The Grierson Trust’s Director of Training Programmes, she works with trainees to make them job ready for roles in factual TV, particularly documentaries, working closely with production companies, industry contacts, and other partners to provide equality of access to opportunities, to under-represented groups. She latterly worked on No Time to Die, Eon Productions 25th instalment of the James Bond franchise, responsible for its trainee scheme, and undertakes occasional consultancy work, particularly around careers in the screen industries. Previous to this she was the Careers Manager at national film education charity, Into Film and Project Manager at First Light. She is an Exec Board member of Create Central, the screen industries trade body for the West Midlands; is an Independent Visitor for the National Youth Advocacy Network and is a mentor for a number of organisations including London Screen Academy and the University of East Anglia.

Karen Kelly