Management team

SEPA's Corporate Management Team (CMT) is led by Campbell Gemmell, SEPA's Chief Executive. The CMT is responsible to the Agency Board and the team members lead SEPA's six directorates and departments:

Environmental Protection & Improvement
Human Resources and Organisational Development
Finance and Corporate Services
Environmental and Organisational Strategy
Environmental Science
Communications

Information about the members of the CMT can be found below.

Campbell Gemmell
Chief Executive

Campbell Gemmell joined SEPA in 2001 as Director of Strategic Planning, before becoming SEPA's Chief Executive in 2003. In his previous career, he has been Chief Executive of the Central Scotland Countryside Trust and a consultant in economic development and environmental consultancy.

Campbell has a first class honours degree in Geography and a PhD in Glaciology from Aberdeen University.

Secretariat | SEPA Resilience

Colin Bayes
Director of Environmental Protection & Improvement

Colin Bayes joined SEPA in 1996 as Head of Water Policy. He became Environmental Regulation and Improvement Manager for east Scotland in 2001 and Acting Director of Operations in 2003.

His career has included posts as Divisional Pollution Prevention Officer with the Forth River Purification Board, Scientist with the Water Research Council and Pollution Prevention Officer with Yorkshire Water.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management

John Ford
Director of Finance and Corporate Services

John Ford joined SEPA in 1998 as Director of Finance and Corporate Support. Previously, he was Director of Finance, Information and Contracts with Stobhill NHS Trust. His career has included senior financial and information management posts within AEA Technology, Post Office Counters Limited and local authorities.

He is a Chartered Certified Accountant and a Chartered Public Finance Accountant.

Calum MacDonald
Director of Environmental and Organisational Strategy

Calum MacDonald joined SEPA in 1996 as Divisional Manager in the former west region. He became Environmental Regulation and Improvement Manager for Highlands, Islands & Grampian, then Environmental Development Manager in the Strategic Planning Directorate in 2001. He became Acting Director of strategic planning in 2003.

His career has included various posts with City of Glasgow Council, in environmental health and pollution control.

He is a member of the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland and Chairman of Council of the National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection.

James Curran
Director of Environmental Science (Interim)

James Curran has worked in environmental science and environmental regulation for 30 years. He has undertaken studies in hydrometeorology, numerical modelling of dispersion in marine waters, and water resources management as well as a spell of direct regulatory enforcement with agricultural and industrial businesses.

He has been a consultant to the Scottish Office and was for some years the Head of Science with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and then Head of Environmental Strategy.

In 2006 he co-founded and then ran Entrading, the UK's first comprehensive eco-store and cafe in central Glasgow, This was sold a couple of years later and he has taken up a post, again with SEPA, as Director of Environmental Science. James was awarded MBE for services to the environment in 2007.

Monica Straughan
Head of Communications

Monica Straughan joined SEPA as Head of Public Affairs in 1996. She became Public Relations Manager in 2001 and Head of Communications in 2004.

Her career has included posts in Scottish Natural Heritage and both its predecessor bodies, the Nature Conservancy Council for Scotland and the Countryside Commission for Scotland. She originally trained as a journalist with DC Thomson & Co, Dundee.

She is a member of the Institute of Public Relations.

Communications Programmes | Communications Services