The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations has appointed Andrew Jackson as its new head of public affairs. Andrew qualified as a community development worker in 1997 and has over two decades experience in the third sector in front line services, policy, media and public affairs. After working as a community worker and as a policy officer, he became policy manager at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organsations then media and public affairs manager for Scotland for the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS). In 2010 he was seconded into the Joint Improvement Team in the Scottish Government for three years to work on health and social care reform. He then took two years out to qualify as a Scots lawyer with Anderson Strathern LLP, and achieved that status in 2015.

Volunteering Matters has appointed Anne Heal as the new chair of its trustees’ council. Anne will be taking over at the charity, formerly known as CSV, in December 2015 from Sir Jon Shortridge. Anne currently leads BT’s volunteering activity – and has doubled employee participation under her stewardship. She is a Sloan Fellow of the London Business School, chair of Thames Water’s Customer Challenge Group, a board member of Ofqual, trustee of Ballet Boyz and a co-chair of Unicorn School governors. Of the appointment Volunteering Matters’ chief executive Oonagh Aitken said: “Anne has an exceptional track record of strategic leadership and a passion for volunteering which will make for a fantastic chair of our trustees’ council.”

Multiple System Atrophy Trust has appointed its first full-time chief executive. Karen Walker has been involved with the trust since 1999 when her close friend, Sarah Matheson, who found the trust, died from the rare neurological disease, multiple system atrophy. Karen set up her first support group in 2007 and then joined the trust’s board in 2009. She became services committee chair in 2011 and in June 2014 was appointed as chair of resources audit and governance – a role she stood down from in June 2015 to act as interim chief executive. Karen’s previous roles include being a founder and director of a company providing day care for young children, national policy director for an early years charity, and director of children’s services at a day care charity supporting vulnerable children and their families.