Les is a chartered accountant with 40 years of experience in various finance roles in the private and public sector. He retired in 2017 as finance director in the Department for International Development. Prior to that, he was finance director at the Student Loans Company and before that, finance director at Glasgow Housing Association. His private sector roles were in British Energy, Scottish Power and PwC.
He is a member of the Board of the International Institute for Environmental Development (IIED), the policy and action research organisation which promotes sustainable development to improve livelihoods and protect the environments on which these livelihoods are built. He has previously had non-executive roles with the Scottish Legal Aid Board, which is responsible for managing legal aid in Scotland, and with Quarriers, Scotland's leading social care charity. He chaired the audit committee in both these organisations.
In his spare time, Les enjoys cycling and has been spotted in the Alps and the Pyrenees (though finds the hills around Glasgow much easier).
Les joined the Council of Oxfam GB as Treasurer-designate in December 2018 and became Treasurer in July 2019.
This person is not in the org chart