Staff
Management Team
Eddie McConnell
Chief Executive
Eddie joined Down’s Syndrome Scotland as its new Chief Executive in August 2019. He has held several senior leadership roles across Scotland’s third sector and public sector and he is the current Chair of the Scottish Commission for Learning Disability. A member of the Ministerial Advisory Group on Disabled Children and Young People, he was closely involved in shaping the Scottish Government’s Keys to life strategy for people with a learning disability. Eddie is married to Carolyn and they have five children, the youngest has Down’s syndrome. He lives in Cumbernauld where he enjoys lots of great walking with the family dog and, when he gets a chance, he is known to pound the streets as he tries to re-awaken distant memories of his past marathon running days.
Jo Hughes
Head of Service Development
Jo lives in East Ayrshire with her husband and 2 boys. Before joining Down’s Syndrome Scotland Jo worked as Learning and Development Manager in the corporate bank sector. Jo joined DS Scotland in 2011 as Family Support Officer for the South. She now manages all of our services across Scotland.
Family Support Service
Shona Robertson
Family Support Service Lead
Previously Shona worked as the Team Leader in a day service which supported adults with both learning and physical disabilities, she organised the daily activities with her team and worked closely with parents/carers as well as professionals to ensure the care provided was person centred and people were reaching their full potential and participating in activities that they enjoyed.
Varshali Swadi
Family Support Service Officer (West of Scotland)
Varshali Swadi
Family Support Service Officer (West of Scotland)
Varshali@dsscotland.org.uk
07590 047 471
Varshali lives in Bearsden with her husband and two children. She has a post graduate degree in Early Years and worked as a teacher for several years in her home country India before moving to the UK in 2002. Since then she has worked for the Meriden Women’s Resource Centre and The National Deaf Children’s Society. Varshali joined Down’s Syndrome Scotland in 2017 and covers the West of Scotland.
Kirsty Lockhart
Family Support Service Officer (North East of Scotland) & TeenZ Space Coordinator.
Kirsty Lockhart
Family Support Service Officer (North East of Scotland) & TeenZ Space Coordinator.
Kirsty@dsscotland.org.uk
07918 566 503
Kirsty has been working with people who have learning disabilities and their families across different contexts including Adult Social Care, Education and Supported Employment, for the past 18 years. She is also an artist and is currently working towards a Master’s Degree in Counselling. She lives in Dundee where she runs a social club for adults with learning disabilities at her local church. She is the Family Support Service Officer for the North-East.
Laura Traynor
Family Support Service Officer
Laura is a qualified Early Years worker and has been working as a support for learning assistant in school and nursery for the past 9 years as well as working on supply with the local authority in nurseries providing additional support needs assessments. Prior to this, Laura was a social care support worker in the children and families with disabilities team and adult learning disability team. Laura lives in the West of Scotland and is a mum of three, her youngest son has Down’s Syndrome.
Laura enjoys getting outside walking with her family and has recently started paddle boarding with her son who has taken to it like a duck to water and she finds it really relaxing. She also enjoys going to fitness classes at her local sports club with friends.
Laura’s favourite place to be is somewhere warm and sunny by the coast, unfortunately, she lives in one of the wettest parts of Scotland!
Heather MacBeath
TeenZ Space Worker
Heather joined DSS in August 2022. She is from the Isle of Lewis where she spent the last 16 years working with adults and children with learning disabilities. Heather will be working alongside Kirsty and Cher in TeenZ Space.
Karen Phillip
Family Support Service Officer South - East Scotland
Karen Phillip
Family Support Service Officer South - East Scotland
karen.philip@dsscotland.org.uk
07584716438
Adult Services (Including FriendZ Space)
Brenda Hepburn
Adult Services Lead
Brenda has been working with adults with learning disabilities for over 20 years. She started working in an administration role with a third sector organisation later she completed an HND in Librarianship and Information Science (distance learning) in 1998 and was an Information Officer for 5 years, developing accessible information and facilitating groups for people with learning disabilities. Brenda became a Development Worker for the same organisation (2001-2006) and gained a Diploma in Health and Social Welfare through the Open University. She joined Down’s Syndrome Scotland in July 2006 as a Training Officer working on The Training Project for adults with Down’s syndrome moving onto The Making Your Way through Life project in 2009. She managed the Friends Connect Project from 2014 to August 2017, followed on with the Commissioners Programme and the Life Stories Project. Brenda is now the manager for Adult Services which includes the FriendZ Space programme.
Cher Collins
Engagement Worker
Cher has been a member of Down’s Syndrome Scotland since 2016. She attended different events, groups and conferences. She was a Commissioner at the World Down Syndrome Congress in 2018. Cher's role is to engage with young people and adults with Down's syndrome in different activities and settings within Down's Syndrome Scotland. Cher is also working on the TeenZ Space programme.
Karen Fraser
Adult Services Development Worker
Karen has worked with adults who have a disability since 1991. Most recently as the Senior Deputy Manager at Leonard Cheshire. She also volunteers for a local charity who support children and young adults who have additional needs by providing social experiences, building self-esteem, and encouraging independence through a range of activity-based groups and clubs.
Taylor Roe
FriendZ Space Worker
Taylor is thrilled to be joining the team at Down’s Syndrome Scotland. She moved to Glasgow two years ago from Seoul, South Korea, where she worked as a teacher and a freelance musician. She was also Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Lead at British Council Korea, where she advocated for accessibility and inclusion for students with disabilities. Taylor is a multidisciplinary creative practitioner and is currently working towards a Doctor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at University of Glasgow. In her spare time, she likes to watch Korean dramas, try new restaurants (especially sushi!), read East Asian literature, and walk her dog Emma.
ABC Team
Katy Lironi
ABC Programme Lead and Makaton Tutor
Katy is the Development Lead for ABC and a Makaton Tutor.
With a Masters in Adult and Continuing Education, Katy has worked previously as an ESOL tutor, literacy tutor, communications lecturer and has run creative and song writing community learning workshops.
She also ran sing and sign groups for pre-school children. Katy combines her work with being a mum to 5 children, one of which is a young adult with Down’s syndrome.
Paula-Ann Jones
ABC Coordinator
Paula-Ann lives in Dunfermline with her husband of 23 years and 3 children Erin (11), Jack (8) and Samuel (4). Paula-Ann’s working background is mainly in admin but in various environments from accounts to victim support to running her own businesses. She has taught TaeKwon-Do to children aged 3-7 years which led her to open her own club for children to include all disabilities without having expectations from them. The club was designed for kids to be kids without having to compete in competitions or gradings etc. She is a very bubbly person and can chat to anyone!
Alison Hone
ABC Tutor Resources Support
Alison lives in the Orkney Islands, is married to Jim and has 3 children, Josh, Jack and Evie, who has Down’s syndrome. Alison has an NVQ Teaching Assistant qualification and has previously worked in this field. She has worked with Down’s Syndrome Scotland as an ABC Tutor since 2015.
Dawn McIntosh
ABC Tutor
Dawn started working in the childcare sector in private day nurseries until 2016, completing her SVQs and PDA in childhood development and practice. She has 2 children of her own who keep her on her toes and started working with Down’s syndrome Scotland as the ABC Tutor for Aberdeen in January 2015, taking on Perth and Angus in 2016 until present.
Fundraising & Communications
Katie Gould
Trusts and Grants Fundraiser
Katie is our Trusts & Grants Fundraiser and joined Down's Syndrome Scotland in August 2022 after working in Community Development for 10 years.
Claire Serplus
Communications Officer
Claire joined DS Scotland in July 2015. She studied English and broadcast journalism at University. Claire is responsible for the maintenance of this website, the social media pages and all outgoing communications for DS Scotland.
Administration and Finance
Kevin Cummings
Finance & Business Support Analyst
Kevin joined DS Scotland in August 2010 after working mainly in the private sector sales & customer service roles for the previous 20 years. Joining initially as the Administrator Kevin now focusses on the areas of database & finance.
Sharon Quinney
Services Administrator
Sharon joined us in July 2019. On finishing school, Sharon studied at Queen Margaret University and gained a joint degree in Events and Tourism Management. On completion of this she went on to pursue jobs related to this industry, working for a few years at two of Edinburgh’s main tourist attractions within retail and operational roles. Before coming to DSS, Sharon was working front of house for four years as a Receptionist at a Five Star Hotel in Edinburgh.
