Former West Lothian Chamber CEO Joins Skills Academy as Marketing Chief

Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness. July 24th  2019. CodeClan, Scotland’s national digital skills academy has appointed Linda Scott, as Chief Marketing Officer, as part of the organisation’s ambitious plans to scale.

As Chief Marketing Officer, Ms. Scott’s role will be to help CodeClan capitalise on its unique position within the rapidly evolving digital economy and ensure the organisation benefits from a much higher profile across all key sectors.

Ms. Scott, the former CEO of West Lothian Chamber of Commerce and current director of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, is a well-known and highly respected leader within the business community, who has helped hundreds of companies to grow, scale and prosper.

Alongside numerous national and international projects, Ms Scot was instrumental in developing West Lothian’s Developing the Young Workforce skills and training programme (www.dyw.scot), which was so successful, it has gone on to be used as the template for the national solution on behalf of the Scottish Government.

In addition to her work with the Chamber of Commerce, at the age of 17 Ms. Scott founded a successful outside/events catering company. Gourmet Events Scotland has since grown to be one of the most prestigious in the country, running and catering events for large organisations and individuals all over Scotland.

Ms. Scott’s appointment is part of a wider reorganisation within CodeClan to help the academy scale nationally. In May 2019 the organisation opened the doors of its new Highlands academy in Inverness, while in July 2019, the first cohort of students in joined CodeClan’s new Data Analytics course.

Since it launched in 2015, CodeClan has produced well over 750 graduates from it’s award-winning Professional Software Development course in Edinburgh and Glasgow. With the addition of the Highlands academy and the Data Analytics course, the organisation is on course to have its 1000th graduate by the end of 2019.

Melinda Matthews-Clarkson, the CEO of CodeClan, said: “CodeClan has quietly revolutionised the digital skills landscape in Scotland. However, moving forward we need every sector to be aware of who we are and what we do.

We’re excited to welcome Linda on board as Chief Marketing Officer. Her work with the Chambers of Commerce, on both a local and national level gives her a unique perspective on the challenges faced by companies across Scotland. Her expertise in leadership, extensive business connections and experience in marketing and events ensures that CodeClan can raise its profile on a national basis and is recognised as the invaluable resource it is.”

Linda Scott, Chief Marketing Officer, said: “CodeClan has a unique value proposition within Scotland’s digital economy. With hundreds of graduates working within hundreds of industry partners, we are directly helping businesses to grow and succeed, which along with skills and digital technology have been great passions throughout my career.

“The challenge of taking CodeClan into the future and helping the organisation to scale geographically, across multiple business sectors and ensuring we can introduce new courses, skills and talent, is one which I couldn’t resist. I’m thrilled to be a part of the CodeClan team and look forward to helping the academy achieve even greater recognition for the amazing work it does.”