Samantha spent more than 13 years as a Non-Executive Director of Iberdrola, the global energy company headquartered in Bilbao. As Chair of the Board Committee responsible for governance, compliance, non-financial risk and ESG, she helped shape Iberdrola’s role as a purpose-led energy business and was a member of the Board Executive Committee for four years. She also served as a Non-Executive Director of Scottish Water for six years, chairing its Remuneration and Nominations Committee and overseeing CEO succession and appointment, and was Chair of the Scottish Ensemble, guiding the organisation through a period of significant transformation.

Most recently, Samantha was a Managing Director at Accenture, advising boards and senior executives on leadership, culture, strategic alignment and performance across sectors and geographies. In this work she combines boardroom experience with a coaching mindset, helping leaders to connect purpose, strategy and culture, and to understand the behavioural and organisational dynamics that underpin sustainable performance. She has also acted as a strategic adviser and mentor to a range of organisations, often focused on strengthening board effectiveness and executive readiness for increased scrutiny and complexity.

Earlier in her career, Samantha was Chief Executive of Scottish Business in the Community for nine years, building partnerships between business and society around responsible growth. She served as Vice-Chair of Scotland’s 2020 business-led leadership group on climate change for six years and has held numerous not-for-profit board roles over the last 25 years. Her career began in European public policy as a Policy Adviser to the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in the European Parliament in Brussels, giving her early exposure to regulation, macroeconomics and multi-stakeholder decision-making.