Governance

Amelia brings more than 20 years of leadership experience from the charity and public sectors, including senior roles at Venture Trust, Yorkshire Universities and Scottish Canals. Her background in organisational development, community support and strategic leadership will help guide the Home as it supports an increasing number of animals and owners who are seeking help.

Nonnie started her work with the Home in the Animal Welfare Team where she cared for our resident animals and worked her way up to Assistant Kennel Manager. She later worked in our reception after the birth of her daughter, and after a move into organisation support, Nonnie became our Rehoming Manager, overseeing our rehoming and training work. She spent some time as our Interim Director of Operations, before settling into her current role in 2025 where she has just celebrated her 30th work anniversary at the Home. Nonnie is passionate about animal welfare and shares her life with her two cats (Pixie and Willow) and two dogs (Issey and Ziggy – our much loved editor of the Taily Mail) who were all adopted from the Home.

Gillian has over 12 years’ experience in fundraising and supporter engagement beginning her fundraising career at St Columba’s Hospice before joining the Home in 2017. Her expertise spans individual giving, community fundraising, CRM management, and data and insight analysis, with a strong focus on using supporter data to inform strategy, improve engagement and drive sustainable income growth.

Prior to working in the sector, Gillian worked in events and security management, delivering major national and international events including the Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup. This provided extensive experience in project management, stakeholder engagement, risk management and operational delivery in complex environments. She brings a combination of strategic fundraising knowledge and analytical thinking to support the Home’s long-term ambitions.

Over the past fifteen years, Rebs has worked with some of the biggest charities in the UK and Scotland in a range of strategic digital engagement, social media and fundraising roles. Most recently, they’ve worked with the RNLI as a Senior Social Media Manager, and with Shelter as their Social Media Manager. They now work as a Digital Communications and Fundraising Consultant, offering a wide range of consultancy, training and other services for charities of all sizes.

Hannah is an experienced in-house lawyer and notary public. She is qualified as a Scottish solicitor but has supported in legal teams for UK-wide and global organisations across different sectors. She is currently Senior Legal Counsel at Insights Learning & Development Limited, a Dundee headquartered global learning and development company. Previously she worked in-house in the media and housebuilding industries providing a range of legal and compliance advice. She also spent a short period at the Scottish Government with an exclusive data protection focus. Hannah lives in Dunfermline with her husband, three cats (Alfie, Luna and Arlo) and her Labrador X Rottweiler, Lola. Hannah is passionate about animal welfare and social justice.

Fiona Davis retired in 2014 after nearly 30 years in the financial services industry. A Chartered Accountant by training, with a degree in Business Studies and French from the University of Edinburgh, she has held a variety of different finance director roles, with an emphasis on strategy, business planning and business efficiency. Latterly she was the Finance Director for the Personal, Wealth and Ulster businesses at RBS/NatWest.

Since retirement, she has taken up a number of trustee roles, mainly focussed on animals and the arts. They include former roles as honorary treasurer at the Scottish SPCA, and Vice Chair of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. Currently she is Treasurer for Sistema Scotland, Treasurer at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Director at Restoring Upland Nature and Trustee of the Edinburgh International Book Festival. She owns two black labradors (Muppet and Daffy, who with a name like that really ought to be yellow) and a rescue ginger pusscat called Tootsie.

Nina joined the Board in September 2024, having been a long-term supporter of the Home. To deepen her understanding and strengthen her pet care skills, she has completed the Home’s Dog First Aid, Dog Body Language and Cat First Aid courses.

Nina is self-employed, providing flexible, short-term, practical and affordable support to social enterprises, charities and purpose-led businesses across Edinburgh and East Lothian when extra capacity is needed. She also designs and facilitates engaging, participatory, in-person workshops that create space for meaningful conversations, shared thinking and practical action.

With more than 25 years’ experience spanning trustee roles, business advisory work, development management and senior management positions, Nina brings strategic insight, practical judgement and strong operational knowledge to the Board.
She spent seven years at Community Enterprise in Scotland, supporting social enterprises and charities across Scotland with governance, capacity building, service development, financial forecasting, income generation and long-term sustainability. During the pandemic, she also helped organisations secure more than £1.1 million in recovery funding.

Alongside this work, Nina runs her own home and pet sitting business, Nina’s Pet Nannying, offering short sits throughout East Lothian. She loves spending time with animals, making new connections and discovering more of the area’s beautiful landscape with dogs for company.

Donna has worked in recruitment for over 20 years and is Co-Founder of an Executive Search firm, which she has helped build and develop as a business. She specialises in senior leadership recruitment, predominantly within the charity and not-for-profit sectors.

Prior to moving into recruitment, Donna worked in science, bringing a strong analytical and research-based approach to her work. She has also served as a trustee of charities working across mental health and health inequalities, giving her a valuable understanding of governance and the challenges facing organisations delivering vital services to their communities. Her experience of establishing and running a business also brings a strong understanding of strategy, commercial decision-making, financial sustainability and organisational development to her trustee roles.

Outside of work, Donna enjoys walking, particularly in the countryside with her Labrador, and has a lifelong passion for dogs.

Liss is CEO of Open Door Scotland, a charity supporting 16–25 year-olds experiencing or at risk of homelessness. She brings a diverse professional background spanning education, data and tech, and community engagement—previously working as a secondary school chemistry teacher, data coach, and elected councillor. At ODS, she has strengthened organisational governance and service infrastructure whilst maintaining frontline connection to young people facing housing crisis.

She is particularly drawn to supporting the Home’s work around animal-owner bonds during difficult circumstances, having witnessed first-hand how meaningful relationships between humans and animals sustain people through adversity.

Liss lives in Edinburgh with her cocker spaniel, Millie, and tuxedo cat, Ollie, who bring her endless joy.