Seona Reid

Career

Reid was appointed director of the Glasgow School of Art in September 1999 and retired in September 2013. Previously she served as director of the Scottish Arts Council for nine years, and before that assistant director (Strategy and Regional Development) of Greater London Arts. Director of Shape; head of public relations Ballet Rambert.

Press and publicity officer at Northern Dance Theatre.

Business manager, Lincoln Theatre Royal and a freelance arts consultant working with the Arts Council of Great Britain and the London Contemporary Dance Trust. She is deputy chair and Scottish chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, Scotland’s Fulbright Commissioner, chair of the National Theatre of Scotland, trustee of Tate, and chair of Cove Park, an artist residency centre in Scotland.

Reid"s directorship at the Glasgow School of Art was focused on delivering the School"s Estates programme, in particular the Mackintosh Conservation and Access project, the associated campus redevelopment and the selection of American architect Steven Holl with JM Architects to design the Phase 1 building to be called the Seona Reid Building. She has been successful in securing funding from a variety of sources to public and private sources to conserve and make more accessible Charles Rennie Mackintosh"s Glasgow School of Art building, its collections and archive, Scottish Funding Council funding for the Phase 1 building and increased core funding from Scottish Funding Council recognising the diseconomies of scale for small, specialist institutions, the General Services Administration"s distinctive studio-based educational model and the General Services Administration"s research standing as recognised in the United Kingdom-wide Research Assessment Exercise.

Achievements

• She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen in 1995, became an honorary professor of the University of Glasgow in 1999, received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University in 2001, received an honorary Doctor of Letters from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2005 and from University of Strathclyde in 2009, all for services to the Arts in Scotland. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2008 New Year and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2014 New Year, both for services to the creative industries. Other awards include Institute of Directors, Scottish Public Sector Director of the Year 2013 and People Make Glasgow Inspiring City Awards 2013 for education., Institute of Directors Chairman"s Award 2015, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 2015.

Membership

Until recently she was a member of the Knowledge and Evaluation Committee of the Arts and Humanities Research Council. A member of Universities Scotland Executive Committee. A commissioner on the Scottish Broadcasting Commission.

Vice chair of the Lighthouse Centre for Architecture, Design and the City and on the boards of the Arches and Suspect Culture Theatre.