The pair, selected after an open competition, will now work with other board members to set the strategic direction of the regulator.
SIA chairman Baroness Henig said, “I am very pleased to welcome Linda and Bill to the Board. They both bring their unique skills and experiences to the role, which will complement those in our existing members”.
Sharpe is a qualified HR professional with 18 years’ experience in the private security industry. Twelve of those were spent with Group 4 (now G4S), and from 2003, she led the SIA’s competency development team. In 2005, she became chief executive of the newly-formed Skills for Security – a post she retired from in July last year.
Matthews, a non-executive director with the Scottish Executive since 2007, has specialist knowledge of the Scottish security industry. He began his career with a 15-year stint at Motorola in Scotland and America before moving to Sigtronics, a circuit board manufacturer in Livingstone, Scotland. Later Matthews co-founded Invint Limited and began developing processes for electronics manufacture.
As well as holding audit chair positions with the Corporate Audit Committee and seats on the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service boards, he is director of M2M2 Limited, a management consultancy that works with a variety of public and private sector clients.
“With the recent roll-out of licensing in Scotland, the prospect of further expansion in Northern Ireland and to bailiffs and of course the further development and embedding of the ACS on the agenda, Linda and Bill are joining the SIA at an exciting time,” Baroness Henig said.
The new board members, who are initially signed up until 2011, will receive GB pound 9000 a year for around three days’ work a month.
The other SIA Board members are:
– Baroness Ruth Henig (chairman)
– Robin Dahlberg (vice-chair)
– Peter Dyke
– Brendan O’Friel
– Wendy Towers
– Bruce Warman