Richard has led the Scottish Government’s Directorate for International Trade and Investment since 2021, working with public and private partners to grow exports and attract inward and capital investment to Scotland. Richard has over 20 years’ experience working across government in a range of strategy, policy and delivery roles including Budget Strategy, regeneration and police reform.

For the last 10+ years Richard has led work across a range of economic development policies and priorities including from manufacturing to innovation to Industrial Strategy. He was instrumental  in the development and delivery of the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland.

Richard has a wide range of governance experience both within and outwith Government – he currently leads the Scottish Government’s shareholder/sponsor relationship with the Scottish National Investment Bank and is a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Teesside. Prior to working for the Scottish Government Richard held a variety of posts in local government. Richard graduated in Politics from  Edinburgh University and has an M. Phil in Urban Policy from the University of Glasgow.