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Meet the Board

Dean and Cauvin Trust Staff and Board Member

Jaslin Bhagrath

Board Chair

Jaslin is a partner at Henderson Loggie Chartered Accountants. She has over 20 years’ experience in the accounting profession, working with a range of both SME’s and not-for-profit organisations. Jaslin is passionate about using her skills to help the not for profit sector. She sits on the Board of several charities and joined the Board of Governors of Dean & Cauvin Young People's Trust in May 2021. Jaslin helps put the financial numbers into context demonstrating how these relate to the performance and delivery of our service

Dean and Cauvin Trust Staff and Board Member

Pauline Walker

Headteacher, The Royal High School Edinburgh

Pauline is currently the Rector of The Royal High School in Edinburgh and took up post in August 2014. Previous to this post she was Headteacher of Gracemount High School for 5 years.

Pauline is passionate about education and firmly believes in ensuring every young person is fully supported to make the very best of their opportunities. She hopes that through her work with Dean & Cauvin she will be able to contribute to the success of the charity in helping young people to succeed in life.

Dean and Cauvin Trust Staff and Board Member

Robert Swift

Robert Swift trained as a social worker in the 1970s. After qualifying he worked with children and families in Cumbria before a period of voluntary service overseas in Malaysia. He later worked in Edinburgh and the Lothians before moving to South Lanarkshire in 2011 where he was Head of Children and Justice services and Chief Social Work Officer. Robert has always had a keen interests in fostering and adoption, both as a practitioner and a manager. He has chaired fostering and adoption panels and has been agency decision maker for various organisations. He chaired the Social Work Scotland sub group on fostering and adoption for many years. Though now retired Robert continues to be involved in fostering and adoption matters with a number of voluntary organisations and local authorities. Robert is an adoptive parent and is the author of Adopting a Child in Scotland, published by BAAF.

Dean and Cauvin Trust Staff and Board Member

Kirstie Maclean

Kirstie Maclean started work as a trainee social worker in the London Borough of Lambeth in 1972. She qualified as a social worker in 1975 and moved to Bradford, West Yorkshire in 1977 to establish a teenage fostering scheme. In 1983, she moved back into practice team work and then managed the Bradford Adoption and Fostering Unit from 1986 - 1990. Her next moves were to become a Children Act Development Officer and then a Training Manager, before moving to Edinburgh in 1996. She worked for the Social Work Services Inspectorate until 2005, including a 3.5 year secondment to the University of Strathclyde to establish the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care. From 2005 - 2011, she was a Service Manager (Looked After and Accommodated Children) for the City of Edinburgh Council. After retiring from full time work, she worked as a part time social work consultant until 2017. She has been on the Dean and Cauvin Board of Governors since 2013

Dean and Cauvin Trust Staff and Board Member

Stewart Dunbar

Stewart advises on a broad range of legal and estate-planning matters, including the administration of executry estates, the preparation of complex Wills, and the creation and administration of trusts. He has a particular interest in succession planning for business-owning families, and works closely with colleagues in our Land and Rural Business Team.

Stewart is a member of the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners (STEP), having completed the STEP Diploma in Tax and Estate Planning in 2015. He then went on to act as the course tutor on the Wills & Executries module and examiner in the Trusts: Law and Practice module of the STEP Diploma. He is also a tutor on the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice at the University of Edinburgh.

Stewart serves as a Governor on the board of the Dean and Cauvin Young Person’s Trust, which is thought to be Edinburgh’s oldest charity as well as, acting as chairperson of the charity’s finance subcommittee.

Dean and Cauvin Trust Staff and Board Member

Karen Keil

Karen has a long association with the Trust having first served on the Board as the City of Edinburgh Council appointment from 2012-2017 and is now the Presbytery of Edinburgh appointee. Karen has worked for a variety of church based organisations. Her first job was as a care assistant in a girl’s hostel in Glasgow before becoming administrator for the Church of Scotland’s Simpson House in Queen Street, Edinburgh. She worked for the development charity Christian Aid for nearly 20 years and served as a Councillor for the City of Edinburgh for 5 years. Karen is now Senior Administration Officer with the Church of Scotland. Karen is married to a Church of Scotland minister, has two grown up daughters and two delightful grandchildren

Dean and Cauvin Trust Staff and Board Member

Cllr Euan Davidson

Euan is one of the Liberal Democrat Councillors for the Corstorphine/Murrayfield ward and leads on Health, Social Care and Young People for his party. He currently works as a caseworker and researcher for a member of parliament. His professional career has been spent mainly in the social work/care sector. He has had a focus on the rights of children and young people and also learning disabilities. Previous roles have also included experience working in refugee camps, sexual violence prevention and homelessness.

Dean and Cauvin Staff and Board Member

Susan Middleton

Sue qualified as a social worker in 1978 and, throughout her career, worked to support children and young people in a number of LAs. This included a number of years in residential settings followed by about 20 years working in and managing multi agency teams, based in community/Education projects. She believes strongly in providing opportunities and support to enable young people to fulfil their potential, as well ensuring that professionals listen to and hear the voices of looked after children & young people and of those with experience of the care system.”

Dean and Cauvin Staff and Board Member

Sheriff Chris Dickson

Chris is a graduate of Edinburgh University

He was a partner in a large Edinburgh law firm between 2009 and 2015. In 2015 he was appointed as a Sheriff of Grampian Highland and Islands. In 2020 he transferred to the Sheriffdom of Lothian and Borders and currently sits as a Sheriff at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. He is the representative of the Sheriff Principal of Lothian and Borders on the Board.

Dean and Cauvin Staff and Board Member

Ivan Blair

Ivan is a retired senior executive director with over forty years of industry experience of building, developing and managing investment operations, company secretarial and compliance teams across a broad range of highly regarded investment companies. He has in-depth knowledge of establishing and operating fund management structures in the UK, Dublin, Luxembourg, Sydney and the USA. He has a strong track record in managing improvement and change management projects and is recognised as a first-class leader and motivator of people.

Ivan is Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. He is a non-executive director of two investment companies and a trustee of another charitable trust.

Dean and Cauvin Trust Staff and Board Member

Isabella Ennis KC

Dean and Cauvin Staff and Board Member

Dr Zoe Dunhill