The Forth Green Freeport (FGF) announces the appointment of its expert team who will deliver the ambitious vision to attract investors and bring major economic benefits for Scotland while ensuring a high level of governance and adherence to the FGF’s Fair Work and Net Zero charters.
Reporting to CEO Sarah Murray, Tom Morris joins as Trade and Investment Manager and Rhona McMillan as Governance and Operations Officer. Sharon Pryde takes on the role of Skills and Fair Work Manager and Dr Isobel Marr joins as a Net Zero and Innovation Manager. [*NB: Bios of all four team members are further below]
Commenting on the new team, Sarah Murray, CEO of FGF said: “This is an important day for Forth Green Freeport as we announce the expert team who will deliver the collective ambition of the FGF partners. We are working towards approval of the Full Business Case** which will release £25million seed capital funding later this year.
“In the meantime, we have been very active operationally. The FGF has working governance and operating Boards and we now have our skilled delivery team. We are excited to welcome Tom, Rhona, Sharon and Isobel who all have extensive professional experience in their respective fields and will be a great asset for us.”
*About the new FGF team:
Tom Morris, Trade and Investment Manager, will lead the delivery of FGF’s strategy to attract domestic and international businesses to invest and operate across its sites. He brings extensive international experience from senior roles at Shell, Cairn Energy, OMV and H2 Green. A graduate of Heriot-Watt University (Mechanical Engineering) and The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy (International Relations), Tom is a Chartered Engineer in both the UK and Europe and an RSA Fellow. He has served as a non-executive director
of a university technology spin-out and is currently a trustee of Greener Kirkcaldy, a charity leading local action on the climate emergency.
Rhona McMillan, Governance and Operations Officer, will work across the range of Forth Green Freeport activities, from programmes delivering for businesses and communities to internal processes focused on strong transparent governance and reporting. Rhona has over 20 years of experience in governance, operations, and project management playing a pivotal role in delivering major public sector programmes across departments including the Ministry of Justice, Defra, and NHS Lothian. She was previously Governance Lead for the DWP Synergy Programme and served as Secretariat for the Programme Board.
Sharon Pryde, Skills and Fair Work Manager, will lead the development and delivery of skills programmes across Forth Green Freeport working with businesses, educational institutions, government agencies, and research bodies to address skills gaps, drive workforce development, and foster industrial innovation. She will also lead efforts to ensure businesses operating within Forth Green Freeport’s sites adhere to the Fair Work Charter. Sharon has over 25 years’ experience delivering innovation and skills initiatives in the public sector leading strategic, high-impact projects across emerging industries, with a special focus on Scotland's space sector. Sharon is also the co-chair of the Environmental Task Force of Space Scotland which is dedicated to understanding and mitigating the environmental impact of space activities on Earth and in low-Earth orbit.
Dr Isobel Marr, Net Zero and Innovation Manager, will lead the development and delivery of innovation initiatives and support businesses to embed sustainability practices, contributing to our net zero goals. Isobel was previously Knowledge Exchange Manager for the UK Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) at Heriot-Watt University and International Research Officer at the University of Edinburgh. She has a track record of creating environments that enable diverse stakeholders to collaborate, exchange knowledge, and drive collective impact. Isobel brings knowledge of both the UK and Scotland’s industrial decarbonisation landscape, and of the challenges and opportunities involved in transitioning industry to net zero.
**Approval of the FBC is an important step towards unlocking £25 million of seed capital funding to address the key underdeveloped sites within the FGF area to attract investors and deliver major economic benefits for Scotland. Following approval of the FBC, Forth Green Freeport’s partners, the three local authorities (Edinburgh, Falkirk and Fife) and both Governments will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to allow the release of this multimillion-pound funding to kick start the initial projects. Importantly, the seed capital will be match funded by project sponsors.
The projects which have been identified for development to attract inward investment, will then begin. Focusing on the key target sectors of offshore wind, hydrogen, sustainable fuels, modular manufacturing and logistics, FGF will support the re-industrialisation of Central Scotland and large-scale economic regeneration over the next decade.
Chaired by Dame Susan Rice DBE and led by CEO, Sarah Murray, FGF became operational on 12 June 2024 and is set to attract new businesses and new jobs into Burntisland, Grangemouth, Leith and Rosyth, aided by a suite of financial incentives to deliver real benefits for Scotland and the UK. A detailed economic impact assessment has projected that it will generate £7.9 billion of private and public investment over the next decade and boost GVA (gross value added) by £8.1 billion. This investment is projected to create up to 34,500 well paid, highly skilled, green jobs, with around 16,000 of these being direct employment in the FGF’s target sectors and tax sites.
