John McGowan

Mother Club

Cathcart Castle Curling Club

Business and/or Corporate Governance Experience and Skills

I had a career of over 40 years in Civil Service and Law Enforcement, starting as a VAT compliance Officer with Customs & Excise in London, developing into a career in investigations, both Fiscal and Non-Fiscal. In my final 9 years I was the lead in Scotland for the National Crime Agency in both Borders related crime, and latterly as the leader of the Organised Crime Partnership in Scotland, where I managed a combined team of NCA Officers and Police Scotland Officers, tackling the most serious crimes involving drugs, firearms and money laundering.
Throughout my career, I had responsibility for budgets running into millions of pounds, and for running operations involving multiple agencies across military and civilian forces.
From this experience, I have a strong understanding of audit systems, financial control and operational management, assessing risks and applying resources to best deal with those risks.
I believe that I have experience that I can bring to support Scottish Curling as it moves forward and develops.

Volunteer experience

I have been involved in curling for about 42 years, and in that time, I have been President of Bellshill Curling Club, Cathcart Castle Curling Club and Glasgow Province. I am currently the Convenor of the Umpiring Committee, member of the Competitions Committee, member of the Rules Committee, representative member for Glasgow on the Area Standing Committee and I am part of the Technical Development Group for Scottish Curling.
I give up a lot of my spare time in these volunteer roles, as I want to give back to Curling as much as I can to allow others to get as much enjoyment out of the sport as I have over the years.
As well as all my committee activity I am a qualified Level 5 Umpire for Scottish Curling and have been involved in officiating competitions from U14 Slams all the way up to Olympic Games, as Game Umpire and Chief Umpire. This experience has given me great insight into the organisational requirements to run a successful competition and this is what I want to develop within Scottish Curling, to place us at the top of list of Host locations for major events.
I am also a Level 2 Coach and help at Greenacres with Try Curling and Corporate sessions.

Personal Statement Video

Additional Information to Support Nomination

I have good experience using IT applications, mainly Microsoft Office, and hold a current PVG in my roles as Umpire and Coach.

Proposer

Name: John Henderson
Club: Glasgow XX
Position in Club: Secretary