ALARM Health & Social Care seminar

Carolyn Low

Director of Finance, Corporate Governance and Legal Services, Public Services Delivery Scotland

Carolyn has operated at board level in the NHS in Scotland for over a decade and has a strong personal commitment to the public sector. She joined NHS Scotland in 2014 following a 15 year career as a management consultant to the public sector and has played a key role in establishing NSS as a key national shared services provider for the NHS in Scotland.

Carolyn has worked with organisations to transform services across health, local government and in central government. With a focus on sustainable cost reduction and service improvement, Carolyn has worked collaboratively with senior leaders to improve financial management practises and operational effectiveness, and to drive change and improvement in politically sensitive and complex situations.

Carolyn is passionate about the role of the Chief Financial Officer as a Business Partner and Change Leader in driving sustainability across the organisation. She has led the Transforming Finance programme in NSS, implementing a digital first finance function, to simplify and automate, remove silos and improve the support finance provides to the business. The model enables the provision and expansion of finance shared services to NSS and other NHS Boards in Scotland. Carolyn leads on Digital matters on behalf of Directors of Finance and works closely with board eHealth colleagues to improve financial oversight and benefits realisation from digital investment.

---

Maureen Meadows

Maureen Meadows is Professor of Strategic Management in the Centre for Resilient Business and Society, Coventry University, UK. Formerly with Warwick University and the Open University, she has a background in mathematics, statistics and operational research, and has many years’ experience of working with 'big data' and customer analytics, both as a practitioner in the financial services sector and an academic.

Maureen is Associate Editor at Long Range Planning, and a founding member of the Editorial Board of Futures and Foresight Science. She is co-author of Strategy: Theory, Practice, Implementation - Oxford University Press, 2020 (2nd edition 2023).

Prior to joining Coventry University in 2016, Maureen was Head of the Department for Strategy and Marketing at the Open University Business School. She was previously Course Director for the MSc in Management Science and Operational Research at Warwick Business School.

Maureen’s research interests include strategic management tools and practices; the use of strategy tools such as scenario planning by senior management teams; and the post-merger integration phase following M&A deals.

Maureen is a Fellow of the British Academy of Management (BAM) and its Peer Review College, and Chair of the Teaching Community of the Strategy Management Society (SMS) in 2025.

---

Michael Stewart

No bio provided

---

Vicky Webb

Risk Management Advisor, NHS Forth Valley

Vicky is currently the Corporate Risk Manager within NHS Forth Valley and is responsible for setting and implementing the risk strategy across the organisation. She works closely with senior members of the organisation to understand risk exposure and ensure compliance to the risk management strategy, thereby enhancing risk maturity and culture. Vicky also currently chairs the ALARM Health & Social Care Committee to enhance the profile of H&SC within ALARM.

---

Vicki Webster

Interim Head of Foresight, Strategy Division, Scottish Government

Currently Interim Head of Foresight in Scottish Government, Vicki is a policy professional with experience in the fields of strategic foresight and civil contingency risk assessment. She is leading the development of Scottish Government’s Foresight Programme, enabling long term trend insights to be used in decision making and in shaping policies that are resilient to the future.

---

Carolyn Low

Director of Finance, Corporate Governance and Legal Services, Public Services Delivery Scotland

Carolyn has operated at board level in the NHS in Scotland for over a decade and has a strong personal commitment to the public sector. She joined NHS Scotland in 2014 following a 15 year career as a management consultant to the public sector and has played a key role in establishing NSS as a key national shared services provider for the NHS in Scotland.

Carolyn has worked with organisations to transform services across health, local government and in central government. With a focus on sustainable cost reduction and service improvement, Carolyn has worked collaboratively with senior leaders to improve financial management practises and operational effectiveness, and to drive change and improvement in politically sensitive and complex situations.

Carolyn is passionate about the role of the Chief Financial Officer as a Business Partner and Change Leader in driving sustainability across the organisation. She has led the Transforming Finance programme in NSS, implementing a digital first finance function, to simplify and automate, remove silos and improve the support finance provides to the business. The model enables the provision and expansion of finance shared services to NSS and other NHS Boards in Scotland. Carolyn leads on Digital matters on behalf of Directors of Finance and works closely with board eHealth colleagues to improve financial oversight and benefits realisation from digital investment.

---

Maureen Meadows

Maureen Meadows is Professor of Strategic Management in the Centre for Resilient Business and Society, Coventry University, UK. Formerly with Warwick University and the Open University, she has a background in mathematics, statistics and operational research, and has many years’ experience of working with 'big data' and customer analytics, both as a practitioner in the financial services sector and an academic.

Maureen is Associate Editor at Long Range Planning, and a founding member of the Editorial Board of Futures and Foresight Science. She is co-author of Strategy: Theory, Practice, Implementation - Oxford University Press, 2020 (2nd edition 2023).

Prior to joining Coventry University in 2016, Maureen was Head of the Department for Strategy and Marketing at the Open University Business School. She was previously Course Director for the MSc in Management Science and Operational Research at Warwick Business School.

Maureen’s research interests include strategic management tools and practices; the use of strategy tools such as scenario planning by senior management teams; and the post-merger integration phase following M&A deals.

Maureen is a Fellow of the British Academy of Management (BAM) and its Peer Review College, and Chair of the Teaching Community of the Strategy Management Society (SMS) in 2025.

---

Michael Stewart

No bio provided

---

Vicky Webb

Risk Management Advisor, NHS Forth Valley

Vicky is currently the Corporate Risk Manager within NHS Forth Valley and is responsible for setting and implementing the risk strategy across the organisation. She works closely with senior members of the organisation to understand risk exposure and ensure compliance to the risk management strategy, thereby enhancing risk maturity and culture. Vicky also currently chairs the ALARM Health & Social Care Committee to enhance the profile of H&SC within ALARM.

---

Vicki Webster

Interim Head of Foresight, Strategy Division, Scottish Government

Currently Interim Head of Foresight in Scottish Government, Vicki is a policy professional with experience in the fields of strategic foresight and civil contingency risk assessment. She is leading the development of Scottish Government’s Foresight Programme, enabling long term trend insights to be used in decision making and in shaping policies that are resilient to the future.

---