Public appointments
The Minister for Business, Richard Lochhead MSP, today (6 June) has announced the reappointment of Paul Easto, Steven Walker, Dr Keith Nicholson and Shona Marsh as members of the Board of VisitScotland.
Article published 06/06/2025
Member | Paul Easto
Paul Easto is the Chief Sustainability Officer of the Active Travel Group Limited, comprising five leading international travel brands. Paul is also the founder of the Wilderness Group Limited, a specialist tour operator headquartered in Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands. He was previously an Advisory Board Member of the Adventure Travel Trade Association Advisor to the US based Adventure Travel Trade Association. He has served as a Member of the Cairngorms National Park Authority Board where he chaired the Cairngorms Tourism Partnership and led on the development of the Park’s Sustainable Tourism Plan.
Member | Steven Walker
Steven Walker is the former Chair of the Scottish digital entertainment company Blazing Griffin Limited and has previously held the roles of Managing Director at The Scotsman Publications Limited and News UK, Scotland and while at STV Group plc held the role of Director of Corporate Development. He is also a strategy adviser to MBC Lotteries Limited a charity lottery company. Steven brings a wealth of media, digital and senior management experience to the Board.
Member | Dr Keith Nicholson
Dr Keith Nicholson is a former professor in environmental geochemistry at universities in Scotland, New Zealand and Denmark, who turned to consultancy and is now an entrepreneur and multiple award-winning subject matter expert in Cyber Security. Dr Nicholson was awarded UK Security Specialist of the Year in 2020 - 21. He has been a long-standing member of the Scottish Government's National Cyber Resilience Advisory Board and created the Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework as a benchmark for Scottish public bodies. He is the founder of Cyber Security Scotland and works as an independent consultant specialising in cyber risk, audit, assurance and compliance against national and international security frameworks.
Member | Shona Marsh
Shona Marsh began her tourism career on a tourist office welcome desk. She has held various roles since including positions in sustainable tourism, destination management organisation marketing and membership development, tourism consultancy, and commercial development for small and medium enterprises in the industry. She was the first employee of the startup, Accomable. Acquired by Airbnb, this is a global vacation rental platform for people with disabilities. At Airbnb, she managed the integration of Accomable before moving to lead commercial growth of Airbnb Experiences across Northern Europe. She is Chair of the Board of the charity Disability Snowsport UK and runs education and accelerator programmes for tech startups in Scotland and across the UK.
Further information
Reappointments
Dr Keith Nicholson is reappointed for nine months from 1 June 2025 until 31 March 2026. Paul Easto and Shona Marsh will be reappointed for three years from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2028 with Steven Walker reappointed for two years from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2027.
The reappointments are regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.
Remuneration and time commitment
The reappointments attract remuneration of £356.00 per day for a time commitment of two days per month.
Other Ministerial appointments
Dr Keith Nicholson is a Member of the Board of Highlands and Islands Enterprise and receives £419.00 per day for a time commitment of 2.5 days per month.
Paul Easto, Shona Marsh and Steven Walker do not hold any other public appointments.
Political activity
All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public.
Paul Easto, Shona Marsh, Dr Keith Nicholson and Steven Walker have had no political activity within the last five years.
Read the Scottish Government press release