Our People

Alison joined Alcohol Focus Scotland in December 2015. Her commitment to and experience of preventing and reducing alcohol harm stems from her time as Head of Alcohol Policy and Delivery at Scottish Government from 2007 to 2012. In this capacity Alison was responsible for developing and implementing Scotland’s national alcohol strategy, "Changing Scotland's Relationship with Alcohol".

Alison previously worked as a policy adviser to Scottish Ministers, advising on issues ranging from prostitution, to GM crops, and the marine environment. From April 2012 until she joined AFS she was Head of Public Bodies and Public Service Reform with responsibility for advising Ministers on reform and ensuring the effectiveness of public bodies.

Before joining Scottish Government, Alison worked for the UK Research Councils, including seven years in their European Office in Brussels, latterly as Director.

She has served as a member of Edinburgh’s Children’s Panel and is a former Poverty Truth Commissioner.

Laura Mahon is Deputy Chief Executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland.  Laura has an MA in Social Policy from the University of Edinburgh and 18 years’ experience in alcohol policy advocacy spanning prevention and harm reduction, including alcohol availability and licensing, pricing, alcohol marketing and treatment service quality.  Laura has broad experience of delivering policy change through campaigning, public affairs, and media relations; and prioritises building and maintaining successful partnerships with leading global academics, experts, practitioners and people with lived and living experience to inform her approach.

Laura sits as an expert advisor on national-level policy working groups and academic studies on topics including alcohol treatment systems, the potential of no and low alcohol products to improve health, and the impact of alcohol licensing on public health.

Aidan is the Involvement & Policy Manager at AFS and joined the organisation in July 2016.  He has over 20 years’ experience of working within health and social care policy, and also has equalities, human rights and criminal justice expertise. 

Before joining AFS , Aidan worked at HIV Scotland as Head of Policy, at the Scottish Association for Mental Health as Policy Officer, and within Strathclyde Police as a Force Support Officer.

Aidan has an MA (Hons) in Sociology and is currently undertaking a Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy. He is also Chair of the Human Rights Consortium Scotland.

Nicola is the Policy and Research Manager at AFS, joining the organisation in 2017. Nicola has 10 years’ experience in policy development and influencing for the third sector. 

Nicola’s areas of expertise are minimum unit pricing, marketing, the retailer levy, and labelling.

Before AFS, Nicola campaigned for victim and witness rights as Victim Support Scotland’s Policy Officer and supported people affected by crime in Victim Support North Ayrshire. 

Nicola has an MA (Hons) in Sociology and a postgraduate degree in Criminological Research. She is a board member of Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis.

Duncan is the Financial Controller at AFS, having joined the organisation in November 2022. Duncan has over 20 years experience working in the third sector, 13 of those in finance. Having started his career in various income generation roles, he then transitioned to finance where he latterly worked for a national cancer support organisation as their finance manager.

Duncan studied at The Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen where he received a BA (hons) in Law and Management. During this period, he also spent time working in France for a Scottish travel company. In his spare time Duncan enjoys travelling and walking his dogs.

Andrew Fraser recently retired after a career in local government, latterly holding Head of Service and Monitoring Officer posts in North Ayrshire Council, and before that in West Dunbartonshire Council. He was the 2013/14 President of the Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators in Scotland (SOLAR) and served as Clerk to the Licensing Boards of North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire. In that latter role he was heavily involved in the development of West Dunbartonshire's innovative and data-led overprovision policy. Originally from Dumfries, Andrew qualified as a solicitor in 1984 and joined the AFS Board in 2016.

Tom Bennett is the is the Rights in Recovery Development Officer with Scottish Recovery Consortium, with a background as a Cognitive Behavioural Addiction Therapist in residential rehabilitation centres.

Ewan Carmichael is a youth consultant with experience across public health and equalities policy. He is currently studying at the University of Glasgow.

Professor Jeff Collin is Professor of Global Health Policy at the University of Edinburgh.

Fiona Doig is the Strategic Lead for Borders Alcohol and Drugs Partnership and Health Improvement.

Neil Hunter became Principal Reporter/Chief Executive of the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration in April 2011. He is currently a member of the Ministerial ‘Partnership for Action on Drugs in Scotland’.

Dr Nason Maani is a Lecturer in Inequalities and Global Health Policy at the University of Edinburgh, with a research focus on the commercial determinants of health.

Dr Andrea Mohan is a Lecturer and public health researcher at the University of Dundee, whose research interests focus on alcohol policy and the lived experiences of people with alcohol and drug problems.

Dr James Morris is a Research Fellow at London South Bank University, with a particular interest in alcohol problems, stigma, framing and problem recognition.

Colin Hutton has held a number of senior communications roles at public sector organisations over the past 10 years. With a background in journalism, he is currently a Senior Communications Officer at East Renfrewshire Council.

Tim Ross is a retired police officer with more than 30 years of police service during which he held a variety of roles leading on licensing, violence reduction as well as Director of Community Safety for North Ayrshire Council.

Colin Shevills is a communications and marketing specialist who recently retired after running Balance, England’s first and only regional alcohol programme, from 2009 to 2021.

Dr Joy Tomlinson is currently the Director of Public Health for NHS Fife taking up post there at the end of May 2021. Joy previously worked for five years at NHS Ayrshire & Arran with four of those years in a joint role as Interim Director of Public Health.

Louise Vickers has extensive professional experience across HR and Finance. More recently qualifying as a therapeutic counsellor, she volunteers as a behaviour change counsellor for a third-sector alcohol addiction charity in Fife.