Scottish graduation and award ceremony
 The Scottish Graduation and Award ceremony was held on 9 May in the magnificent surroundings of the banqueting hall at Glasgow City Chambers (see picture). The new members forming CIPFA in Scotland’s class of 2008 were presented with their certificates by John Butler, President of CIPFA
In front of family, friends and employers, a number of prizes were also awarded to the new CIPFA graduates and student prizewinners. Lynda McCracken of West Lothian Council was awarded the DR Bishop Prize for the top Scottish student overall in the final examination and the Archie Gillespie prize for the top student in local government in Scotland. Michael Duff of KPMG was awarded the Audit Scotland Prize as the top student employed in public audit in Scotland.
In addition to these Scottish prizes, both prize winners had won prizes at the national level with Lynda having been awarded the Arthur Collins Memorial Medal for the best performance across both the Case Study and Strategic Business Management paper and Michael winning the Richard Emmott Memorial prize for the best performance in the case study.
Against such an inspiring background of local and national awards, it was very fitting that Paula Gilder received the Ian Doig Award, in recognition of her long serving and extensive contribution to the work of CIPFA in Scotland (and beyond).
Employers’ Accreditation certificates were also presented to Robin Baker of East Ayrshire Council, who has achieved best practice status, and Elaine Lawther on behalf of NHS Grampian, who has achieved registered employer status.
Two CIPFA members, Keira Shepperson and Caroline Gardner, then provided further inspiration as they gave short résumés of their own careers and outlined what CIPFA has meant to them. The benefits of volunteering with CIPFA were well promoted and echoed the message of the newly introduced welcome meeting, which had been provided to graduates prior to the graduation ceremony.
The ceremony was hosted by Karen Kelly, the new Chair of CIPFA in Scotland, who had been elected at the annual general meeting the previous evening. Karen was keen to extend a very warm welcome to all new graduates as shown by the invitation to the annual volunteers’ dinner held the previous evening. Along with the recently elected office bearers, as noted below, and on behalf of the newly elected Executive Committee in Scotland, congratulations were extended to all new graduates and continuing students were wished every success in their forthcoming studies. Their attendance at a future graduation ceremony is eagerly awaited.
Karen Sinclair
The 2008/09 office bearers elected at the AGM:
Karen Kelly: Chair
Derek Yule: Senior Vice Chair
Scott Haldane:
Junior Vice Chair
Karen Sinclair:
Honorary Secretary
David Robertson:
Honorary Treasurer
Alex Mackie: Honorary Auditor
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