Neena Mahal MBE DL
Lay Governor
Neena is a qualified Careers Guidance Adviser and has previously worked in the Equalities field within Education and as a Training Consultant, and chairs Glasgow Caledonian University's People Committee.
She has significant experience in leading transformational change and developing initiatives to support equality, diversity, inclusion and social justice. Her expertise on what Equality, Diversity and Inclusion means for Leadership and Good Governance has been gained through her professional and personal insights as a decision maker, a mentor and as a service user.
Neena is passionate about supporting people to fulfil their potential and is a Lay Governor on the Court of Glasgow Caledonian University and the Link Governor for People Services which incorporates People and Student Wellbeing.
She recently demitted office as the Chair of NHS Lanarkshire, Scotland’s 3rd largest Health Board which provides health services for a population of over 650,000, with 12,000 staff and a budget of £1.4 billion. She led the Board through the Covid-19 Pandemic response whilst navigating new approaches to good governance and is experienced at working under political and public scrutiny.
In this role which she carried out for over nine years, Neena contributed to several national areas of work including the implementation of NHS Scotland’s Corporate Governance Blueprint, the development of Board Members in relation to good governance and the review of recruitment processes to enhance the diversity of Boards.
Neena has served on the Board of various Public Bodies, charitable and voluntary sector organisations, including the Broadcasting Council for Scotland, National Museums Scotland and BBC Children in Need, gaining extensive experience in corporate governance and strategic management. She was a Governor on the Board of The Glasgow Academy for 6 years and Chair of its Education Committee.
In 2014, she was privileged to be commissioned as a Depute Lieutenant for Lanarkshire and in 2021 was honoured to be awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to healthcare.