George’s career has spanned a range of roles in New Town, Large Burgh, District and Regional Councils. He worked for 19 years with Strathclyde Regional Council and appointed as an Assistant CEO in 1990.
He was South Ayrshire Council’s first CEO in 1995 and following his retirement in 2004, he served as a Non-Executive Director in several Scottish Government Departments, the Board of the Cabinet Office Department for the Northern Irish Assembly, and on the Boards of several Scottish Quangos. He was a member of the Scottish Parliament’s Corporate Body’s Audit Committee. His final NXD role was with Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership which at the time, was Scotland’s second largest Housing Association.
He sat as a member of the Millan Committee (2001) reviewing Scotland’s mental health legislation and the Budget Review Group (2006) examining the adequacy of the Scottish Government’s financial and business systems
From 2004, for fourteen years, he also ran the business arm of the Local Authorities Chief Executives’ commercial organisation (Solace Enterprises) in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
He is a founder member of the Mercat Group and has had 25 articles published – the most recent one being Elected Mayors – of Value or a Distraction?