Meet our Team
These are some of the people that make the VTO’s work possible.
Barbara Oliver
Head of Service
ACII MBA
Barbara joined the organisation in October 2016 firstly as a volunteer tutor then as a member of staff in April 2017. Her background is not in education having worked in the insurance industry for many years as an underwriter and latterly as Operations Director for Kwikfit Insurance Services. Her career took her to Thus Telecommunications as Senior Business Manager for several high profile accounts before taking a break to raise her family.
Alyson Grandison
Alyson joined the team in April 2019 and is VTO’s Operations Manager. She is responsible for ensuring we deliver the best possible service to all our stakeholders – pupils, families, tutors and referrers.
Louise Young
Louise joined VTO in July 2020 as a Learning Communities Coordinator. Her role includes the management and development of our Learning Hubs and the matching and pairing of our referred pupils with suitable volunteer tutors.
Pamela Hill
Pamela joined the VTO team in January 2021 as a Learning Communities Coordinator, having started her journey with us as a volunteer in 2020. With a background in primary education, she believes learning should be accessible for all, and takes joy in supporting children and young people to achieve their potential and discover their strengths. For 12 years, she lived and worked in the Highlands, teaching in small schools, before returning to Glasgow to be closer to family and friends.
Kesson Wilson
Kesson is the Senior Learning Communities Coordinator responsible for the smooth running of our Learning Hub network. She has worked and volunteered as a tutor and as a camp monitor with children from various backgrounds including asylum seekers, refugees and care experienced young people.
Hilary McDonald
Hilary joined the organisation in July 2022, after many years of working in the travel industry all over the world including for significant time onboard cruise ships. More recently, Hilary has been working for VisitScotland welcoming visitors to Glasgow and Scotland as a whole.
Lora Addison
Lora graduated Glasgow Caledonian University with a BA(Hons)in International Fashion Branding in 2018. Prior to joining VTO, Lora worked in volunteer management and support within a student union where she developed a passion for working with volunteers and supporting them to make a difference.
Lewis Gavin
Lewis joined the VTO in September 2020 as a Learning Communities Coordinator, having graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in English Literature that year. Prior to becoming an LCC, he has worked as a teaching assistant at a music department in a London secondary school, where he found a passion for working with young people.
Lewis Kelly
Lewis joined VTO in early January 2019 and his background is in education. Lewis graduated from Glasgow University in 2011 after completing a Bachelors Degree in Primary Education. He worked in Ayrshire before spending four years teaching at an International School in Budapest, Hungary. Lewis continued to work in primary schools in Glasgow upon his return to Scotland in 2016.
Jennifer Lilley
Jennifer is a Learning Communities Coordinator. With a background in education, she completed a PGCE at Cardiff Metropolitan University and spent some time teaching in Wales before moving back to Scotland to teach in East Renfrewshire. Before becoming a teacher, Jennifer worked in the third sector for a charity who support ex-military personnel looking for employment.
Jane Stratton
Jane joined the organisation as a volunteer tutor in October 2020, and has thoroughly enjoyed working one-to-one with her pupil. Jane has tutored biology and human biology privately for nearly 29 years, and specialises in supporting pupils with additional support needs. She is the mum of three neuro-diverse youngsters and uses this experience to work with other families with similar dynamics. An addition to her tutoring this year is to train others to set up as tutors.
Eva Dimitropoulaki
Eva recently became a Learning Communities Coordinator. Her background is in education, and she has taught English as an additional language to young people and adults for several years. She first joined VTO in August 2020 as a volunteer tutor while completing a Masters in Children’s Literature and Literacies at the University of Glasgow.
Sameet Khan
Sameet joined VTO in September 2021. Her role consists of running after-school Learning Hubs and training senior pupil volunteers.
Janice Galloway
Janice joined VTO in September 2021 as a Learning Community Coordinator with a responsibility for Learning Hubs. She has volunteered with VTO since August 2020.
Rebecca Cairney
Rebecca joined the VTO in 2020 as a volunteer tutor and has since become a Learning Communities Coordinator, responsible for supporting volunteer tutors as well as children and young people who require educational support.
Gillian Lowrie
Gillian joined the VTO team as a Learning Communities Coordinator in November 2021. As a committed volunteer with her local Scout Group, Gillian loves working with children and feels very strongly that the engagement of children in education and activities is of vital importance. She also loves being outdoors and giving the kids she volunteers with as many opportunities as possible.
Christine Howie
Christine is a Learning Communities Coordinator with a decades experience in Scottish education. A former teacher and member of the SQA, Christine moved to the third sector in 2019 working as a Fundraising Manager for a Carers charity.
Mel Pettitt
Mel joined VTO as a Learning Communities Coordinator in August 2022 after three years of teaching English to SEN students at an alternative education provision in London.
Zahra Bashir
Zahra joined VTO as a Learning Communities Coordinator in August 2022. Zahra graduated with a BSc (hons) in Psychology. Since graduating she has been working within a managerial role as well as volunteering and helping out at educational classes.
Will Jolleys
Will graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MA (Hons) in History in July 2021. Since then he has been working abroad in Italy and Africa in various roles from a research fellow in an archive in Rome to an anti-poaching ranger at a wildlife conservancy in Tanzania.
Vinnie
Librarian, Mascot
Karen Frondigoun (Treasurer)- ACCA
Karen is a qualified Youth Worker, and a qualified ACCA Accountant. She is also a 2nd Dan Black Belt in Taekwon-Do and won a Silver medal at the ITF World Taekwon-Do Championships in Pyogyang North Korea in September 2017.
Lynne Ward – BSc, MSc
Lynne has worked within the regeneration sector for more than 20 years, across the Charitable Sector, the former Glasgow Regeneration Agencies and Local Government. She currently works for Scottish Futures Trust, an arms-length-agency of Scottish Government.
Lisa Snell – BSc, PgC, CIPD
Lisa joined the Volunteer Tutors Organisation in 2007 as a volunteer tutor, working with pupils on a one-on-one basis. She has also helped with the training of new volunteers for several years.
Andrew J. MacDonald – BEng (Hons), MSc
Karen Ritchie
Karen joined VTO as a volunteer in late 2021 having retired from her full time role with the NHS earlier that year. Having originally trained in the biological sciences, Karen subsequently worked at the University of Glasgow as a public health researcher.
Timothy Young
Tim Young is an advocate and has been a member of the Faculty of Advocates since 2013. Prior to that, he was a solicitor at one of Scotland’s leading commercial law firm.
Johann Lamont
Johann served as the Scottish Labour and Co-operative Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow Pollok Constituency from 1999 – 2016 and for the Glasgow Region from 2016. She retired from the Scottish Parliament in May 2021.
Sharon McGhee
Sharon is a Quality Improvement Education Officer with the City of Edinburgh Council where she works alongside children, families and staff to ensure positive outcomes for care experienced children and young people.
Douglas Johnston
(Chairman & Trustee)
BSc., MSc., MRTPI, Dip H., FIOH
Douglas started the Volunteer Tutors Organisation on leaving the University of Strathclyde in 1976 and was Chair of the VTO for the first nine years of its existence. Prior to retiring from business he was Managing Director of the consultancy firm Arneil Johnston specialising in public and voluntary sector business planning, strategy, ICT Procurement and the comprehensive management of public sector assets. Before establishing the business in 1996 he was a Managing Consultant with the multi-national firm Deloitte & Touche working with a wide range of public sector clients on business planning preparation and assessment, system and process reviews and ICT procurement. Previous to this he worked in local government for 14 years and was Director in Housing in Renfrew from 1986 to 1990 and for Stirling Council from 1982 to 1986.
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Registered Scottish Charity No SC000403
Company, limited by guarantee, registered in Scotland May 2003 Company No 249724
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St Charles Primary School
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