ARBROATH based Charity, Skilz have appointed Mark Anderson as their new Chief Executive Officer and will take up his post in January 2023.
With over a decade of experience in the public and third sectors, Mark will join Skilz at a critical time in their development and growth as an organization.
Mark spent his entire youth in Arbroath, attending both Muirfield Primary and then Arbroath High School. A goalkeeper, signed with Dundee FC when he was a youngster and spent the next two years training and playing professionally for Arbroath Football Club as a “Skill Seeker” trainee. Mark spent a year with Montrose FC before moving on to play semi-professionally for a few years, retiring at age 24 owing to injuries. After that, he became the youth academy coach at Arbroath FC.
Mark’s professional career began after he retired from professional football, and began working for the Dundee City Council and helping disengaged youth through alternative learning settings. After working as a Supervisor for Childline / NSPCC, he went on to work for Rossie Young People’s Trust for the next 12 years. Before becoming the Learning & Development Manager at Rossie, Mark worked in a number of different capacities, including as a Residential Childcare Worker, a Personal, Social Education Teacher, a Learning & Development Officer, and a Manager for Learning & Development. Mark worked as the Community Manager for North Scotland at Shelter Scotland for only five months before being joining Skilz as an employee. Mark served as a trustee for Skilz for five years before being promoted to CEO. He also works with students from the Universities of Aberdeen and Dundee as a Specialist Mentor, guiding them through their time at college.
Skilz has developed and evolved since becoming a charity 5 years ago. They were initially a football based organisation but during lockdown, the board decided to reevaluate their vision and create a new programme to guarantee they accomplish the charity’s purposes and serve their community in a wider variety of ways. Skilz Academy is run by a board of trustees who all give their time freely to govern the charity. Everyone at Skilz is working hard to give everyone in their local communities the opportunity to enhance their lives and improve the areas in which they live through the projects that they operate. Skilz’s community-wide programming serves people of all ages, and its many offerings cater to a wide range of interests and needs. Their DJ Academy and Elevate health and wellness programme are two examples of in-school engagement with students who may be disinterested in school for various reasons.
Mark Anderson, commented on the appointment:
“Having been a volunteer at Skilz since the creation of the charity, I am very proud to have been appointed as the first CEO. I look forward to leading Skilz as we aim to grow as a charity and increase the support we give to our community. With the Community Astro opening, this is an exciting time for us and I am working with team to plan our next stage of growth as we look to increase the work we do in our ‘Community Programme’ and engagement in schools through our DJ Academy, GLOW Sports and Project Elevate. Our programmes reach thousands of our community each year. The cost of living has hit everyone and we want to ensure our programmes are accessible to anyone who wishes to attend and cost is not a barrier. As a charity, all revenue generated will be reinvested back into our community via our programmes to ensure we continue to promote health and wellbeing and support our community.”
Graham Parker, Chair of Skilz said:
“Skilz had reached an important and exciting stage of its development and our board of trustees felt it was the right time to appoint the charities first CEO. Mark was a trustee with the charity since 2017 and was instrumental in the Astro project moving forward so the trustees know the commitment and enthusiasm Mark has for Skilz which will carry into his new role.
“The Astro project will be the primary focus but we are looking forward to Mark developing the charity further into different areas whilst continuing the community work with our fantastic Skilz academy team.”
For further information about the work and services of Skilz, visit their website: https://skilzacademy.org.uk/
