Our people
North Highland Initiative is run by a small but dedicated team who do everything we can to support the communities of the North Highlands.
Lorraine MacDonald
Lorraine was born and raised in the Highlands and still lives here today with her husband, 2 daughters and her crazy dog!
Having returned to the North Highlands after some years spent in Aberdeen studying/working, Lorraine has a huge passion for the area and its communities. She takes great pride in the work that NHI does with local community groups and organisations in making the area a great place to work, live and visit.
Lynsey Wilson
Lynsey was born and raised in Caithness. After a few years studying and working further afield she returned home to settle with her family here.
Lynsey lives on a small croft in Caithness with her family and loves and champions the Highlands for it’s wide open spaces, big skies and sense of community that are unique to the place she calls home.
Shannon Adamson
After eight years in Aberdeen, where she completed her studies and qualified as a Chartered Accountant, Shannon moved back home to Caithness.
Shannon enjoyed her time working in Thurso for a local chartered accountancy practice before joining NHI in 2024.
Alexa Paterson
Alexa was born and raised in Caithness. She joined North Highland Initiative after completing her Highers in Wick High School.
She is keen to help and contribute to the communities within her local area.
Douglas Gibson
Living in Gairloch, Wester Ross, for 35 years, Douglas has a passion for community development.
Following 12 years of being self – employed in the tool hire trade near Glasgow, Douglas has, for over 20 years, worked as a volunteer, committee member and employee for a number of Community Groups. This work includes Childcare, Local Radio, Events & festivals and Tourism – which included setting up and running “Visit Wester Ross”.
Lucy Husband
Lucy is an experienced professional with over 37 years in the food and drink industry, deeply connected to agriculture and farming through her extensive work in supply chains and processing. She founded Husband Business Consulting in 2021 to support SMEs in growth and recovery from Covid-19. Her career highlights include serving as Commercial Director at AK Stoddart, one of Scotland’s leading beef businesses, where she worked closely with over 800 Scottish beef farmers, and as Market Development & Business Engagement Director at Scotland Food & Drink, supporting businesses through Brexit and the pandemic.
Lucy has a strong track record of integrating agricultural producers into efficient supply chains and has been an advisory member of the Farming and Food Production Future Policy Group, supported by the Scottish Government. Her expertise lies in linking farming communities with commercial opportunities and policy-driven initiatives.
Originally from Perth, Lucy now lives in Edinburgh with her partner Pete and their dog, Hamish. She is a keen cook, outdoor enthusiast, and General Manager of a student American football team.
In 2015, Lucy earned the Freedom of London as a member of the Worshipful Company of Butchers.
Our Boards
NHI is supported and advised by a number of experienced, skilled, and knowledgeable people who volunteer their time to sit on our various boards.
The main board is the NHI Board, the trustees of which represent a wide range of interests, skills, knowledge and experience. The directors of the trading company, (North Highland Products) are primarily drawn from the farming and primary producer sector and are all highly successful in their own businesses.
NHI Board of trustees
Genevieve Duhigg (Chair)
Genevieve is a successful commercial leader with a great range of knowledge and deep experience in Media, Education, Technology and Innovation. Her executive career was dominated by working in publishing in various roles, including Global Digital, Director of the Penguin Group, Chief Digital Officer and then Chief Information Officer for Pearson PLC.
Genevieve has held a varied portfolio of Non-Executive Director roles across sectors including Media, Education, Sport, Engineering and Financial Services.
Genevieve, and her family, moved to Dornoch in 2014. She runs her own property and retail business in the Highlands.
David Hughes
David worked as a Chartered Accountant for 40 years before retiring in March 2020. He was also a partner with Saffery Champness in Edinburgh. David also acted as a trustee and treasurer of the Scottish charity ‘Scottish Business and Achievement Awards Trust (SBAAT) for over 15 years.
Originally from Wales, David now lives in Edinburgh and is currently the President of the Edinburgh Welsh Society.
David and his wife Alison, have two adult daughters and a black labrador called Jura.
He has always had a genuine interest in the North of Scotland and has been travelling there for over 25 years – for both work and pleasure!
Sandy Manson
Sandy studied at the University of Edinburgh and then trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen in Edinburgh in 1985. After working in London and Zurich, in 1991 he returned to his native Aberdeenshire and joined Johnston Carmichael Chartered Accountants as an Associate, where he progressed to partner and then Chief Executive, before retiring in 2022.
In 2020, he was appointed by Her Majesty The Queen as Lord-Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire. He is a Trustee of The Prince’s Foundation, The Baxter Family Charitable Trust and Salvesen Mindroom Centre. He is also an Honorary Professor of the University of Stirling where he sits on the advisory board of the management school. He is also the former Honorary Dutch Consul for the North of Scotland and Chair of the Development Trust for the University of Aberdeen.
He and his wife live on the family farm in Aberdeenshire which they operate as an arable enterprise together with holiday cottage lets.
Bob Carnell
Bob Carnell is currently Chief Executive Officer of ABP UK which is one of the country’s leading privately owned fod processors. It provides beef, lamb and added value meat products to UK consumers.
Prior to ABP Bob spent 24 years with Kerry Group where he had various senior commercial and general management roles. He managed the integration of Noon Products into Kerry Foods and successfully developed it into a multi-channel business, in-line with changing consumer needs. As a leader, he is passionate about people and helping them maximize their potential.
Bob has over 32 years of experience in the UK and Irish grocery industry and is well respected within the trade. He is a graduate of Loughborough University. Married with two children and two stepchildren, his interests outside of work include rugby, football, good food and travelling.
Major General PC Marriott CB CBE
Major General Patrick Marriott left the Army in 2012, having served in over 30 countries, including: Northern Ireland, the Sinai, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. His commands included service in: Bosnia (1998 OBE), Iraq (2003 and 2006 CBE and QCVS). He retired as Director General for Army Leadership and Commandant at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (2012 CB).
He has been a volunteer with numerous charities since retiring including Combat Stress and TYKES (The Young Karers of East Sutherland). He is currently Chairman of the Friends of Sutherland Veterans and President of the Caithness and Sutherland Branch of the charity SSAFA (Soldiers’, Sailors’, Airmens’ Families Association. He is the Honorary Colonel of the 7th Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Scotland. He became Lord-Lieutenant of Sutherland in 2022.
Major General Marriott is married to Henrietta; their home is beside Loch Fleet near Golspie in Sutherland.
karen Scholes
Karen is a Director of Scholes Chartered Accountants which supports businesses across Scotland from their offices in Lerwick, Kirkwall, Laurencekirk, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
She has over three decades of experience advising business owners, sole traders and large corporations both regionally and internationally.
One of Karen’s career highlights was acting as the President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) from 2025 to 2026. During this tenure, she championed social mobility and education through the ICAS Foundation.
Living in Orkney, one of her priorities is to encourage more engagement with our initiatives in her local area and supporting applications from individuals on the islands.
Karen is highly knowledgeable in the issues that face the agricultural and hospitality sectors with over 460 clients in this area.
When relaxing, Karen enjoys travelling and walking her dog, Rousay, and is involved in local amateur dramatics.
Patrick Blow
Patrick splits his time between Durness and Nairnshire. He and his wife Lucy own and operate an oyster farm in Durness that they started from scratch fifteen years ago. In Nairnshire they have a small farm that produces hay in the summer and grazes sheep in the winter. When he’s not working with the tides and packing oysters for the market, Patrick is often to be found planting and managing trees or maintaining farm machinery and small boats. Their oysters go all over the UK on most weekdays by Royal Mail to restaurants, hotels, seafood shops and home consumers. Patrick and Lucy try hard to think sustainably in all they do.
Most of Patrick’s career has been in aquaculture and business development. Between fish degrees and a finance course, he was a VSO volunteer in the Solomon Islands as a Fisheries Officer. He then worked for the UK’s development bank (CDC) for many years, which took him all over the world. It started his almost twenty years of living in Africa, where he pioneered and managed large scale fish farming businesses that supplied leading EU retailers and local markets. In time he became an owner of those businesses and learned to work with private equity. Working in Africa taught Patrick a lot about resilience and business building in remote and sometimes challenging environments. And it taught him a lot about people. On returning to the UK 15 years ago, Patrick set about building the oyster farm while also being responsible for sourcing farmed seafood and developing aquaculture production standards for M&S, globally. He has also done various consulting roles for the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).
Patrick’s love of the northwest and seafood began when he was a small child on holiday at his aunt’s crofthouse beyond Kinlochbervie. His mother grew up in Hopeman and knew many of the fishermen landing their catches at the KLB harbour. He was hooked!
NHP Board of Directors
Genevieve Duhigg (chair)
Genevieve is a successful commercial leader with a great range of knowledge and deep experience in Media, Education, Technology and Innovation. Her executive career was dominated by working in publishing in various roles, including Global Digital, Director of the Penguin Group, Chief Digital Officer and then Chief Information Officer for Pearson PLC.
Genevieve has held a varied portfolio of Non-Executive Director roles across sectors including Media, Education, Sport, Engineering and Financial Services.
Genevieve, and her family, moved to Dornoch in 2014. She runs her own property and retail business in the Highlands.
Bob Carnell
Bob Carnell is currently Chief Executive Officer of ABP UK which is one of the country’s leading privately owned fod processors. It provides beef, lamb and added value meat products to UK consumers.
Prior to ABP Bob spent 24 years with Kerry Group where he had various senior commercial and general management roles. He managed the integration of Noon Products into Kerry Foods and successfully developed it into a multi-channel business, in-line with changing consumer needs. As a leader, he is passionate about people and helping them maximize their potential.
Bob has over 32 years of experience in the UK and Irish grocery industry and is well respected within the trade. He is a graduate of Loughborough University. Married with two children and two stepchildren, his interests outside of work include rugby, football, good food and travelling.
Victoria Ballantyne
Victoria farms with her husband Jason and father in law Murdo, at Clynelish Farm in Brora. The farm runs around 900 ewes and 80 cows, with the focus on a low input, forage based system. Clynelish Farm has been involved in the Farming for a Better Climate Program and is a 2017-2020 Monitor Farm. Victoria completed the 2018/19 Rural Leadership Program.
Originally from a farm in Australia, she has been involved in the farm since moving here in 2006. She also runs a 4 bedroom B&B through the summer months.
