Introducing our new CEO

Following the retirement of our former CEO Alastair MacKinnon this past April, Fast Forward is now welcoming its new Chief Executive: Allie Cherry-Byrnes.

I was delighted to join the team at Fast Forward at the beginning of May, as CEO, stepping into the formidable shoes of Alastair MacKinnon who had held the role since 2005.  I would like to take this opportunity to recognise Alastair’s work over the last 15 years in building Fast Forward’s reputation nationally as a key young people’s health organisation.

Coincidentally we both started in the role on 5^th May, which I’m taking as a very good omen, despite starting in a new role in the midst of a global pandemic!

Most recently I was Director of Home-Start West Lothian, which supports parents with young children, to develop their parenting skills towards achieving the best possible outcomes for their children and the family as a whole.  I look forward to working in partnership with the Scottish Home-Start Network to continue to develop the work Fast Forward does with parents, through our Ask Dad programme, but also to add a focus on early years in our work.

I started my career in community development as a youth worker with Clackmannanshire Council, having completed a post-grad in Community Education at Moray House, and learned how to be a youth worker with the ‘support’ of the young people of Clackmannan, Sauchie, Fishcross and Tullibody. I have particularly fond memories of being invited out for a ‘square go’ in Sauchie by a 14 year-old young women.  An invitation I politely declined, as I knew she’d wipe the floor with me…

My career since then has included working in;

• Health Promotion in Forth Valley, leading on work around the New Community School’s model in Falkirk, remember that one folks?
• The LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing in Edinburgh, as Community Health Development Manager, where I supported a number of LGBT community groups to set up, including the Loud & Proud choir.
• First Step Community Project in Mussleburgh, where one of my favourite memories was 3 year-old Cloe bursting to tell me that water turned to ice when it got cold!!
• Managing NHS Lothian’s Self-directed Support (SDS) Test Site, and secondment to the SDS Policy Team at Scottish Government as the National lead for Health, ‘encouraging’ the NHS in Scotland to consider the concept of self-directed support.

In my personal life, I enjoy being in, on and near water, and have been a keen open water swimmer in recent years, swimming year-round, and doing my first ice swim earlier this year in my local reservoir, and competing at the Scottish Winter Swimming Championships on Loch Tay in March.