Rt Hon Ken Macintosh
Parliamentary and political consultant, former Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2016 to 2021
Ken is a parliamentary and political consultant and sits on various boards including as Chair of Lar Housing Trust following his time as Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2016-2021. He was born in Inverness and educated at Portree and Oban Primary Schools followed by the Royal High School, Edinburgh. He went on to study at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Pennsylvania before graduating with a degree in History.
He began his working life with the BBC, serving as a senior producer on a range of news and current affairs programmes including the Nine O’Clock News, Breakfast with Frost and the BBC’s election and budget coverage. In 1999, he was elected to the first Scottish Parliament and over the next 22 years, held a number of front bench roles culminating in being chosen to serve as the Parliament’s Presiding Officer in 2016.
He stepped down from elected politics in 2021 and is now a member of the Privy Council, a board member of Revenue Scotland, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, as well as a Trustee of several charities including the Bank of Scotland Foundation.
He plays football, tennis and golf, but none of them very well. He is married to Claire and the couple have six children who are in their teens and early twenties.