The Board of hub West Scotland (hWS) has announced the appointment of Jo Armstrong as the company’s new independent chair.

Jo will take up her new position on August 1, with Bill Matthews stepping down at the end of his second term, having led the Board since the formation of the company in 2012. Under Bill’s excellent leadership, hWS has secured and successfully managed a £400 million programme of investment in award-winning community facilities.

Jo joins hWS at a time when its mission is more relevant and important than ever: to innovate and facilitate collaboration amongst public sector clients to deliver outstanding value-for-money, high quality public infrastructure that will enhance the provision of public services.

The future presents a great opportunity for hWS to keep adding value. In addition to continuing to support the delivery of projects ‘on time and within budget’, hWS is widening its offer to its public sector clients - to secure best value from their land and property assets and assist them in delivering their affordable housing aspirations. Jo’s experience will contribute well to this strengthening of the company’s already impressive credentials.

Jo has worked across the public, private and third sectors and brings extensive chairing, business economics and structured finance experience to the company. Following an early career in the energy sector she worked in structured finance in the Royal Bank of Scotland and then became a senior civil servant with the Scottish Government, providing corporate finance and microeconomic advice to ministers across a number of policy areas, most notably in the delivery of the significant stock-transfer social housing policy.

Jo is currently chair of the Ofgem’s Electricity Network Innovation Competition Expert Panel, an appointed member of the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) and an independent non-executive director of Wheatley Group. Previously, she was chair of Enable Scotland and a non-executive director of Social Investment Scotland. She holds two degrees in Economics from the University of Strathclyde.

Regarding her appointment, Jo said: “I am delighted to be joining the award-winning team at hub West. At a time when competition for public funds is growing, strategies to develop the right public infrastructure on time and within budget are all the more vital and I’m excited to be part of making this happen.”

Outgoing chair Bill Matthews said: “I’m delighted to be handing the reins at hub West to someone of Jo’s calibre - the Hub initiative has delivered some exceptional buildings in the West of Scotland and I’m proud to have been associated with such a strong team.”