Susan Reid, 39, has been a business-support director at outsourcing specialist Capita Group since 2010, since when turnover at its Aberdeen operation has soared by around 50% to more than £16million.
Mrs Reid grew up at Fettercairn, where she helped with milk deliveries from her grandfather’s farm, and went to Mearns Academy.
She moved on to Perth College to study business administration before joining Robert Gordon University’s commercial arm, Univation, co-ordinating courses for young and talented people destined for careers in oil and gas.
Four years later, she joined an information technology training specialist, IT-Coa, where she was part of a team that developed and implemented an internationally recognised course on sand control in the oil and gas industry.
She also helped to develop a course aimed at improving communications and teamwork among industry professionals by having them design a shark cage and then actually build it underwater.
Mrs Reid said: “While on paper this all sounds a bit odd, the course was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever been involved in as every step of the project had to be discussed by the teams.”
In her next role as training manager at Aberdeen-based software and training specialist Monitor she became one of the founding members of the Granite City branch of the Association of Project Managers, which is still going strong.
A move to Petrofac’s training arm followed, leading to her becoming part of a team handling multimillion-pound budgets.
She is now a key member of Capita’s health and wellbeing team in Aberdeen, although her home life has not strayed too far from her roots; husband Alex is a farmer and the couple live near Laurencekirk.
Mrs Reid, mum to 10-month old Jack, said: “Capita Group is a huge company with huge in-house resources. It’s an exciting business, which has been UK-centric but is now broadening its horizons internationally.
“Hopefully, we can play our part in Aberdeen; whether it’s by expanding the geographical reach of our services, implementing new technology that can be rolled out globally or supporting the registration of all offshore medics.”
She is a firm supporter of widespread calls for offshore medics to be registered and regulated.
At present there are no official systems in place to track and monitor the competencies and qualifications of offshore medics beyond broad guidelines introduced around 20 years ago by the Health and Safety Executive.
Mrs Reid said a formal competency network was vital to protect and continuously develop the standards of remote, offshore and maritime healthcare in the global oil and gas industry.
She added: “The guidelines define the role of the offshore medic and offer certain criteria in terms of what kind of healthcare professional could be suitable for the role. Beyond that, however, it is up to the training providers to determine a prospective offshore medic’s suitability for training. The onus is then on offshore healthcare service providers or the employing company to manage the recruitment and continuous professional development of the medic.
“It’s now the last area of UK healthcare delivery that is unregulated, and one of the last areas of the offshore industry not covered by a competency framework.”
Mrs Reid said key people were starting to realise slowly but surely that this was wrong, adding: “There are talks ongoing and I’m confident that we will have processes and procedures in place that support the welfare of not only the people working offshore but also the medics themselves.”
Capita, with more than 40 years’ experience, has a team of 211 in Aberdeen. Operations elsewhere in Scotland include a call centre at Forres, employing about 300 people.
As well as focusing on a campaign for the registration of medics led by the Institute of Remote Healthcare, Mrs Reid is also one of the team behind Capita’s D-MAS technology.
D-MAS, complemented by individual pieces of specialist kit, allows doctors to assess patients remotely. It can also be used for more routine health surveillance work, including monitoring surveys to gauge offshore health trends.
The technology has been tested and certified for use in hyperbaric and saturation-diving chambers, in acute pressure and depth conditions.
Mrs Reid said: “It can be frustrating bringing innovations to the marketplace but we are finally making progress. It’s been a slow process to introduce something that we know can make a real difference for patients and clients.”
When not busy with her work or looking after Jack, Mrs Reid enjoys spending time with her three horses on the family farm.
She and her husband hit the headlines last year, when a fire destroyed their home at Newton Farmhouse. It has been rebuilt since the blaze.
Susan Reid: Q&A
Who helped you get where you are today?
I learned a lot from Vivien MacKinlay at Robert Gordon University. When I was at Monitor, Ian McKenzie instilled good business habits and Dave Lomax, Gordon Smith, Roddy McKnight and Peter Conner were great people to learn from during my time at Petrofac.
What do you still hope to achieve in business?
Healthcare was a new professional arena for me. There is still much to achieve here.
What is your greatest business challenge today?
The constant quest to introduce new technology in offshore health provision. We need to move forward with the welfare of our remote workers. They work in extreme environments and we need to constantly step up to make sure they get as close to the same care remotely as they do back home.
If you were in power in government, what would you change?
I would propose a review of the policy for agriculture; we produce some of the greatest food in the world and government needs to start supporting the producers, not the large supermarket conglomerates.
Where is your favourite place to go on holiday?
The Italian lakes and the west coast of Scotland.
What do you drive and what do you dream of driving?
I drive a Land Rover Discovery – I’m a farmer’s wife – and every girl’s dream is an Aston Martin.
What would your children or partner say about you?
Alex would tell you that he comes after the horses and dogs in the pecking order.
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