Jane Ryder was originally appointed by Scottish Ministers in December 2003 to establish the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR). Jane was reappointed on 27 December 2006 following an open civil service selection process. OSCR's Chief Executive is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Regulator and chairs OSCR's Senior Management Team.
Jane graduated from St Andrews University with a First Class MA in Medieval History. She qualified as a solicitor in both England and Scotland and for 11 years was a partner in a commercial firm in Edinburgh, where she specialised in maritime law. She was a member of the Council of the Law Society and was the Convener of the Insurance Committee, responsible for the mandatory professional insurance scheme for Scottish solicitors. She is the author of the textbook Professional Conduct for Scottish Solicitors.
From 1995 to 2003 she was the Director of the Scottish Museums Council, the membership organisation (and registered charity) which is the main adviser to the Scottish Government and main channel for Scottish Government funding to non national museums. She was at the forefront of developing national museums policy, including the drive to develop museum standards and performance management for museums. She was also the Scottish Board member of the UK-wide Non Departmental Public Body (NDPB) the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, and sat on the Finance and Audit committee.
She has a long and active interest in corporate governance and charity law. In 1998 she was a member of the original Expert Panel advising on the Code of Conduct for new MSPs. She took an active part in the debate about charity law reform and was a member of the Law Society Charity Law Committee and of the Scottish Executive Advisory Forum. She was on the Board of a number of different charities and was previously the Vice Chair of Stevenson College and the Chair of the Scottish Refugee Council.
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