User:Pmcgarryuk/Katy Gordon

Katy Gordon is the Liberal Democrats westminster spokersperson for Glasgow North and candidate for Glasgow North at the next General Election.

Katy is a prominent local campaigner and respected figure in Glasgow North. Katy has been involved in several campaigns and has inparticular been noted locally for campaigns protecting the enviroment, equal opportunities for young people and womens issues.

Katy has made Glasgow her home for the past 13 years. Before moving to Glasgow she went to school in London, studied French and Swedish at Aberdeen University, taught English for a year in Paris, started accountancy training in Newcastle, studied for her postgraduate qualification in Careers Guidance at Napier University in Edinburgh

Initially starting as a Careers Adviser in Cardonald (for Glasgow Careers Service, which was part of the city council), she focused on helping local businesses to recruit school leavers, supplying candidates, advising on qualifications/training/grants, challenging discrimination and providing information on appropriate wage rates.

Later moving to Lanarkshire then back to Glasgow both north and south of the river, she gained experience in many secondary schools supporting pupils in to make career choices and counselled unemployed teenagers to access training, jobs and college/university courses.

Since the formation of Careers Scotland in 2002, she has made good use of the close working relationships with colleagues in Scottish Enterprise to forge strong links with Glasgow's business community.

Now based in the Gorbals, she manages a national European funded Careers Scotland project offering career counselling to people facing redundancy.

Having joined the party to vote for Charles Kennedy as leader, her party activism stepped up a gear when she was selected as candidate for Glasgow South West for the May 05 elections. She became Secretary then Chair of Glasgow South (the local party which worked to elect Margot Clark in March 06 as the first Liberal Democrat councillor to win a by election in Glasgow since probably the First World War). In quick succession, she was asked to join the Greater Glasgow Liberal Democrats Committee, Conference Committee, Parliamentary Candidates Association Committee, Scottish Women Liberal Democrats Committee, where she began to make her presence felt.

As a candidate, she increased the party's vote share by 6% in Glasgow South West in May 05 trouncing the SSP and closing in on the SNP's second place. When headhunted to stand for Knightswood Park in the Nov 05 council by election, she ran an energetic campaign, increasing support by 8%. Subsequently, she has recognised that her interest is more focused on the national level, which led to her winning the selection contest for Glasgow Kelvin and winning 2nd place on the party's Glasgow Regional List.

In her spare time, Katy enjoys hillwalking, cycling, gourmet cookery and learning languages. She has recently taken up both golf and skiing, as if becoming a PPC wasn't enough of a challenge!