Converge appoints new chair

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Polly Purvis, OBE as our new Chair.

Taking over from Paul Atkinson, Founding Partner of Par Equity, Polly is no stranger to Converge having presided as Deputy Chair for the last two years.  

With a long and distinguished career in financial services, economic development and the digital and tech sectors, Polly brings a wealth of expertise and connections.

Highly regarded within Scotland’s technology community, Polly headed up ScotlandIS, the trade body for digital technologies, helping to establish the digital skills academy, CodeClan, in 2015. Committed to raising the profile of Scotland’s tech sector,  promoting small and medium sized business and tackling the skills shortage and the gender gap within Scotland’s digital technology sector, Polly was awarded an OBE for her services to industry. 

In 2019 she spent two years working with leading agritech business Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS), a leading vertical farming company based at The James Hutton Institute, as Scotland Director, and is now Chair of Digital Xtra and a board member of Edinburgh Science.  She holds an honorary doctorate of technology from the University of Abertay.

Claudia Cavalluzzo, Executive Director, Converge said:

“We’re absolutely thrilled to have Polly as our new Chair. She brings a wealth of experience, natural leadership and energy to the role and has all the right qualities to take Converge forward into the future. We’re also incredibly grateful to Paul Atkinson, our outgoing Chair, for his guidance and leadership throughout.”