Sheila is an Accountant by profession. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA) she studied at Napier University in Edinburgh and Durham University Business school.
Sheila has a lifelong interest in equestrianism having owned and trained her own horses to compete in Dressage.
Being born and brought up in Edinburgh Sheila passed her early career in Scotland before being relocated to the North East by her then employer Coats Viyella PLC to their Darlington site and subsequently becoming their Coats UK Finance Director.
Since leaving Coats in 2010 Sheila worked in commercial finance in the Outsourcing Sector delivering major programmes and contracts providing digital technology, facilities management, and business services in partnership with mainly public sector clients from Local Government the NHS, Education and Blue light sectors with major clients including Middlesbrough Council, Oldham Council and the NHS Business Services Authority.