Nerissa Allen
Nerissa joined the GOsC in January 2025 as Executive Assistant (EA) to the Chief Executive and Registrar. Nerissa has over 20 years’ experience providing business support to senior leaders and governance structures within local government and the charity sector.
What do you do in your role?
As EA to the Chief Executive, Matthew Redford, my role involves supporting Matthew with day to day tasks. Matthew is generous with his time and likes to ensure that he meets regularly with his staff, members of our Governance structure and external stakeholders. Through diary management I support him to balance his time between his personal commitments, engagements across the profession and strategic leadership activities.
The other aspect of my role involves assisting our Governance Manager by providing general support to our Council and Committee members, and administrative support for Council and Committee meetings. I also provide general day-today support for our wider staff team, which can range from organising internal meetings to assisting with recruitment interviews.
What opportunities does your role provide?
Working for a small organisation means that you get to wear many hats and work closely with colleagues across the organisation. I really enjoy engaging with others and have been impressed by the expertise and dedication of our staff to each other, as well as the profession.
GOsC’s working culture isn’t hierarchical and I love the fact that I can freely share my ideas, feel listened to and have some of my ideas implemented.
What would it surprise people to know about you?
I really enjoy learning new or different things and some of my best and most random experiences have been from saying ‘sure, I’ll give that a go’. From completing level 1 in BSL, working with a chef for the day at a London hotel, to reciting a poem from John Agard in patois, for Scottish children’s TV. My current area of learning is gardening which I find incredibly therapeutic, occasionally challenging, but immensely satisfying.
