THE long serving chief executive of trade body ScotlandIS has been appointed as the first chair of digital skills academy CodeClan.

Polly Purvis had worked as part of the project team which created CodeClan.

Harvey Wheaton, chief executive of CodeClan, said: “Polly has been part of the CodeClan team from the start and she was a natural choice as chair.

“She is well known for her commitment to increasing the number of people who pursue a career in our industry and her links to business will be invaluable as we develop CodeClan and its curriculum.”

Edinburgh-based CodeClan opened its doors in September 2015 and is training dozens of students in a variety of computer language coding skills.

Ms Purvis said: “I am honoured to have been asked to take on this role and I am looking forward to working alongside the rest of the Board. CodeClan is off to a flying start and has an exciting future ahead of it.

“With Scottish Government, Skills Development Scotland and industry working so closely together I really do believe we can create a new generation of digital workers that will help Scotland achieve its ambition to be a world class digital economy by 2020.”