Ms Theresa Shearer FRSE

Chief Executive Officer, ENABLE Group

Theresa Shearer FRSE is an internationally acclaimed CEO, Chair, non-executive director and influential leader in transformational service delivery, board governance, strategy and public policy, with extensive experience and impact across the NGO, corporate and government sectors.
As CEO of Enable, an exemplar NGO based in Scotland with European impact and global relevance, she leads a team of 3,500 professionals supporting 15,000 people to live independently, work in a career of their choice, and participate in political and public life. Under her tenure, Enable has increased its revenues more than four-fold from £25m to £100m, whilst substantially growing its impact, guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
She is an experienced Chair and non-executive director, leading governance and navigating policy on a range of NGO, public and private boards. She is currently Vice President of the European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD), and serves on the governing Council of Scotland’s National Academy, the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE). She sits on the Company Board of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, as well as the Scottish Government’s National Care Service Advisory Board.
She is influential in the field of academia, sitting on the Advisory Boards of both the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Public Policy and of the Adam Smith Business School, as well as co-founding Breaking Barriers with the University of Strathclyde and ScottishPower; a multi-award winning, inclusive education and widening access programme which embeds disabled students into mainstream university while connecting them with work placements at world leading employers such as EY, Dayforce and Balfour Beatty.
Her advanced understanding of the NGO sector and its relationship with philanthropy, the private and public sectors saw her appointed to the Law Family Commission on Civil Society and to the Institute of Directors’ (IoD) Shinkwin Commission on the Future of Inclusive Business. A globally recognised champion of charities, human rights and inclusion, Theresa served two terms as a Board Director and Vice Chair of both Inclusion Europe and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO); chaired the Scottish Fundraising review which established the Scottish Fundraising Adjudication Panel; and is a former Chair of Impact Arts.
Theresa is an alumna of Harvard Business School and the University of Strathclyde, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE), a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (Chartered FCIPD), and holds the Institute of Directors’ Diploma in Company Direction (Dip IoD). An award-winning leader, recognised with an Honorary Doctorate (DU) from Edinburgh Napier University in 2024, the Institute of Directors (IoD) Scotland Chair’s Award in 2023, and the University of Strathclyde’s Executive Leadership (STELAR) Award in 2020, Theresa is committed to driving impact with partners from the NGO, private, government and academic sectors to address societal challenges in Scotland, the UK and internationally.

Fellowship list