Margaret Haig

President

Margaret was elected President in 2024, having previously served as Vice President. She has been on the Executive Committee since 2018. She is keen to celebrate the successes of members from across the FDA, campaign for improvements to the working lives of members of all grades and backgrounds, and encourage more people to join our fantastic union. Margaret has represented FDA at the Trades Union Congress and TUC Women’s Conference and believes that the FDA shines when working within the wider union movement. She has enjoyed meeting people across the country, especially chairing Women into Leadership and Unlocking the SCS, as well as finding new chairs and speakers for these and other brilliant events organised in partnership with Dods. Margaret is a Policy Lead in copyright at the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). She joined the FDA in 2007 as an internal Fast Streamer and has been active as a local rep and branch committee member ever since.”

Leila Kelly

Vice President

Leila is a Senior Lawyer in Treasury Legal Advisers, a division of the Government Legal Department. She joined the FDA in 2010, shortly after joining the Department for Communities and Local Government as a Legal Trainee. Leila served on the FDA’s branch committees in BEIS and GLD, and was the convener of the GLD Branch for several years.  She became a member of the Executive Committee in 2018 and was elected as Vice President of the FDA in 2022.  Leila is proud to represent FDA members and is keen to help them to improve their working lives.

Beatriz Brown

Vice President

Beatriz is a Policy Lead on Strategic Litigation at the Ministry of Justice, leading a team on Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation and a new project on climate litigation and economic growth. She joined the Civil Service in 2021, prior to which she worked as a Judicial Assistant at the International Criminal Court and as an employment and equality law adviser during the pandemic. She is a current Cambridge Policy Fellow, researching how climate litigation will affect state and industry behaviour.

Beatriz is a graduate of the FDA’s first Development Scheme cohort and has served on the Executive Committee since 2022. She has chaired Women into Leadership conferences for the union and is an active rep at the Ministry of Justice, where she has also been Branch Organiser. She is delighted to have been voted Vice President, where she will focus on union strategy and challenges facing civil servants including AI and climate change.

John McCullagh

Treasurer

John is a Policy Adviser in the Ministry of Defence. He first joined the FDA Executive Committee in 2009 and became Honorary Treasurer for a first term in 2014, which ended in May 2018. Rejoining the Committee in July 2019, John was honoured to return as Treasurer in October 2023. In addition to his Executive Committee work, John has been the MOD Branch Convenor for over a decade. John’s main aim as Treasurer is to ensure the continued financial viability of the FDA while minimising the burden on our hard-pressed members.