Lewis Macdonald is a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 Labour

Scottish Labour Party

The Scottish Labour Party is the section of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland....

 regional list Member of the Scottish Parliament

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...

 for North East Scotland, from 2011. He was MSP for the Aberdeen Central

Aberdeen Central (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Aberdeen Central is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the first past the post method of election and is one of nine constituencies in the North East Scotland electoral region...

 constituency from 1999 until 2011.

Background

Born in Stornoway, Macdonald moved with his family to Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...

 as a child, and attended Inverurie Academy and later the University of Aberdeen

University of Aberdeen

The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...

. Macdonald received an MA in history and a PhD in African studies

African studies

African studies is the study of Africa, especially the cultures and societies of Africa .The field includes the study of:Culture of Africa, History of Africa , Anthropology of Africa , Politics of Africa, Economy of Africa African studies is the study of Africa, especially the cultures and...

 and later lectured at the university. He is a member of the trade union AMICUS

Amicus

Amicus was the United Kingdom's second-largest trade union, and the largest private sector union, formed by the merger of Manufacturing Science and Finance, the AEEU agreed in 2001, and two smaller unions, UNIFI and the GPMU...

. Mr Macdonald is married to Sandra who is an employee at Conoco Phillips. Macdonald also has 2 children, 1 of which is at university and the other attends secondary school.

Career

Prior to his election as MSP he worked as a parliamentary researcher for the MPs

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 Frank Doran and Tom Clarke. Macdonald was a deputy minister in the Scottish Executive

Scottish Executive

The Scottish Government is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was established in 1999 as the Scottish Executive, from the extant Scottish Office, and the term Scottish Executive remains its legal name under the Scotland Act 1998...

 between March 2001 and May 2007, holding various portfolios. He is also a trustee for the Aberdeen Football Club Supporters' Trust. He was the Labour shadow spokesman for energy, enterprise and tourism.

External links

• Lewis Macdonald MSP personal site
• Lewis Macdonald MSP official biography at the Scottish Parliament website
• Lewis Macdonald profile at the site of Scottish Labour