Mairi O’Keefe MBE

Mairi O’Keefe became a patron of Leuchie House on her retirement as the charity’s Chief Executive in December 2018.

Having originally trained as a nurse, she spent 25 years in various airport management roles including airlines, statutory authorities and predominately, BAA at Edinburgh Airport. This was followed by a period working freelance as a change management consultant in London, before joining the MS Society Scotland as Manager of Leuchie House in 2003.

In 2010 she successfully led the Save Leuchie campaign, saving the centre from closure and setting it up as an independent charity on 4 July 2011. During her seven years as Chief Executive of Leuchie House, she sat on cross-party groups at the Scottish Parliament, was a member of the Governing Council for Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and was Vice Chair of the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland.

Mairi was awarded the title Community Champion of the Year in STV’s inaugural Finding Scotland’s Real Heroes awards in 2013. In 2015, she received an MBE for services to people with disabilities.