BGA Regional Representatives

Ross McEwen joined the BGA in 2025 as its representative in Edinburgh. He was born and raised in the Highlands of Scotland and serves as a subject specialist in Freedom of Information law as a member of The Scottish Information Commissioner’s Office.

Ross began his professional career in 2010 as an Associate Lecturer in the School of Cultural and Creative Industries at the University of the West of Scotland and subsequently held roles at the UK House of Commons, HM Civil Service and the NHS. He was educated at the University of the West of Scotland (BA Hons) and the University of Northumbria (LL.M with Distinction). 

Ross is a British-German dual national and pursues a strong interest in British-German relations, citizenship and consular issues, diplomacy and cultural heritage. He is an Associate Member of the Consular Corps in Scotland and a Member of the Scottish Parliament Cross-Party Group on Germany. 

Born in Hamm in Germany, Gert grew up in Sheffield and classes himself as a German-Yorkshireman, living in Cheshire and working at Siemens GB&I in Manchester as Training and Development Manager. His role includes delivering opportunities, training and competence to meet the needs of the business, understanding requirements, defining training strategies and ensuring they are implemented, monitored and measured, covering entry level talent from trainees, interns, apprentices to graduates as well as developing competences for today and the future.

In addition, he chairs the City&Guilds Engineering & Manufacturing EIB (Employer Industry Board) with a focus on engineering T Levels, represents Siemens on the North West Tech Talent Consortium and sits on the Steering Committee of the Greater Manchester Institute of Technology.

Gert joined Siemens as a Graduate in 1985 and has held varied roles across Digital Industries, Automation and Smart Infrastructure, with experience in technical support, sales, product and business management, and training and development; at heart he is an engineer and techie, passionate about innovation, developing talent and building relationships with Colleges and Universities to support future skills.

Mary Longley lives on the Isle of Wight.  She joined the Isle of Wight/Coburg Twinning Association shortly after moving there in 2018.  The reason for the partnership between IoW and Coburg is because of the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and the location of their family home, Osborne House, in East Cowes.

Mary started learning German at school at the age of 15, took “A-level” and “Scholarship-Level” three years later, and obtained a degree in German and French from the University of Kent in 1972, and a PGCE in 1973.  She taught languages to secondary school pupils and adults for three years, had children and then life took her in a different direction; working as a Research Assistant and then in non-statutory, and NHS alcohol services.  Nevertheless, during these wilderness years, she attended various evening courses and obtained the Chartered Institute of Linguists’ Final Diploma in 1999 and Diploma in Translation in German in 2012. Currently, in her retirement years, she runs two German language groups for the U3A, and is Vice Chair of the Isle of Wight German Twinning Association.

Robert is the BGA’s Regional Representative focusing on London and Berlin. Robert studied in Berlin in the late 90s and has been going back to Germany ever since. He is passionate about UK-German relations and what our two countries can learn from each other, in particular on social issues. A fan of German literature, his German is still very much “Arbeit im Gange”.  His favourite local German beer is Herforder Pils.