Provost's biography

Provost Xander McDade was elected as Civic Head and Convener of the Council on 25 May 2022 at the start of his second term.

He was first elected as a Councillor in May 2017 for the Highland Ward of Perth & Kinross Council - a large area taking in 43% of the Councils' landmass and covering some of the Southern Cairngorm National Park. He is a strong advocate for the rural communities he represents and campaigns hard to protect rural services.

Xander has a keen interest in education policy, having held the post of Student Representative Council Chair at Perth College UHI 2012-13 and as NUS Priority Campaigns Convener 2013-14 - during a period of significant change in the further and higher education sector. He now serves on the Council Learning & Families Committee and during his first term in the Council was involved in the campaigns against rural school closures during the Perth & Kinross School Estate Review.

He has also been a passionate campaigner for the environment from a young age - and was awarded a Spirit of Youth Award for his work with young people from his school and local conservation groups in his community. In September 2018, at the age of 24, he was elected as the youngest Chair of a national park in UK history when he was elected Convener of the Cairngorms National Park Authority.

His interest in politics follows in the footsteps of his Grandpa, who was a town and county Councillor, and his Mum who was an environment and health campaigner. They both campaigned to protect local hospital provision and during his five years on the Perth & Kinross Integration Joint Board (Health & Social Care), Xander also advocated strongly that health services should remain as close to the people they serve as possible.

He is passionate about sustainable rural economic development and owns a small hospitality business in Highland Perthshire. As Provost, he is keen to promote Perth & Kinross as a destination to invest in and has sought to enhance our relationships with our twinned communities. In his spare time, he enjoys walking his black Labrador, Cora, by the rivers and in forests of his local area.