Councillor Watters first entered local government in 1982 as a member for East Kilbride serving on Strathclyde Regional Council where he became Chair of Personnel, a position which he retained when moving to South Lanarkshire Council in 1995.

Councillor Watters was elected COSLA President for an historic second term in June 2003. He was first elected COSLA President in October 2001 having served as Vice President since June 1999.

He was, until elected President, also COSLA’s Spokesperson for Personnel Resources and local government’s Lead Negotiator at both national and local level, instrumental in negotiating the Scottish Single Status Agreement.

He is Chair of the Scottish Strategy Forum for Local Authority Employees, Vice Chair of the Police Negotiating Board (PNB),Chair of PNB’s Chief Officers Committee and Chair of the Improvement Service Board. He was one of the leading members of the Education Management Side which successfully negotiated the McCrone agreement on Teachers’ Pay and Conditions. He was also instrumental in achieving a solution to the recent UK wide fire dispute.

Within his own authority, in his capacity as Chair of Corporate Resources, he has been responsible for developing the Council’s family-friendly policies that are an example to other employers in the area and has been responsible for pioneering the recent award of Investors in People to the Council’s Personnel Services function, as a first in Scotland.

Not satisfied with “spreading the word” within Britain, he is heavily involved in personnel issues across Europe.

Councillor Watters, a councilor for the last 25 years, was recently re-elected in the May 2007 local government elections, is married with two grown-up children.