With a professional background in civil engineering, Derek designed and mangaged projects throughout Scotland. This developed into a focus on economic and urban regeneration policy with a number of government agencies and joint public/private projects.

At the Confederation of British Industry in Scotland, he was responsible for environment, transport and public/private partnership matters and wrote or contributed to a wide range of policy reports.

In a senior role with Scottish Financial Enterprise, which represents one of the country's biggest business sectors, Derek project-managed the inaugural European Investment Congress and took the lead in a number of policy areas affecting the sector in the period before the Scottish Parliament was established in 1999.

When the Parliament beagn its work, he became the Parliamentary Liaison Manager for a large government agency, forming close links between the senior management team and the newly-elected MSPs and Parliamentary staff.

In September 2000, Derek Elder established Townhouse Consulting, initially to guide clients in their dealings with the new Parliament, but quickly expanding in response to client needs for good media relations across a range of business issues.

Townhouse Consulting provided customer relations management and media management services to a leading technology trade association, and its Board invited Derek to be Interim Chief Executive and advise on the recruitment of an industry-based permanent replacement.

He has worked on overseas assignments throughout Europe and in Russia, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia.

Derek has also held a range of non-executive and voluntary roles during his career and is currently a board member of a further education college and a community training charity in Glasgow.