Michael Stephen Matheson (born 8 September 1970) is a Scottish politician serving as Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport since 2018. He previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Justice from 2014 to 2018 and Minister for Public Health from 2011 to 2014. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 1999, first representing the Central Scotland region and, since 2007, the Falkirk West constituency. A graduate of the Queen Margaret University and Open University, Matheson worked as an occupational therapist in local government, before his election to Holyrood in the 1999 Scottish Parliament election. He served successively as the SNP's shadow deputy minister for justice and rural development and shadow minister for culture and sport. Matheson ran unsuccessfully, twice, for the Falkirk West constituency, however, remained as an additional member for the Central Scotland region until the 2007 election, when he was third time lucky. He sat on the SNP's backbenches from 2007 until 2011, when he was appointed Minister for Public Health in First Minister Alex Salmond's second government, supporting Nicola Sturgeon, and later Alex Neil, in their role as Health Secretary. Following the appointment of Sturgeon as First Minister, she appointed Matheson to the Scottish Cabinet as the Justice Secretary. In a 2018 Scottish Cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed to the new post of Cabinet Secretary of Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity. The office was retitled as the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport in Sturgeon's third administration, as part of her government's effort to tackle the climate emergency. Early life Birth and education Michael Stephen Matheson was born on 8 September 1970 in Glasgow. He was raised in the Toryglen district and educated at John Bosco Secondary School in the city. He then attended Queen Margaret University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in occupational therapy in 1991. He later went on to graduate from the Open University with both a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Postgraduate diploma in applied social sciences. Following graduation, he worked as a community occupational therapist for eight years, until his election to the Scottish Parliament. Early political career Matheson worked for Highland Regional Council, Central Regional Council and Stirling Council. He first stood as a parliamentary candidate for the SNP in the 1997 general election, standing for the newly created Hamilton North and