FWB Appointments

Patricia Despointes, based in Paris, has been appointed to the Main Board of Edrington as Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee.  She is currently Group CFO of listed French fashion group SMCP and was previously CFO for Givenchy.

iGii is a Scottish deep tech company pioneering Gii – a proprietary, pure 3D carbon nanomaterial that is redefining the future of electrochemical sensing. Jane Stewart brings her considerable Non-Executive experience to an already very strong Board, chaired by Chris Gauld.

Leisure and Culture Dundee (L&CD) delivers, for the citizens of Dundee and those who visit the city, high-quality leisure, sport, cultural and learning experiences which improve their quality of life. L&CD have announced four board appointments, welcoming Chris Schofield, Associate Medical Director, NHS Tayside, and Kasia Zduniak, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging & Wellbeing Practitioner, to the Board in May.

Christine McGlasson, former Commercial Director, Global Voices and Managing Director, Xplore Dundee, and Vinita Shekar, Regional Director for Scotland at The Royal College of Surgeons of England, will take up their posts in November.

Lothian Buses have appointed Loraine Strachan and Stéphanie Rivet to its Board of Directors. Loraine is currently the Finance and Technology Director for law firm Anderson Strathern and Non-Executive Director with Highlands & Islands Airports. Stéphanie brings Executive Digital and Customer experience from Virgin, Stagecoach and Go-Ahead Group PLC.

Working with a vast network of Scottish and global partners and researchers, The OSS engages everyone with an interest in sport, physical activity and health and wellbeing to identify knowledge gaps, and find, commission and communicate relevant research and evidence to inform solutions. Mike Ross, former General Counsel of RBS Legal and current Non-Executive Director of Lost Shore Surf Resort, joined the Board as Chair at the beginning of this year.

Martin Laudenbach has been appointed Chair of the marine biotech business, Penrhos Bio. Martin brings a wide array of international biotech, chemical and materials industry experience to the business, having held Executive and Non-Executive positions with Almatis Group, Solvay, Calucem Group and Petronas Chemicals.

As part of FWB’s corporate partnership with Scottish Ballet, we were pleased to support the appointment of Kate Guthrie and Steven Davis to its Board.

Kate’s executive career has spanned financial services, pharmaceuticals, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), and retail. She was formerly Chief People Officer for Virgin Money and currently sits on the Board of Border to Coast and the Ministry of Defence.

Steven has 35 years of experience in retail, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), and financial services, both in the UK and abroad. Over the past 20 years, he has held senior executive roles in HR, retail operations, and change management. Steven is Non-Executive Director of The Peter Vardy Group, Peter Kingsley and Skipton Building Society.

Alistair Brown brings years of financial leadership from large, complex organisations to the Board of Scottish Futures Trust. An experienced Non-Executive Director, he has been Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee for the Avenues Group and Non-Executive Director for the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust.

Mark Dickson is another experienced Non-Executive Director to join the Board of Scottish Futures Trust. A former Director of Capital Investment at Scottish Water, his executive career has been spent largely supporting the delivery of infrastructure projects in the water and wastewater sectors in Scotland.

David Clark joins the University of Strathclyde as Chair of Court to succeed Dame Sue Bruce.  David has over 35 years of global experience in the energy sector in both an executive and Non-Executive capacity. David will take up the post from the 1^st of August.

Richard Peach has spent much of his senior finance career working in the US, most recently as Chief Strategy Officer for Radius Recycling. Now splitting his time between the US and his native Scotland, Richard joins Zero Waste Scotland as a Board Director and Member of the Audit & Risk Committee.

Glasgow Life’s vision is to inspire every citizen and visitor to become engaged and active in a city globally renowned for culture and sport. Kay Morrison has been appointed Chief Executive and will lead the charity, having previously held the role of Chief Executive of South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture.

Rory Kennedy has been appointed as Managing Director of Hamilton & Kinneil Estates. Rory is a CA and joins with highly relevant experience from his most recent role as Scotland Director for the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust.

Following Lorna Cameron’s retirement last year, Horizon Housing, who provide housing and services across central Scotland with a particular focus on accessible homes, appointed Michael Driscoll as its new CEO. Michael joined Horizon from West Highland Housing Association, where he was Director of Customer Service.

PE-backed opto-electronic engineering business PowerPhotonic has appointed Amanda Robertson as its new Chief Executive. Amanda has joined from Walker Precision, where she led its commercial growth strategy.

Dom McKay joins the Scottish Events Campus (SEC) as CEO from European Professional Club Rugby where he was Executive Chair and President. His earlier career includes 13 years with Scottish Rugby Union where he was COO and Board Director.

Mark Bishop has been appointed as the Scottish SPCA’s new Chief Executive. Mark joins from Dynamic Earth, where he was also Chief Executive. He has previously held leadership roles with several charities, including The National Trust for Scotland and Prostate Cancer UK.

Emblation is leading the world in the use of microwave technology to revolutionise treatments in oncology, dermatology and podiatry to improve lives. David Stewart joins as Head of Finance from John G Russell, where he held the role of Group Financial Controller.

Ranjeet Singh has been appointed at Enva Group (backed by I Squared) as Senior Finance Business Partner. He joins from SSE, where he held a senior transformation role, having previously been Finance Director at Cushman & Wakefield.

John Benson has been appointed as Senior Director of Corporate Services and Finance at GalvMed, the global animal health organisation.  His previous career included senior financial leadership roles with Lothian Buses and Forth Ports.

Pioneers of fire door safety systems, Halspan, have been protecting lives and buildings for over 25 years. Chris Brown joins the business in the role of Head of Finance, having previously held senior finance positions with Stevenswood, Menzies Distribution and Heineken.

Heart of Midlothian Football Club has appointed Euan Forbes as its new Finance Director, succeeding Jacqui Duncan, who we wish the best in her retirement. Euan was most recently leading Finance for the Commonwealth Games Federation joint venture with SPORTFIVE and previously worked in EY’s Major Events and Sports practice.

For 125 years, the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) has supported the UK environmental horticulture industry. The Oxford based HTA were delighted to welcome Stan Owen as CFO in April of this year. Stan is an experienced Finance Director whose career has spanned professional services, construction and he was most recently Finance Director of the Cotswolds Distillery.

Global vertical farming solutions business Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) has appointed Carla Roberts as its new CFO. Carla previously held financial leadership positions with Weir Group PLC, Ferguson Marine and the Scottish Football Association.

Michelle Motion joins leading Scottish technology business Iomart, newly rebranded as Atech, as Finance Director – Special Projects bringing her scale up and previous listed experience to the highly acquisitive Glasgow based business.

Legado, the digital life management platform supporting institutions and individuals in securely storing, sharing, and organising critical life documents, has appointed Tanya Smith as Chief Financial and People Officer. Tanya joins from her previous role as CFO at international management consultancy Nous Group. A qualified CPA, Tanya relocated from Australia to Edinburgh in 2024.

Ken Dinneen has been appointed as Head of Finance with Scottish law firm Lindsays. Ken brings over 30 years of experience in professional services, having held financial leadership positions with Balfour + Manson and Addleshaw Goddard previously.

Following a successful 10-year career with GalvMed, Rosie Stewart is appointed as Group Finance Director at Moredun, the research institute focused on animal health and welfare.

Sara Glass joins Nairn’s Oatcakes as Finance Director from The Scottish Parliament, where she was CFO. She spent nearly 20 years before that with Heineken.

Mairi Semple joins Park Circus, the global film distributor, as CFO. She joins from Scotsman Hospitality, where she was Head of Commercial Finance.

The Scottish Football Association has appointed Karen Martin to the role of Head of Finance. She joins from a similar post with the Scottish Rugby Union.

BR-DGE, the Scotland-founded FinTech, has appointed Rebecca Brown as VP of People. Rebecca joins from London-based PE-backed Board Intelligence, where she served as Chief People Officer.

The Scotland-headquartered eye and hearing care organisation, Duncan & Todd, which is backed by LDC, has appointed Becca Webster as its HR Director. Becca joins from Entier, the global catering business.

Jan Anderson has joined global high-performance cabling and network solutions provider Leviton as HR Director for its European business. Jan joins from Optos, having previously held HR leadership roles with Edrington and Insights.

DC Thomson has a proud heritage of creating trusted brands that enlighten and entertain audiences worldwide. Colin McNally will take up the role of Head of Estates & Facilities, joining from his previous position as Director of Estates and Campus Services at the University of Stirling.

Forestry and Land Scotland is the Scottish Government Agency responsible for looking after Scotland’s national forests and land for the benefit of all. Ian Considine joins in the role of Head of Procurement, having previously held a similar role with Scottish Investment Services Limited.

Fiona Kyle joins Heriot-Watt as Global Executive Director of University Operations after a highly successful career in financial services, including roles at Nationwide Building Society, Sainsbury’s Bank, and Abrdn, where she delivered large-scale transformation and change programmes.

Melanie Stevenson has joined Kick ICT (backed by LDC) as Group Sales Director. She joins following a 19-year career with Sabio, where she held a range of account management and commercial leadership roles, culminating in the position of Commercial Director.

Luxury cashmere and retail business, Kiltane, has appointed Gemma Connolly as its new Head of E-Commerce. Gemma joins from the Paint Shed, where she led its online growth activity following a similar journey establishing Michael Kors’ European e-commerce footprint.

John McGill has joined Miller Homes (backed by Apollo Global Management) as Technical Director. He was previously the Development Director at Lovell Partnerships and had worked with Robertson Group, Stewart Milne, and Taylor Wimpey.

PODFather, backed by Maven Capital, is a logistics software company behind one of the UK’s leading electronic proof of delivery (ePOD) and fleet optimisation platforms. Richard Morrell has joined as Chief Technology Officer, bringing nearly 30 years of experience across software development, systems architecture, and technology leadership. Before joining PODFather, he served as CTO at My1Login and previously founded Spherical Digital, where he advised scaling technology businesses on infrastructure and delivery.

Employee-owned technical textiles manufacturer Scott & Fyfe has appointed Jason Smith as Commercial Director. Jason has a strong career history in both CEO and commercial leadership roles within the technology and energy services sectors.

Subsea robotics and AV technology provider, Tritech International, has appointed Jonathon Pryor as Engineering Director, where he will lead all technical operations across the UK. Jon joins from BAE Systems.

Jim Cuthbert and Raymond Borland have both joined Tunnock’s in senior production roles. Jim joins following a career in FMCG including with pladis Global and William Grant & Sons and Raymond joins following a career in production and health and safety with Lees of Scotland and Finsbury Food Group.

Claudia Smith and Jit Jevan have both joined Vets Now in senior Project Management roles. Jit, based in Leicester, joins from a senior finance position in Specsavers and Claudia, who is based in London, held a senior role in the Transformation PMO at Sky.

Viewpoint creates joy in later years by managing a range of supported housing and care services for older people in Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife. Sue Shone joined earlier this year as Director of Housing and Care, having previously served as Director of Housing at Whiteinch and Scotstoun Housing Association.

Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) helps Scotland use products and resources more responsibly to reduce waste, tackle climate change, and build a circular economy. ZWS have appointed Emily Gleeson as Interim Head of Governance and Compliance to champion good governance and compliance, lead business operations, and play a key role in its transition in its transition to become a Non-Departmental Public Body.