As part of the Scottish Government’s review of Scottish Enterprise (SE) last autumn, Industry Advisory Boards are being established, if not already in place, for each of the 12 existing priority industries identified by SE.  The Forest Industries remain one of SE’s priorities and a Forest Industries Advisory Board (FIAB) will now replace the previous Cluster Leadership Group which has recently been dissolved. 

Following the recent call for nominations for the new Board, the Nominations Committee had a challenging task considering and assessing the 26 applications received.  After much deliberation the initial 10 Board members selected are as listed below (click for biographies - '.pdf' version, or '.doc' version):

Alex Brownlie
Tom Bruce-Jones
Steve Lavery
Colin Mann
Hamish Macleod
Richard Palmer
Bob Stubbs
Ed Suttie
Fergus Tickell
George Webb
 
Ex Officio members:
SE - Margaret Watson 
FCS - Bob McIntosh 
ConFor - Stuart Goodall
HIE - Representative yet to be confirmed

To ensure continued refreshment of the Board one third of its membership will retire each year (after an inaugural two-year period) giving the opportunity for new nominations to be made on an annual basis.  In addition to industry representatives, the Advisory Board will include representation from Scottish Enterprise (SE), Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS), Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), and the Confederation of Forest Industries (ConFor). 

As well as driving forward the Industry’s agenda, the FIAB will advise SE, HIE (Highlands and Islands Enterprise) and the Scottish Government on matters relating to the sustainable economic development and success of the forest-based industries in Scotland, building on the successful work of the Cluster since 2000. 

All members of the Board will be expected to play an active and useful role in its activities as well as bringing to bear their extensive professional, technical and business knowledge of the sector for the benefit of Scotland.

Having identified the priorities for the Industry, task-focussed Working Groups will be convened, as appropriate, to support and deliver outcomes from the work of the Advisory Board.  It is intended that people with relevant expertise from across all sectors of the Industry will be recruited to these Groups.  That way SE can be confident that the broadest possible involvement of every constituent of the Industry can be engaged in the development of the forest industries in Scotland.

The first meeting of the Board will be held in Aberdeen on the 20th May at which a Chairperson will be elected and the initial term of office of each member (2 – 4 years) will be established by drawing lots.

Stefan Kay OBE, will thereafter step down as Interim Chair of the Advisory Board.  Stefan commented that he ”had derived great satisfaction from his period as Chair of the former Forest Industries Cluster Leadership Group, to which the new Advisory Board is a worthy successor.”  He wishes the members of the new Advisory Board equal satisfaction in their work.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• Scottish Enterprise is Scotland’s agency for enterprise, innovation and investment supporting business growth and developing the business environment:  www.scottish-enterprise.com
• The Scottish Forest Industries Cluster is a partnership between Scottish Enterprise and ConFor:  www.forestryscotland.com
• ConFor (Confederation of Forest Industries) represents the whole UK forest industry from nurseries and growers to UK wood-processing end-users:  www.confor.org.uk
• For further information, Margaret Watson, Head of Forest Industries, Scottish Enterprise can be contacted on telephone 01387 245256 or email margaret.watson@scotent.co.uk.