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VisitScotland appointments
27/01/2009
Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism today announced the appointment of four members to the board of VisitScotland. The start times of these appointments will be staggered over the course of this year.
The appointed members are: Mr Paddy Crerar, Professor Russell Griggs OBE, Mrs Dorothy Fenwick and Mr Manus Fullerton.
Paddy Crerar - Chief Executive of Crerar Hotels and Easy Breaks. He is also Chair and Trustee of North British Hotels Trust and has been Chair of the British Hospitality Association (BHA) Scotland, a Hospitality Industry Trust Trustee, and a Scottish Thistle Award Winner. Mr Crerar has been involved in the Scottish Tourism industry for over 20 years mainly as a hotelier, as well as a coach tour and short break operator. He has also been involved as a member of VisitScotland's Chairman's Panel and a serving member of the grading and standards industry overseeing committee. Mr Crerar brings strong leadership and communication skills to the board, has considerable quality assurance experience and is totally committed to improving tourism in Scotland.
Mr Crerar does not hold any other ministerial public appointments.
Russel Griggs - Chair and Non Executive Director of a number of firms as well as providing assistance to others. National Chair of CBI UK - SME National Council; Chair of the Institute of Occupational Medicine, Non Executive Director of Imes Group Ltd. He is Chair of the Scottish Government Regulatory Review Group which looks at the impact of regulation on business. Professor Griggs also works on business development and strategy for a number of organisations including businesses, Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) and Local Authorities. He sits on the Board of Dumfries & Galloway College and was on the Board of Scottish Enterprise Dumfries & Galloway. He was involved with running 'Scotland the Brand'. Professor Griggs brings excellent skills in leadership and communications and has a broad range of networks which will benefit VisitScotland.
Professor Griggs does not hold any other ministerial public appointments.
Dorothy Fenwick - has had a career spanning some 25 years in Scotland mostly with Scottish public sector agencies at director and senior management level. She has specialist knowledge of corporate communications working at Board level with a number of public and private sector organisations and is currently Director of her own independent corporate communications company. A member of the Scottish Government Audit Committee and former Chair of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in Scotland, and the management team of Railtrack Scotland, she brings excellent communications and corporate governance skills to the Board.
Mrs Fenwick currently serves as a Non Executive Director on the Audit Committee of the Scottish Government and receives a remuneration of £232 per day.
Manus Fullerton - Director of Corporate and Commercial Banking for Lloyds TSB Scotland. He was appointed to the Board of the Bank in 1999. Manus is an Executive Member of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI), Director of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and Director of Social Investment Scotland. He has been a Member of the Council for Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Scotland. Mr Fullerton has direct experience of visitor attractions and tourism as Deputy Chair of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. He brings to the Board: strong leadership; wide knowledge and understanding of corporate governance, corporate business and investment criteria, and commercial issues.
Mr Fullerton does not hold any other ministerial public appointments.
All appointments will be for 3 years. Paddy Crerar's and Russel Griggs' term will run from 1 February 2009 to 31 January 2012, Dorothy Fenwick's term will run from 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2012 and Manus Fullerton's term from 1 December 2009 to 30 November 2012 respectively. These dates are to coincide with the completion of current Board members' appointments.
These posts are part-time and attract a remuneration of £8,235 for a time commitment of 2 days per month.
VisitScotland is the Scottish Government's national tourism organisation responsible for implementing government polices and initiatives impacting on the development of tourism in Scotland and improving the customer experience. It contributes significantly to the advancement of Scottish tourism by giving it a real presence in the global marketplace and benefitting the whole of Scotland. VisitScotland's priorities are:
- to attract visitors to Scotland
- to engage with partners within the industry
- to add value to the visitor experience
These Ministerial public appointments are made in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland's Code of Practice.
All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees' political activity to be made public. None of the above named appointees have undertaken any political activity within the last 5 years.