News Other Chambers Information CAITHNESS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE APPOINTS NEW CHAIRMAN
CAITHNESS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE APPOINTS NEW CHAIRMANNeil Robertson, New Park Management, has been appointed as the Chair of the Caithness Chamber of Commerce newly formed Board. Directors for the Board were elected at the AGM which was held on 17th August and at the subsequent Board meeting held on 20th August Neil was voted in as Chairman. Stephen Sutherland (JGC Engineering and Technical Services) was re-appointed as Vice-chair. Following his appointment Neil said “I am pleased to be elected as Chair of the Board and accept the responsibility handed over by the Board and the outgoing Chairman, Peter Body who was instrumental in taking the Chamber into this new era. We are indebted to Peter who leaves large shoes to fill. The Chamber has made significant progress in a short space of time and I believe that a united business voice in Caithness is essential to make sure we maximise the benefit for all local companies in Caithness”. Trudy Morris, Chief Executive said “A lot of work has been done since January to ensure the Chamber has a prominent place in the regeneration of the Caithness area. The support of the Board, and especially Peter in his role as chair, has been invaluable and I am pleased with the steady increase in membership and the profile that the Chamber is starting to realise. Credit should be given to Peter Body for his tireless efforts and commitment in taking the Chamber forward. I am now looking forward to working with Neil and the rest of the Board to ensure that the Chamber continues to go from strength to strength over the next year.” The Chamber also welcomed Colin Bayliss onto its Board as a non-Executive Director. Neil Robertson added “We have a strong Board of Directors who all bring different areas of expertise to the Chamber and thanks to the funding received from HIE and the NDA recruitment of a Membership/Events Co-ordinator and part-time Administrator has also been secured which can only add to the progress the Chamber is steadily making. Since January the Chamber has held a number of business events which members have taken advantage of. Most notably was the Pentland Firth Forum event held at the Castle of Mey. Representatives from the Crown Estate, Pentland Firth Tidal Energy Project and the Regeneration Partnership were invited to take part in a panel discussion with the Chamber to allow members to hear about the progress being made for leasing the seabed in the Pentland Firth. The event was of superb quality and Kongsberg Maritime is to be thanked for providing sponsorship towards this event and the Castle of Mey for providing such a great venue overlooking the Firth. The event was attended by some 50 members. We intend to continue in this vein and increase the number of events and our involvement in the area for the benefit for all our members.” Notes to Editors: 1. The Caithness Chamber of Commerce was reformed at the beginning of 2009 with financial assistance from Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. 2. The Caithness Chamber of Commerce supports the activities of the Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership in the challenges to regenerate Caithness in the light of the rundown at Dounreay. 3. Neil is a Director with New Park Management. New Park is one of the UK‟s leading private sector developers of Science and Technology Parks. Successfully harnessing property development experience and business management skills, the company promotes the growth of new technology by developing the dynamic environments in which innovative companies in the SME sector can prosper. New Park has a unique blend of skills developed from practical experience of large scale property development and "hands on" commercialisation of science and renewable energy project development. New Park owns and manages its own Business & Technology Parks, forms creative partnerships with public sector organisations to develop incubation facilities and also offers managing agent services to other organisations. Neil‟s experience is built on a successful career in the pharmaceutical & chemicals industries with Hoechst Roussel, Akzo Nobel, Aventis/Sanofi. In addition he is experienced in business start-up and he still retains an interest in the technology based SME‟s he helped to found. As an experienced director he brings complementary commercial skills to the Chamber of Commerce team. His background is in marketing & general management, business development and strategic planning; assessing client and business needs, bringing in commercial experience. In addition he is a visiting lecturer with the Open University‟s Business School MBA programme on Creativity, Innovation and Change and has assisted in the development of the Business Schools new programme in Strategic Planning in Healthcare. More recently he has been engaged in regeneration and economic development programmes as a Director of the NDA‟s North Highland Regeneration Fund and is developing, in collaboration, the HIE Caithness & Sutherland technology business incubation project „Innovation Forss‟. Also Neil is a Director of Stoerhouse, New Park‟s renewable energy investment and development company, which is involved in tidal and biomass CHP project developments which complements his participation in the Scottish Enterprise „Energy Technology Centre‟ project aiming to commercialise Scottish based renewable energy technologies 4. Directors of the Board appointed at the AGM on 17th August are: Bill Baxter Konsberg Maritime Raymond Bremner Geddes Window Systems Stephen Bremner Ashley Ann David Craig Nuvia Neil Robertson New Park Management Stephen Sutherland JGC Engineering & Technical Services Rosemary Thompson North Highland College 5. Colin Bayliss is a Main Board Director of UKAEA and spent some 8 years in the county laying the foundations for modern planning and projectised organisational arrangements at Dounreay and other UKAEA sites. He is also a Director of the Pentland Alliance (a partnership between AMEC, CH2MHill, and UKAEA) who hope to bid and win the Dounreay management contract with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Colin has led major power construction projects around the World and was the Fixed Equipment Executive Director for TransManche Link - the Channel Tunnel Main contractor - prior to joining the nuclear industry in 1995. He has a major input to nuclear decommissioning post graduate training and his hobbies include boating on the Thames, his Austin 7 vintage car, and ham radio. For further information contact: Trudy Morris CEO Caithness Chamber of Commerce T: 01847 896508 M: 07545 210946
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