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Chamber elects new president

City businessman George Yule has been elected as the new president of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Yule, who was appointed at the Chamber’s AGM last night, is Executive Chairman of ROMAR International and is also a Board Director of Subsea UK, Chair of Aberdeen Sports Village and Corporate Patron of Befriend a Child. He was formerly CEO of Dominion Gas from 2006 to 2010, leading a management buyout of the company in 2007.

He succeeds Brewin Dolphin consultant Colin Crosby who served as president since 2009.

Colin Parker, Chief Executive of Aberdeen Harbour, and Ron Cookson, MD of Technip UK, were elected as vice-presidents.  Carol Benzie of Aberdeen Airport is a new appointee to the Board while Shona Anderson, VisitScotland; Alex Drummond, Bank of Scotland and Belinda Miller, Aberdeenshire Council have been elected as new members on the Chamber’s Policy Council.

Mr Yule said he was looking forward to his term of office: “As someone from Aberdeen on a lifelong mission to ‘make a difference’ I’m honoured to be elected and I aim to build on the excellent work done by the long list of noteworthy predecessors of this prestigious position, particularly the sterling work carried out most recently by Colin Crosby, during the turbulent economic climate over the past 2-3years.

“AGCC is regarded nationally as a visionary Chamber that sets the pace and standard for many of the issues facing all types of businesses, and locally it is seen as the business organisation to best represent the views and interests of its members and I look forward to working closely with Bob Collier and all of the Chamber staff in Aberdeen - and in particular to engage with our many member companies as we collectively continue our journey of delivering best value to the region and its communities.”

Mr Crosby said that despite the recession, the Chamber was in a better position financially than it was two years ago: “We have managed to stabilise membership and look forward to growth in the future. It is also providing a more tailored service to members through the establishment of sector specific groups with those covering tourism, oil & gas, Third sector and business services already in place and its role in supporting international development and export becomes ever more important. It has also led high profile campaigns over the past year on transport and business rates, has significantly raised its profile and continues to increase its influence in representing its members.

“I wish George good luck with the post. He has an excellent Chamber team and board to work with and I’m sure he’ll value the experience as much as I did.”

Keynote speaker at the AGM was Andy Nicol, former Scotland rugby captain and now Head of Business Development at private bank Adam & Company, who spoke about Winning in Sport – Winning in Business.

Media enquiries to: Kate Yuill, Policy & Communications Manager, kate.yuill@agcc.co.uk; 01224 343913