Rural business body Scottish Land and Estates has appointed a new chairman.
Mark Tennant, the former chairman of Scottish Financial Enterprise and former deputy chair of the Scottish Government’s Financial Services Advisory Board will take up the role.
He and his family run the Innes Estate in Moray.
Expressing his pleasure at being elected to the role, he said: “It is a great honour and will present some very interesting challenges in the coming few years.
“I will be working on several key issues and top of the list is ensuring Scotland’s rural businesses and communities are provided with all the information and help they need, ensuring they climb out as sure footed as possible from the appalling damage which Covid-19 has done.
“Our farming members continue to provide a crucial service to Scotland through feeding the nation and we are hearing many wonderful stories of how others are helping their local communities at a time when their own businesses are impacted.
“Amidst the horror of this pandemic, we need to recognise that Brexit has not gone away. Our members’ businesses across rural Scotland and the wider communities will be deeply affected by how the negotiations turn out.
“I will be doing all I can to ensure rural Scotland is considered as the Brexit story continues to unfold.”
He said the current pandemic should not allow people to forget the target of net zero carbon emissions and the “the crucial role land managers will need to play in achieving it, such as using land as a carbon sink to drain greenhouse gas emissions.”
He added: “Over the coming months as we enter the ‘new normal’, we have the opportunity to consider how the way we do business could play a crucial role in fighting climate change.”
He took over the role from outgoing chairman David Johnstone, who had spent six years in the role.
Mark Tennant said: “David has already carried out valuable work in many areas and provided a superb platform on which I can build.”
The Tennants family business, Innes Estate in Elgin, has been a member of SLE for over 40 years. During that time Mark has been a member of the organisation’s Highland Committee twice as well as vice-chair (policy) since 2018.
Three new directors were appointed: Andrew Laing, managing partner of Forneth Estate, near Blairgowrie; Lucy Laidlaw, a a communications and community engagement specialist who spent the past nine years working at Buccleuch and Derek Lewis, who owns and runs the Drimnin Estate on the western tip of the Morvern peninsula, just north of the Isle of Mull.
Also at the AGM, Hugh Campbell Adamson and Sarah-Jane Laing were reappointed as directors and members of the Board.
