• Edinburgh directors sweep the board with six prestigious awards

 The achievements of Scotland’s top directors were honoured tonight at the IoD Scotland Director of the Year Awards, held at the Crowne Plaza Glasgow.

14 outstanding leaders collected Director of the Year Awards, celebrating the best in business across nine key director categories and five regional categories, including the family business category, a new addition for 2018.

The IoD Scotland Director of the Year Awards went to:

The Awards highlight the diversity of the business landscape in Scotland, with categories for SMEs to large businesses; charities to the public sector.  They honour those individuals whose creativity, leadership or innovative business practices have led to success for their organisation and the communities they serve.

As well as the main categories, two discretionary awards were made:

In addition, individual awards were made across the five regions:

Of the Edinburgh, Lothians & the Borders Regional Director of the Year, Craig Anderson Chief Executive, The Scottish Salmon Company, the judges commented: “Craig Anderson was the candidate that we would prefer to invest with, work for and supply, and have as a neighbour.”

Of the other winners, they commented “Tom Halpin, Chief Executive of Sacro is steering the business through challenging times and reaching vulnerable people in our communities.

“Marshall Dallas, Chief Executive, Edinburgh International Conference Centre is an exceptional example of leadership, bringing values and vision to an organisation to enable a remarkable and beneficial change.

“Reaching more people is a huge objective for The Yard and Celine Sinclair is delivering this. Terrific performance across the board. She is a director who will go far and is an example to others.

“Mark Williams has maintained family values whilst leading the company through an ambitious growth strategy. He has transformed the family business into a strong, market-leading organisation.”

“Andrew Morrison is scaling a business with a clear view on success planning and an obvious appetite for strong governance.”

David Watt, Executive Director of the Institute of Directors in Scotland, commented: “These awards allow us to celebrate the immensely diverse landscape of businesses across Scotland, and the women and men who lead them.

“All of tonight’s finalists are effective and dynamic leaders, and their skills are vital to building Scotland’s future. Strong leadership remains a constant driver of performance amid overwhelming change inflicted by external forces such as economic and political uncertainty. These leaders are at the top of their game, and have much to share, not only within the confines of their business or sector, but also to society as a whole.

“Once again, these awards have provided a platform for us to learn about exceptional business success across the board. Whether this has been achieved by leading the globalisation of a business, increasing turnover and pushing for growth, manufacturing and exporting, excelling in customer service or creating opportunities and having a positive impact on communities, this year’s directors show that Scotland is able to make a difference locally, and compete on a global stage too. Congratulations to all of tonight’s finalists and winners.”