Alison Sellar, CEO of activpayroll, the global payroll and tax compliance specialist headquartered in Aberdeen has been honoured with an OBE for her services to business in Scotland and abroad.

On 29th December 2017, Alison was one of three people from the North-east of Scotland to be honoured with an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in The Queen’s New Year’s Honours List. An OBE is a Queen’s honour given to an individual for a major local role in any activity such as business, charity or the public sector.

Alison launched activpayroll in Aberdeen in 2001, specialising in payroll for the oil and gas industry, since then she has grown the firm, opening offices across the globe, including Singapore, Frankfurt and Florida and providing payroll services to some of the world’s leading brands.

In addition to growing a successful global company, Alison has given up a lot of her time to help various charities. Across the years Alison has raised tens of thousands of pounds for charity by taking part in challenges such as the Monster Ski Challenge, Ride the North and cycling from Vietnam to Cambodia.

Alison will officially receive her OBE from The Queen at an Investiture organised by the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood in the next seven months.

Alison Sellar comments: “I’m overwhelmed and humbled; I never thought I’d be here. Everything I’ve achieved is down to my team around me, you don’t achieve anything alone and I’m privileged to have been supported through every step of my journey thanks to my activpayroll team, customers, partners and of course, my family and friends.

This is a massive achievement and I will be collecting the OBE on behalf of everyone at activpayroll in recognition of the team’s professionalism, dedication and support.”

Stephen will have overall responsibility for the planning and strategic growth across all areas of the business – with significant focus on evolving and expanding our chauffeur drive offering.

Combined with the overall operational activities, he will work to ensure innovation and best practice continue to be at the forefront of our operation.

Stephen commented:

“This is an exciting time to be involved in ground transportation. With electric vehicles revolutionising the way in which we travel, it is the inevitable future of chauffeuring. With the demands placed upon organisations, to implement robust Corporate Social Responsibility policies, the need for an environmentally friendly solution has never been greater.

“I’m passionate about great service and offering a first-class end-to-end experience with zero-emissions credentials, will not only forge a sustainable business model, but set the bar across the industry.”

Bringing with him a wealth of experience in senior management roles across the chauffeur and hospitality industry, Stephen’s leadership style, commercial awareness, industry knowledge and exacting standards, will undoubtedly be the catalyst to take Ecosse EV to the next Level.

Richard Levack, CEO added:

“Stephen brings great first class enthusiasm, chauffeur company knowledge and experience in every aspect of the business. Ecosse EV is leading the way in Scotland with zero emission cars which are a fantastic benefit to everybody”.

Contact Stephen Dunn at Ecosse EV at sdunn@ecosse-ev.com.

An Edinburgh Napier student is to become head of one of the UK’s largest chain of supermarkets – for a day.

Audrey Opdycke-Barnes has been selected for leading recruitment consultancy Odgers Berndston’s CEO for a Day scheme and will take the top job with Sainsbury’s next month.

The 28-year-old, who is currently studying a Masters in Intercultural Business Communication at Edinburgh Napier, will spend a day shadowing current Sainsbury’s CEO Mike Coupe at the leading retailer’s HQ in London in November.

The programme – which Audrey is one of only two students from Scottish universities to make the final of – aims to forge closer links between CEOs and emerging talent. It offers students an opportunity to gain first-hand experience of senior management at an early stage in their own careers.

Although a CEO role has yet to be on her radar, the opportunity to take part in the programme was one that Audrey simply could not turn down.

She said: “I received an email regarding the programme from the careers team at Edinburgh Napier. To be honest, I have never aspired to be a CEO but I was intrigued by the scheme and decided to enter.

“I popped in an initial application, worked my way through the stages and after a group interview in London, I’ve made the final 24 – I’m both surprised and delighted to officially have been selected onto the initiative!

“I wanted to challenge myself and was happy just going through the assessment process with a consultancy firm but now I’m looking forward to spending a day with the team at Sainsbury’s. It’ll be an invaluable insight into the workings of one of the UK’s biggest organisations and I’m really looking forward to it.”

For Audrey, who moved to Edinburgh from San Diego, California when she was just four-years-old, the CEO for a Day selection is another impressive addition to her CV.

She won a scholarship to attend space camp with NASA when she was just 15. She’s already studied Aerospace Engineering at University of Glasgow, she graduated with a degree in International Business from Edinburgh Napier earlier this year and has previously held roles with leading retailer H&M and within footwear brand Hunter’s international sales team.

She added: “Although my career is still very much in its infancy, I’ve always been keen to show that there is a pathway for young women to progress in their chosen field. There are not enough female CEOs in the world so it is important, through programmes like the CEO for a Day scheme, to show that it is possible to make it to the top.

“In the future I’d love to work in management within the arts and culture sector – a role within the inner workings of an organisation such as the BBC or Channel 4 is the dream.”

Independent Scottish Law firm Gillespie Macandrew LLP has announced that its new CEO will be Robert Graham-Campbell.

Robert will take up office on 16 October and replaces outgoing CEO, Chris West, who is retiring from the firm.

Robert has extensive business leadership and legal sector experience, most recently as CEO of London based Pemberton Greenish LLP, specialists in private client, property and corporate law.

Gillespie Macandrew Chairperson Fiona Morton said,

“I am delighted to announce Robert’s appointment, particularly as he has already demonstrated an approach to the CEO role that we feel is strongly aligned with our values as a firm. We seek to always be straightforward, open and transparent in our relationships, continually working hard to be an attractive place for talented and enthusiastic people to work in strong teams delivering great advice to our clients.

“I am grateful to Chris who has delivered the strong growth the firm has achieved over the past few years and established a robust financial position to move forward from. He has also recently led the rebrand launch further providing the platform for Robert to drive the next phase of our plan to develop and grow our business in response to market opportunities.”

Robert Graham-Campbell said

“I am excited to be joining Gillespie Macandrew at a time of fast-paced change in the legal services market. The importance of strong client relationships, based on the highest levels of quality and service, has never been greater. The firm’s focus on this is central to its medium term strategy and places it in a strong position in a competitive market. I look forward to working with the Chair, partners and staff to lead the firm through the next stages of its development.”

Pictured above: (L-R) Chris West, Fiona Morton & Robert Graham-Campbell.

I’ve been lucky enough to do some travelling in recent weeks and it’s interesting to compare our culture with others – the warm welcome and hospitality of the East, their work ethic and culture of enterprise, their generosity of spirit and friendship. Maybe the sunshine makes everyone happy – it worked for me, or was it the brief relief from the politics of home. No talk of Brexit, General Elections and Indyref#2. Bliss.

My admiration for the Eastern culture made me reflect on emerging economies and how Scotland is at risk of falling behind as the pace of change and technological advancement continues to accelerate. The pace of change is now the fastest it’s ever been, but it will never be this slow again. We cannot ignore the new era of algorithms, social media and robotics that run our lives, manage our homes and allow us to browse, compare, order and pay for goods and services at the tap of a screen.

How does Scotland compare at this level? Do we have the culture to adapt and compete? We talk about being world class – but what does that mean? What takes a business from emerging, to mature, to world class? And how do we create businesses that are global market leaders?

For Scotland to flourish we need a strong and stable economy across a diverse range of sectors. We need wealth and job creators who reach out to the rest of the world to trade our products and services.

Scotland has real strength in its education system. The innovative research and development in FInTech, robotics and AI regularly lead to spin-out companies from our universities. We are world leaders in the Oil and Gas service sector, in Financial Services and we have abundant natural resources in fish, agriculture, aquaculture and talent. And of course we have whisky – 80% of food and drink exports come from the golden nectar that is Scotch whisky – the best in the world.

So, there’s no shortage of products, ideas and enterprise. But the challenge we are faced with is – how do we harness this and create global businesses that surpass the start-up years and accelerate to scale and market leadership? We need to lead, educate and support entrepreneurship, recycle the knowledge and experience from our successful business leaders. We need high speed digital connectivity and we need to encourage the ambition for international trade whilst ensuring businesses have access to international markets to support them in competing on the world stage. And we need a skilled workforce to help build these businesses – a workforce that is diverse, ambitious and resilient.

The Scottish Government can only deliver its economic strategy if the business community is strong and grows significantly in the coming years. The public sector accounts for over 50% of the workforce and real growth in employment and the tax base can only come from the private sector. If we want to improve public services, we must pay for them.

The Scottish Chamber Network and other business organisations are working hard to ensure we embrace these opportunities and also have the support to compete and fully exploit the advantages we have in abundance. Scotland is open for business and never mind the Silk Road – we have the Tartan Highway!