TONY STEVENSON has been appointed by Scottish Land and Estates as its new head of business.

Following involvement with the landowner body stretching back to 2010, Mr Stevenson now becomes a senior member of staff, working with Dee Ward, vice chair operations, and executive director, Sarah-Jane Laing, to increase new business, improve member services and increase business effectiveness, including day to day management of finance, membership, IT and infrastructure functions.

Tony said: “I’ve enjoyed a long association with SLE and appreciate fully what members are delivering for the rural economy across Scotland. The opportunity to become more involved on a day-to-day basis was great as I believe I can use my experience of the commercial sector to benefit not only the organisation but also to provide guidance that can assist the businesses of individual members.

“SLE has implemented a number of business improvements and I look forward to working with Dee, Sarah-Jane and others to increase our effectiveness as an organisation and deliver further tangible benefits for our members,”

Ms Ward said: “Tony has been involved in a variety of capacities at SLE – a commercial member, a member of the South East regional committee, service provider, consultant and now employee. He has therefore seen the business from a variety of angles, gathering a huge amount of knowledge and understanding not only of how we can improve our internal processes but also how to improve our offering to all members.”

Ms Laing added “Many of our members and suppliers will have been working with Tony for a number of years and will have first-hand experience of his tremendous passion for the organisation, its members and the rural sector in general. With his commercial expertise and his understanding of the rural economy, Tony’s appointment as head of business will help us deliver our ongoing business improvement.”