Opportunity North East (One), the new economic development agency driving growth in the region, announced two appointments to its top management team yesterday.
Peter Cook joins as director of food, drink and agriculture and Magnus Nicolson as director of life sciences.
The pair will work with two of the sector boards operating under the One umbrella, each of which has its own chairman.
Patrick Machray, chairman of the food, drink and agriculture board, said: “Peter has a deep understanding of the industry and a very strong network of connections within the private and public sectors.
“These will be invaluable to us as we work with the sector to increase its already considerable economic impact in the region, including developing new opportunities for commercialising research and supporting innovation within the food supply chain and growing the company base.”
Professor Stephen Logan, chairman of One’s life sciences board, said: “Magnus has a wealth of experience within industry gained in the UK and internationally and a successful track record of growing life sciences businesses.
“His skill set will now be applied to the innovation agenda for the region’s life sciences sector, which is already well-established, internationally recognised and has significant growth potential.”
Mr Cook is an independent agricultural business and rural development consultant.
Before setting up his consultancy in 2003 he spent 18 years with the Scottish Agricultural College and led its rural business unit, a specialist division providing business advice, rural development programmes, international consultancy, government policy advice and project evaluation.
He has also advised House of Commons committees and Scottish Government inquiries.
Mr Cook, who farms in Aberdeenshire and is a board member of Aberdeen Grain, holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management, a BSc in agriculture from Aberdeen University and is a fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies.
Mr Nicolson has spent the past four years as general manager of BASF Pharma Callanish, where he was responsible for designing and delivering a major expansion to its world-leading facility on Lewis.
Before this he held a number of senior management roles with companies including Virgin Health Bank, Ectopharma (Scotland), Controlled Therapeutics and Viragen (Scotland).
His other past roles include four years as a technology manager with Scottish Enterprise.
With a first degree from Stirling University and postgraduate qualifications from Strathclyde University to his name, Mr Nicolson is also a fellow of both the Royal Society for Chemistry and Royal Society for Medicine.
One was set up late last year, backed by a £25million donation from Sir Ian Wood’s charitable foundation.