The Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society has appointed Robert Gilchrist as its new chief executive officer.
Mr Gilchrist, who joined the society as a breed development manager last year, has been the acting chief executive since the departure of former chief Barrie Turner.
The society has now confirmed Mr Gilchrist will take on the role on a permanent basis, and the new chief says he is excited to keep moving the society forward and deliver on its 10-year business plan.
“I’ve been working in the beef sector for over 20 years and am passionate about driving returns from the marketplace to our members by building on our certified Aberdeen-Angus beef scheme,” said Mr Gilchrist.
“This is a massive opportunity as this certification scheme is instrumental in protecting the integrity of the breed and upholding our reputation; it also provides us with a traceable product to take to our customers, giving us a competitive advantage.”
Welcoming the appointment, Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society president Angus Stovold said: “Over the last six months he has exceeded all of our expectations and performed superbly and when it came to the recent CEO recruitment process, Robert was an outstanding candidate.
“There was no hesitation, the panel all agreed he was the best man for the job and the council are delighted that he’s accepted the CEO role.”
Mr Stovold added: “There’s clearly a large inventory to be starting with, but we’ve no doubt that Robert will surpass our expectations in delivering the results, continuing to evolve the society so that we can maintain and build on our status as the number one beef breed in the UK.”