SCOTLAND’S Rural College (SRUC) has shaken up its board in a step forward for female representation in the industry by appointing three new female non-executive members.
The appointment of Fiona Larg, Katrina Hayter and Aileen Brown is being done with the hopes of creating a more balanced board at SRUC.
This all-female selection hopes to bring greater equality and diversity of perspective to the board and their future plans.
Each women brings an expansive amount of industry expertise from the different sectors of higher education, finance, food and agriculture.
Fiona Larg has a background of being a chartered accountant and has served as the chief executive of Inverness and Nairn Enterprise, along with being in senior management positions with Vertex Data Science Ltd and Cap Gemini.
She also had a great influence in the creation of the University of Highlands and Island and was awarded a MBE for her services to Scottish higher education in 2017.
On top of this, Ms Larg has volunteered on boards of charities and business organisations, such as Law Society of Scotland, Robertson Trust and Prosper’s Highlands and Islands committee.
Commenting on her appointment, she said: “I am delighted to have been selected as a director of SRUC.
“In my previous role as Chief Operating Officer of UHI, I worked closely with SRUC as we had so much in common – the only higher education institutions in Scotland responsible for delivering further as well as higher education and overcoming the challenges of delivering in remote and rural areas across Scotland.”
Katrina Hayter is the global head of sustainable land use and supply chains at HSBC. She is currently working to develop the company’s net-zero business plan and supports the bank and its customers to transition into a low-carbon future.
She has also held senior roles at UKRI’s Innovate Uk, connecting with leaders in the health, food and agriculture sectors, along with ministers and other decision makers.
Additionally, Ms Hayter has worked in the Agri-tech sector with different organisations, including DuPont Pioneer, the World Economic Forum and FERA Science.
She said: “I was attracted to the role because of SRUC’s ambition around science and innovation, as well as the resilient, profitable and environmentally sustainable agriculture that it’s going to support.
“I just want to be part of that because it’s so exciting.”
Aileen Brown is also enthusiastic about being appointed to the SRUC’s board. She is a chartered accountant who has held top financial positions in private and public sector businesses.
As well as having acted as a charity trustee, Ms Brown is currently a non-executive director of Food Standards Scotland and chairs the audit and risk committee.
Chair of the SRUC board, Linda Hanna, commented: “We had an excellent response to our recruitment exercise, with the calibre of applicants a fantastic endorsement of SRUC.
“I’m delighted from an equality and diversity perspective that we have been able to boost the number of female members on the Board and I am sure that Fiona, Katrina and Aileen will make a significant contribution to SRUC at a crucial time for the organisation.”
