Irn-Bru-maker AG Barr's boss Roger White showed Scotland can be player on global stage – Stephen Jardine

Roger White is standing down after two decades at the head of AG Barr, which has been transformed from a regional soft drinks business to a highly successful international company

It’s tough at the top. In the past 20 years, we’ve had four First Ministers and seven Prime Ministers. The pressures of leadership take their toll and business is no different. The average reign of a chief executive in the UK is just over five years.

The accepted wisdom is that the longer someone is in a top job, the less focussed and hungry they become but every rule has an exception and in this case his name his Roger White. While political leaders come and go, Roger has been CEO of Scotland’s iconic drinks company AG Barr for two decades. During that time, he has presided over an astonishing period of growth and development.

He’s also a pal. In the interests of transparency, I should admit we’ve known each other since schooldays growing up in Dumfries. Annoyingly, he is younger than me but he was always destined to go places and I’m not talking about Annan or Dalbeattie.

The late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince William visited AG Barr's factory in Cumbernauld in 2021 (Picture: Andrew Milligan/pool/Getty Images)

Steeped in tradition

After university, Roger joined the management programme with food manufacturer Rank Hovis MacDougall and learned the business inside out. He took that knowledge to AG Barr, joining as managing director in 2002 before becoming CEO two years later.

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As the first non-family member to lead the company in its 174-year history, the temptation might have been to not rock the boat, especially when the key product, Irn-Bru, is so steeped in heritage and tradition.

Instead, he knew growth demanded change. So he cut costs and improved revenues while introducing an ethos based on brand-building rather than manufacturing, helped by cheeky but award-winning advertising. With a sugar tax on the horizon, he also diversified through acquisition. The result was rising profits and a soaring share price. Under his tenure, total returns have been nine times higher than for an average FTSE250 company.

That’s why he stayed in the job for two decades, becoming one of Britain’s longest serving chief executives before announcing he is to step down this month. I’m lucky to have had a ringside seat to watch him build Scotland’s other national drink from a regional soft drinks business to a highly successful international company operating across multiple brands.

Scottish Leadership Academy

All of it came from a pride in an iconic product and the story behind it but also an ambition that Scotland can play on a world stage. Ambition doesn’t have to be limited just because head office has a G68 postcode.

The two decades haven’t all been plain sailing. Reformulation to reduce sugar content encountered consumer resistance, a merger with Britvic hit regulatory then financial rocks and the Scottish Government’s failed deposit-return scheme cost the company millions.

However none of that distracted him from the day job and last week he unveiled a final set of financial results showing a sales surge and strong profit growth ahead of his last day in the job in a few weeks. He’s now planning some travel and time off before deciding what comes next.

There will be plenty of job offers but I’d like to see him at the head of a Scottish Leadership Academy. We need the best people with the right skills to drive this country forward and to develop growth and opportunities here. Based on his track record so far, I can’t think of a better man for the job.