Business people on the move

Ross Bootland

Ross will oversee the culinary teams at each of the hotels including Crieff Hydro Hotel and Peebles Hydro Hotel. He will mainly be based in Crieff but will regularly visit the properties in the Borders, Dundee and Glencoe to support and lead the teams.

One of Ross’ main focuses will be recruitment and continuing to build a training programme to help nurture upcoming talent.

Ross said: “Recruitment has been very challenging across the industry so one of my main objectives will be to hire some fantastic talent into chef vacancies we have across the group

Richard Hodges

“While the head chefs at each of the hotels will continue to be responsible for creating their own menus, I will be on hand to develop concepts that fit the personalities of each of the hotels. I’m already working on exciting ideas with the team and would love for us to work towards putting one or two of our restaurants forward for AA Rosette Awards.”

Dobbies, the UK’s leading garden centre, announces three senior appointments, strengthening its team as it continues to develop its platform for growth.

Richard Hodges is appointed as Dobbies’ commercial director. He joins from Sainsbury’s where he was head of UK wholesale and international growth.

Richard will take responsibility for all trading, as well as leading the rollout of the company's small store format, little dobbies, and growth plans for dobbies.com.

Danilo Blagojevic

John Dunning is appointed as Dobbies’ restaurant director. He was most recently at Bourne Leisure, where he was food and beverage director for Butlins.

Tim Hollis is appointed as Dobbies’ head of buying. He was most recently head of buying for the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).

One of the UK’s pioneers on the use of AI in the banking and finance sector is to join Edinburgh-headquartered consulting group, Optima Partners.

Dr Danilo Blagojevic moves from a leading role in establishing data science at Tesco Bank.