Scots take the lead at City consultancy to drive digital future

A duo of Scottish businessmen has been appointed to the board of a City of London-based leadership firm as its founders step back from day-to-day operations.

From left: Black Isle Group's Atholl Duncan, Doug Sawers and Jeremy Campbell. Picture: Contributed

Black Isle Group (BIG), whose clients include Barclays, Standard Chartered, Toyota, Experian and Microsoft, has named former BBC executive Atholl Duncan as chair of the board, while Doug Sawers, who previously served as managing director at lastminute.com, joins as a non-executive director.

Duncan’s experience includes sitting as chairman of industry body the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation and sport coaching group UK Coaching.

Fellow Scot Sawers has close to 30 years’ board experience in technology, leadership and change roles, having served as MD at tech group Ceridian and HR software firm SD Worx.

Jeremy Campbell, the former chief people Officer at Ceridian and SD Worx, will become the chief executive of the leadership consultancy as BIG founders Tim and Beth Richardson step back from the day to day running of the business to focus on developing the Black Isle Group Foundation. The venture supports community and educational projects in developing countries.

Duncan said: “The aim is to grow BIG and create a market-leading business focused on solving the people challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

“As technology disrupts the world of leaders, it also creates the opportunity for us to transform leadership development itself.”

Tim Richardson, who will remain as advisor on the board of BIG, said: “Our vision for the future is, quite simply, to build one of the best leadership development and performance consultancies in the world.”