New faces join the board at Quality Meat Scotland
Six months on from the call for nominations, three new members have been appointed to the board of the country’s livestock sector body, Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).
The appointees to the organisation – announced yesterday by rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing – are pig sector stalwart Andy Mcgowan, education specialist Ann Irvine and butcher Gordon Wallace.
Mcgowan is the chief executive of Scottish Pig Producers, the pig marketing co-operative that plays a pivotal role in developing the pigmeat supply chain in Scotland and Northern Ireland. He served as head of industry development at QMS from 2002 until 2013 and has also worked in food and livestock genetics companies across Europe and Asia.
Currently the vice-president of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers, Mcgowan also sits on the boards of the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society, Scoteid, Wholesale Pigs (Scotland) Ltd and Pig Regen Ltd.
Irvine is currently a board member of University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) Perth College and was brought up on a mixed farm in Northern Ireland.
As well as farming with her husband in Northeast Scotland, Irvine has played a leading role in helping the public better understand where their food comes from and has a professional career spanning 30 years in local government and further and higher education.
Wallace is a butcher with over 30 years senior management experience ranging from volume carcass processing to meat product manufacturing.
A part-time lecturer at the City of Glasgow College and freelance assessor/trainer principally with Scottish Meat Training, he is a former chair of East Renfrewshire Council’s audit and scrutiny committee.
QMS said that Irvine and Mcgowan would commence their roles in October 2018 and Wallace would take his up in April 2019 when a further new board member would also be appointed.
Kate Rowell, who took over as chair at QMS from former NFU Scotland president Jim Mclaren yesterday, welcomed the appointments and extended thanks to the retiring members.