Scotland Food & Drink Chair Tenure To End

Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, Chair of Scotland Food & Drink will be stepping down from her role when her tenure ends in October this year. She has been in the role since 2021.

Iain Baxter, CEO of Scotland Food and Drink:

“Bruce-Gardyne reaches the end of her three-year tenure as Chair of Scotland Food & Drink this October and will be stepping down from our Board.

“Lucinda is a greatly valued ambassador for our industry, bringing passion and commitment to supporting the sector and helping create opportunities for growth.

Myself, the Board, the Partnership and the team at Scotland Food & Drink has enjoyed working with her and she’ll be greatly missed. We wish her all the best for the future.”

A message from Scotland Food & Drink's Chair, Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne:

It has been an honour Chairing Scotland Food & Drink since 2021, and as my three-year tenure enters its last few months, it’s time for a new Chair to take on this role. 

I am extremely proud of all that has been achieved by our CEO Iain Baxter and his team, the Board and the Partnership, during this time. We have significantly upgraded the workings of the business and executive team, creating a firm foundation for both the delivery of the national strategy that we had the privilege to shape, and the outstanding external facing work our new exec team is delivering for our members and industry across the UK and globally.  

In March, Showcasing Scotland shone a bright light on our nation’s outstanding produce, with a potential £77m in sales of new business generated between our producers and the global buyers invited to the event. Launching Scotland’s national food and drink brand “Naturally Scottish” this year, was also an important development, enabling our sector to powerfully and movingly promote Scotland’s magnificent larder and food heritage.  I am also pleased to see a greater awareness of the importance of scientific understanding, to aid efficient food and drink innovation and production, while we also work hard to improve the sector’s accessibility to funding opportunities and enable businesses to scale sustainably.  

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board, the team and every member in the Partnership for their dedication to working with us collaboratively to deliver these successes. This teamwork across the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership is so important and helps us create opportunities for sustainable and resilient growth, across our food and drink industry. I would also like to recognise the passion, grit and commitment of every member of our food and drink sector, to ensure consumers across our nation, the UK and globally are reliably provided with high quality produce, every day of the year. This is no mean feat under the challenging environmental, economic and geopolitical circumstances our sector is navigating, and I salute you for your outstanding work. Food and drink is my passion and I look forward to continuing my work alongside you, for many years to come.  

It has been a pleasure getting to know many of you over the past few years and I look forward to remaining in touch. 

It is now time to find Scotland Food & Drink’s next Chair who will build on these successes and continue to support and inspire the organisation and industry going forward.