Food and Drink Conference 2021

Food and Drink Conference 2021 - Interview with James Withers, CEO, Scotland Food & Drink

Hosted by Christine O’Neill KC, Chairman, with guest speaker James Withers, CEO, Scotland Food & Drink.

As a membership organisation with over 450 member companies, Scotland Food & Drink provides support and guidance to food and drink businesses - small and large, new starts and well-established - to achieve their growth ambitions.

Prior to joining the Scotland Food & Drink in 2011, James was CEO of the NFU Scotland where he promoted the interests of the nation's agricultural industry. Amongst a number of other roles, James sits on the Scottish Government’s Board of Trade and is on the board of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, working to enhance and promote Scotland’s world class tourism industry.

Food and Drink Conference 2021 - Panel session 1: Sustainable environments

Hosted by Eric Galbraith, Partner and Head of Food & Drink with guest speakers:

•  Tavish Scott, CEO, Salmon Scotland
• Iain Millar, Director, The Scottish Bee Company

Tavish Scott is Chief Executive of Salmon Scotland. He previously was Head of External Affairs for Scottish Rugby (2019-20) and MSP for Shetland (1999-2019). He served as a Government Minister in various portfolios, held various parliamentary positions and is a former leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

Tavish is non-executive director of Shetland Space Centre and is on the board of Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association, part of the UK Wide People for Places Group, and a visiting Professor for the Aberdeen Business School at Robert Gordon University.

Tavish has an honours degree in Business Management from Napier Edinburgh University.

Iain Millar is co-founder of The Scottish Bee Company, a purpose-driven business which supports the pollinator population through the sale of premium honeys.

The Scottish Bee Company invests in bees and beekeepers, providing commercial scale and routes to market for beekeepers capable of sustainably increasing their colonies. They sell the resulting honey in premium retailers with proceeds reinvested in education; wild pollinators; and bees.

Their flagship Heather Honey won the top Platinum award at the London International Honey Awards, and was the first product to achieve the BSI Kitemark for Food Assurance.

Food and Drink Conference 2021 - Panel session 2: Climate positive production

Hosted by Christine O’Neill KC, Chairman at Brodies LLP with guest speakers:

• Iain Stirling, Director, Arbikie
• Clare Hill, Regenerative Agriculture Director, FAI Farms

Clare Hill works as part of the FAI consultancy team and is regenerative farmer and advocate.

From a background in food supply chains, Clare has worked for small and large retailers, farming organisations and has run her own sheep farming & catering business.

Clare has spearheaded the transition to regenerative agriculture on FAI’s own farm, optimising food production while having a positive impact on the global challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Clare combines her experience of working in retail supply chains with her learnings from the farm to support food businesses and farmers in developing their approach as they move towards restorative and regenerative farming systems.

Iain & his brothers set up Arbikie Distillery in 2014 with the aim to be one of the world’s most sustainable distilleries. They distil their family of field-to-bottle, luxury spirits from the crops on their farms, at Lunan Bay on Scotland’s sunny east coast. These include Nadar, the world’s first climate-positive gin and Highland Rye, the world’s only Rye Scotch Whisky.

Previous to setting up Arbikie, Iain worked with Whyte & Mackay, Jim Beam Brands and Diageo, and also with William Grants with the Stirling brothers marketing business.

Food and Drink Conference 2021 - Spotlight speaker: George Kyle, Head of ESG at C&C Group/Tennent's

Hosted by Eric Galbraith, Partner and Head of Food & Drink with guest speaker George Kyle, Head of ESG, C&C Group/Tennent's.

George has been with C&C Group for 30 years next year (2022) and is now Head of ESG. He is a strategic senior communications, brand partnership, corporate and government affairs specialist, who has led on the development, successful delivery and communication of brand events and ESG for the C&C business, for a number of years.

Prior to his current role, George was Head of Sponsorship at Inbev (UK and Ireland) and Head of Sponsorship and & PR for C&C Group.