Takes up post next month

Andy Duncan has been announced as the new chief executive at the Gannochy Trust.

He will take up post from 1 November and succeeds Joanna McCreadie who left the trust in August to take up a new appointment at Redress Scotland.

The Gannochy Trust was founded in 1937 by Scottish whisky magnate and philanthropist Arthur Kinmond Bell to improve the quality of community life in Perth and Kinross, and for people across Scotland.

Duncan has been estates manager at the trust for seven years, responsible for the management of the approximately 700-acre estate, including farms, a woodland park, cricket pitches and housing.

The housing estate originally built by the charity’s founder A.K. Bell, who was behind Bell’s whisky, now comprises 282 homes, including 48 in the new award-winning development.

Duncan led the delivery of the new houses, as well as the refurbishment and maintenance of the existing stock. He has also worked on the grant-giving side of the business, including on several major capital projects.

He said: “My primary motivation for joining the Trust was the opportunity to work for an organisation that genuinely makes a difference to people’s lives and the wider community. 

“The ethos and diversity of the trust’s operations attracted me then and I am delighted to be taking up this role at such an exciting time in the trust’s development.”

David Gray, chair of the Gannochy Trust added: “Andy will make an excellent chief executive. He understands the wishes of our founder and how to interpret them in modern times. Having been part of the senior management team involved in developing our strategies, he is well versed in the priorities of the Trust in the coming months and years.

“I and the other trustees very much look forward to working with him in his new role.”