Katie Docherty will become chief executive of Scouts Scotland in June
Youth organisation Scouts Scotland has appointed Katie Docherty as its new chief executive.
Docherty is currently head of charity services for Age Scotland and will transfer over to her new role on 6 June.
She is the first female to take on the role, and replaces Jim Duffy who announced in December 2015 he was to leave his post after 19 years in charge.
A former Labour Party policy, campaigns and events officer, Docherty joined the Anthony Nolan charity and spent nine years there as its head of regional and community fundraising and marketing, before joining Age Scotland in 2011.
I want to help grow the organisation so that more boys and girls and young men and women across Scotland can experience the thrills
Katie Docherty
Moray Macdonald, chair of Scouts Scotland, said: “Katie is joining us at an exciting time as we are delivering Scouting to more young people and in communities where we aren't currently present.
“She will be leading a recently expanded staff team to deliver our ambitious strategy, and I have no doubt that she will be an excellent leader and will take us from strength to strength."
Docherty lives in Dunfermline, where her son is a Beaver Scout.
“Every Monday he comes rushing home from school full of excitement because it's Beaver night and trying to get him to go to bed after Beavers is always a challenge because he is full of stories of all the fun he has had,” she said.
“I think that the Scouts are a fantastic movement and I want to help grow the organisation so that more boys and girls and young men and women across Scotland can experience the thrills, excitement and confidence that my son gains from his participation."
Scouting is the largest co-educational youth movement in the United Kingdom. It was started in 1907 by Robert Baden Powell and the Scottish Scout Council was founded shortly afterwards in 1909.
The Scout Association has been fully integrated since 1991, and it has been compulsory for all groups to ensure provision for girls in all sections since 2007.
