SE chairman welcomes appointment of Lena Wilson to the Board of Intertek

Scottish Enterprise Chairman Crawford Gillies today welcomed the appointment of CEO Lena Wilson to the Board of Intertek, an international FTSE 100 company with its headquarters in London.

He said: “This is excellent news for Lena, for Scottish Enterprise and for Scotland.

“While it is common place for CEOs to spend some time in non-executive positions, it is more unusual for leaders in the public sector to take up private sector positions.

"This sends a strong signal about the calibre of public sector leaders we have in Scotland and it shows that we’re willing to look at innovative ways to allow our leaders to continue to develop their knowledge and capabilities while remaining in post."

“While Lena will take on this role in a personal capacity, I firmly believe that it will benefit her as CEO of Scottish Enterprise. It will build on the commercial awareness and expertise she already has and boost her credibility even further when dealing with business leaders in Scotland and across the world to support Scotland’s economic growth. ”

He added: “I’d like to wish Lena my sincere congratulations on what is a remarkable achievement.”

Lena Wilson will take up her non-executive position with Intertek from 1 July, 2012. Her contract requires around a day a month, which she will deliver in addition to her contracted hours as CEO of Scottish Enterprise.

Mr Gillies continued: “Over the last 12 years, Lena has taken up a number of non-executive roles and has maintained a strong track record of delivery.

“She is scaling down other commitments to allow herself the capacity to deliver this role and anyone who knows Lena and her unstinting commitment to Scotland’s economic growth will appreciate that this non-exec role will only add value to her ‘day job’.”

Intertek is a leading provider of quality and safety solutions serving a wide range of industries around the world. Intertek Group plc (LSE: ITRK) is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The Group has a network of more than 30,000 employees in over 1,000 laboratories and offices in more than 100 countries across the world.

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