SLG chief executive retires
Chief executive of Scottish Leather Group (SLG), Iain McFadyen, stepped down from the role on September 30, retiring after more than 45 years with the tanning group.
Iain McFadyen joined the group straight from school as a management trainee in 1976. This training involved plenty of time on the shop floor and he says he worked on every operation, understanding “the intricacies of every element that went into our leather manufacturing process”.
He later trained formally as a leather technologist and says this solid grounding helped him to craft a career in an industry “with so many ebbs and flows”. He succeeded John Henderson as group chief executive in 2008.
During his long career at SLG, the group has expanded its operations in China and the US, become what Mr McFadyen described as “market leaders in sustainability”, and grown its manufacturing capacity. It has also doubled its employee workforce to more than 1,000 people, all of whom are “pivotal to the continuation and growth of Scottish Leather Group”, the outgoing chief executive said.
He said the group’s family values and the people who work there were the reasons he had remained in the business for so long. He added that he was sad to leave and had “loved every minute”, but said he had “full faith in the ambitious and talented team I leave behind”.
