Please note that the programme is subject to change

Tom Castledine, Finance Director, The Famous Grouse

Tom Castledine is the Finance Director of The Famous Grouse business unit at Edrington. Tom is responsible for the global performance & operations of the brand, which encompasses distribution across over 100 markets and sales in excess of 3m cases annually, and is the number 1 selling blended whisky in the UK.

In addition, Tom is responsible for the financial performance of all Edrington brands across the EMEIA region, and is Edrington’s Board representative on distribution entities across the region, representing on the Boards of Edrington UK, Edrington Nordics, Maxxium Netherlands and Maxxium Belux.

Tom is a Fellow of the ICAEW having originally qualified with Moore Stephens, London. Tom resides in Glasgow, married with two daughters, and keenly follows Welsh rugby in his spare time.

Stella Morse, Principal Inverleith LLP 

Stella Morse is one of the founders of Edinburgh’s consumer focused private equity firm Inverleith. She is Chair of Eden Mill, the St Andrews based gin and whisky company, Chair of the Audit Committee of London retailer Planet Organic, as well as an independent NXD of Anglia Maltings. She was previously a NXD of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

Stella was the former CFO and Board Director of Genius Gluten Free, former Finance Director of the UK’s biggest drinks company Heineken UK and former Corporate Development Director of the Edrington Group, the premium international spirits company.

Stella is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, and a current member of the Strategy Board of ICAEW in Scotland, having originally trained with PwC in London. She has a lifelong interest in the arts and is a Trustee of Scottish Ensemble.

James Withers, Chief Executive, Scotland Food & Drink

Scotland Food & Drink (SF&D) was established in 2007 to grow the value and reputation of the nation's food and drink industry. It has a uniquely collaborative model, bringing the industry, government and its agencies together to develop and drive forward the sector in Scotland and give it a competitive edge. Scotland's food and drink sector has gone from a static position in 2007 to now being one of Scotland’s best performing sectors with an annual turnover of £15 billion, including £6 billion of export sales.

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

In March 2017, SF&D led the development of Ambition 2030, the strategy to drive the responsible growth in the value of the sector to £30bn by 2030.

Prior to joining the SF&D 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.

He is 45 and lives in Edinburgh with his wife, Joanna and their two children, Amy and Ben. James is a mad sports fan, with golf and rugby at the top of the list.

Facilitated by David Bond, Director, ICAEW Scotland

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