The Judging Panel
John Langlands, Chief Executive, British Polythene Industries plc (Panel Chairman)
Since 2003 John has been the Chief Executive of British Polythene Industries PLC, the largest producer of polythene film products in Europe, with sales of more than £400m, 2,600 employees and 22 manufacturing sites in the UK, Belgium, Holland, Canada and China.
Between 1994 and 2002 he was Group Finance Director of BPI and was involved in the successful defence of a cash hostile takeover bid. In March 2002, he was awarded the Bank of ScotlandÕs Scottish Finance Director of the Year award which was a great achievement for John and his team.
Prior to joining BPI he was Finance Director of Eclipse Blinds plc with sales of £40m. He was part of a turnaround team which successfully restructured the group and sold it to Headlam Group Plc and remained as a non executive director until the sale in 1997.
John's career history also includes Finance Director at Scottish Enterprise, working with a £450m budget, and Finance Director of United Wire Group plc, which was subsequently acquired by Scapa Group.
John attended Forfar Academy and Dundee University where he attained an LLB before qualifying as a CA in 1976 with KPMG. He is married to Margaret with two children, Stephanie and Stuart, enjoys playing golf and watching football and rugby.
Professor Ian Percy, Chairman, Cala Ltd/Deputy Chairman, Weir Group plc
J P Percy, known as Ian, was educated at The Edinburgh Academy and qualified as a CA in Edinburgh in 1967. He is Deputy Chairman of The Weir Group plc and Chairman of Cala Ltd. He is Chairman of the Trustees of the Pension Scheme for John Menzies plc, three other pension schemes and Chairman of Queen Margaret University Edinburgh, a Director of the Board of the University and Colleges Employees Association and Member of the Steering Group of the National Trust for Scotland. He practices as an Expert Consultant in auditing and corporate governance.
In 2001 he retired as Chairman of the Accounts Commission for Scotland, a position he had held since 1992 and at the same time retired as the first Chairman of Audit Scotland, set up by the Scottish Parliament in 2000. He recently retired as Chairman of Companies House in 2006. Other directorships in recent years have included being Chairman of Kiln plc, Deputy Chairman of Scottish Provident and a member of the Legal Aid Board for Scotland.
In April 2002 he was appointed to the Coordinating Committee of the Treasury and DTI to consider the repercussions of Enron on accounting and auditing which reported in January 2003 and was a member of the Market Participants Group of the Financial Reporting Council in 2007. He has acted as a Department of Trade Inspector and as an Expert Witness in a number of significant cases and in 2001 reported his findings as a Special Investigator appointed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland to examine the findings of the report of the Sub Committee of the Public Accounts Committee of the Irish Parliament on certain revenue matters regarding Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT).
From 1970 to 1992 he was a partner in Grant Thornton, which firm he served in a number of capacities as partner in charge of accounting and auditing from 1978 to 1981, London Regional Managing Partner in 1981 to 1988, London Senior Partner 1988-1991, and Senior Partner in Scotland from 1991 to 1992.
He was President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland in 1990/91. During his Presidency he was instrumental in setting up the Cadbury Committee and the Auditing Practices Board on which he served as Vice Chairman until 2002. He served as the UK Member of the International Auditing Practices Committee from 1995 to 2000 and chaired the International Capital Markets Group Task Force on Corporate Governance who published ‘Who Holds the Reins?’ in 1995. From 1991 to 2007 he chaired the Scottish Accountancy Trust for Education and Research and in October 2004 chaired the ICAS 150th Anniversary Conference entitled, “Seeking the Truth in Tomorrow’s Business Environment”.
In 1996 he was awarded the CBE for services to the Accountancy profession and Local Government and was awarded a Doctor of Laws from Aberdeen University in 1999 and a Companion of the Institute of Management in 2000. He is President of the charitable Foundation for Governance Research and Education.
Craig McNaughton, Area Director for West of Scotland, Commercial Banking, Bank of Scotland
Craig was educated at Manchester and Edinburgh Universities and has worked with Bank of Scotland for over 11 years. He has been Area Director for West of Scotland within the Commercial Business for the past 3 years. This part of the bank manages SME businesses with an annual turnover of up to £15m and has 7 local teams with nearly 60 Relationship Managers supporting over 6000 customers in face to face relationships across the Area . Previously, he has held a number of roles across several business units including Lex Vehicle Leasing where he led integration of that business to create the largest leasing fleet in Europe.
Aileen Brown, Chief Financial Officer, Hudson
Aileen has been the CFO for Hudson Global Resources a NASDAQ listed company since 2007. She is a chartered accountant, has worked in corporate finance and has held Board level positions for the last 10 years in a variety of sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, telecoms and international education. Aileen also spent 5 years with Ernst and Young.
Peter Fee, President, ACCA Scotland
Peter Fee is the Finance Director of a specialist outsourcing credit control / debt recovery group. Having commenced his career in banking with TSB, he qualified as an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland in 1988, as a member of ACCA in 1996, was awarded fellowship in 2001 and completed an MBA in 2009.
Since qualifying he has worked in a number of diverse industries and was also a part time lecturer in accounting.
He has been on the ACCA Scotland Committee for approximately ten years, having previously been a member of the Glasgow and West of Scotland panel. Prior to becoming ACCA Scotland President, he was also on ACCA’s business law review committee.
