By Scott Wright
THE chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland owner NatWest Group and the boss of Scotch whisky giant Diageo are among the high-profile business recipients of New Year Honours.
Alison Rose of NatWest received a damehood and Diageo’s Ivan Menezes was named a knight in King Charles’ first honours list.
They were joined on the list by numerous figures from the world of Scottish business including Brendan Dick, former boss of BT in Scotland, Puneet Gupta of PG Paper, Bill Robertson of Robertson Group, and Linda Hanna of Scottish Enterprise.
Ms Rose became the first female chief executive of a major UK bank when she succeeded Ross McEwan at the helm of NatWest, then called Royal Bank of Scotland, in 2019.
Ms Rose, who joined the bank as a graduate in 1992, said: “It is a tremendous privilege to receive a damehood in His Majesty’s New Year’s honours list and I am immensely proud to lead an organisation that plays such a positive role in the lives of people and families across the UK.
“This honour is a reflection of the fantastic work of all my colleagues at NatWest Group and the support we provide for the customers and communities we serve; promoting enterprise, building financial capability and channelling the power of finance to tackle climate change.”
Mr Menezes has led Diageo since 2013, having worked his way up through the ranks of the Johnnie Walker distiller.
Brendan Dick, who was director of BT in Scotland from 2006 to 2018 and chaired the Openreach Scotland board from 2018 to 2021, was awarded the OBE for services to telecommunications.
Mr Dick remains an advisor to the Openreach board north of the Border, now led by chief commercial officer Katie Milligan, in addition to holding several other executive, non-executive and advisory roles. He is currently a director and trustee of Scottish Golf and non-executive director of the International Futures Forum, and previously chaired the Scottish Council for Development and Industry from 2015 to 2019.
Mr Dick said: “I started out in the telecoms industry in 1980. In that time Scotland has moved from a copper-driven telephony country to one that’s exploiting fibre broadband capability in one of the most challenging geographies in Europe – and doing it well. I’m delighted to have been part of that journey and, with the broader business community, look forward to Scotland continuing to exploit digital in the global economy.”
“That’s the challenge and we must stay sharply focused on it.”
Puneet Gupta, who runs Renfrewshire-based PG Paper with wife Poonam, was awarded an OBE and Bill Robertson of Robertson Group was named a Knights Bachelor, while an MBE was awarded to Linda Hanna, managing director for innovation and investment at Scottish Enterprise.
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