George Stevenson
Two years after I married the younger daughter of the majority shareholder, I was invited to give up my career as a marine geophysicist and join the family business, a craft bakery based in central Scotland. Two years later I was managing director. This sort of thing happens in family businesses.
I served as managing director from 1982 until 2009, and I am now the non-executive chairman. During this period, I helped navigate the business and the family through many changes, including family members joining and leaving the business, professionalising the board, creating a family council and bringing in outside directors and investors.
Through all these challenges I worked closely with FBS and became convinced of the importance of family enterprises having knowledge of best practice in governance and succession planning. In order to "spread the word" I became founder Chairman of the Scottish Family Business Association and, in this role, I have worked closely with government and economic development agencies to raise awareness of the importance of family entrepreneurship.
I joined FBS because my experiences help the group to achieve our mission: to help enterprising families with succession planning & governance and to be an influential & enthusiastic champion of family entrepreneurship.
