Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport Announces Appointment of CEO

Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport (ICFGF) today announced that it has appointed Calum MacPherson as its CEO.

An established leader, Calum was born in Inverness and finished his schooling at Charleston Academy before studying Law at Aberdeen University. After graduating Calum worked in a tax practise in Aberdeen focused primarily on clients in the oil & gas sector.

Calum returned to his native Highlands in Nov 1999 and worked for 12 years in economic development with development agency Highlands & Islands Enterprise (HIE), latterly holding a group wide senior role as Head of Operations then finally as Area Manager for the Moray region where he led a range of business, infrastructure, and community development initiatives.

In 2010 whilst with HIE Calum was appointed joint Chair of the Moray Task Force which promoted the case for retention of defence jobs in the region and helped support local communities. By working closely with partners, the task force was ultimately successful in retaining thousands of defence jobs for the north of Scotland.

In 2011 he joined national infrastructure business Robertson Group which is one of the UK’s largest family-owned infrastructure businesses; Recently Calum has been in a UK wide role leading the Robertson Capital Project business.

Calum lives near Beauly with his wife and two children, and he has watched with interest as the Green Freeport opportunity has developed thus far.
Commenting on the appointment ICFGF Chair, Jim Smith, said:

“As you would expect, the recruitment for a Chief Executive for ICFGF was an extensive selection process. We needed someone with the skillset and background to be able to hit the ground running.

“We are delighted to have attracted an individual of the calibre and experience that Calum brings. His knowledge will be a significant advantage allowing the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport to deliver on the ambitions outlined in our Green Freeport bid on job creation, inward investment, and decarbonisation.”

The newly appointed Chief Executive said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to lead an organisation that will play a central role in creating exciting careers for people across the Highlands and further afield, attracting large-scale international investment and playing a central role in delivering net zero; and putting Inverness and the Cromarty Firth firmly on the renewables map globally.

“I am honoured to be leading ICF Green Freeport Ltd as we move to the next phase of development. As a region we need to do all we can to capitalise on this window of opportunity, and by close working with consortium partners and stakeholders I’m confident we’ll be in a strong position to secure investment and new high-quality jobs.
ICFGF has the potential to be a really transformative story for local communities in the Highlands and beyond and I look forward to getting started.”

Calum, who is the currently Director of Capital Projects for Robertson Group, will take up the reins at ICFGF in August.