Forscot

At full scale operation, Forscot will employ approximately 500 people, and there will be many more involved both during construction and indirectly through the company's supply and output chain.

Recruitment of employees is scheduled to start during 2005 and, in the interim, the project is being developed by the 5 founders and directors of the company

The founders are 5 highly experienced and skilled professionals who, between us, cover all aspects of the forest products industry, and also associated ones. We are:

Tharald Frette, Ed Gillespie, David Mackie, Robert Rickman, Thomas Tait

Please click on the names above to read about our Directors

[ THARALD FRETTE ]

Tharald has had a lengthy career at a senior level in pulp and paper involving different companies, different product types and different countries. Aside from his considerable general management skills, he has an almost unparalleled technical expertise in this industry. One highlight of many in his career was the setting up and running of UPM-Kymmene’s LWC paper mill at Irvine (Caledonian Paper).

[ ED GILLESPIE ]

Ed recently retired after 5 years in senior positions at the main Scottish business development agency, Scottish Enterprise. Prior to that, he had an extensive career (30 years) in senior management in the pulp and paper industry in Europe and the USA with Wiggins Teape and Arjo Wiggins. His name and the legendary paper brand, Conqueror, go hand in hand.

[ DAVID MACKIE ]

David is a director of Cree-8, a Scottish based business specialising in company acquisition and turnarounds. He previously held senior positions within UPM Kymmene, including a major Customer Focus change programme based in Helsinki and being in charge of Marketing for Caledonian Paper in Irvine. In both situations, he introduced customer oriented practices unique within the paper industry.

[ ROBERT RICKMAN ]

Robert is a director of Highland Timber PLC, the AIM quoted forest owning company, CSC LLC, a private sawmilling company in Washington State, USA and a number of private forestry companies. Before that, he was a director of Forestry Investment Management Ltd until 1999, responsible for the business management of 50,000 ha of plantation forests in the UK and, until 2001, 17,000 ha of forests in New Zealand. From 1994 until September 2004, during which time the company went from start-up to being part of the FTSE 100 Index, he was a director of Bookham Technology PLC, listed in London and New York

[ THOMAS TAIT ]

A very well known figure in the British Paper industry, Thomas was owner and managing director of Tait Paper at Inverurie in N E Scotland for many years. He continued to run the paper mill there until 2000, after its initial sale to Federal Paper in 1989 and Federal’s subsequent sale to International Paper. He was a founding director of the Highland Forest Products OSB mill near Inverness and he is a member of the Scottish Forestry Cluster. He has worked closely with Scottish Enterprise in recent years on possible Forest Products investments and is owner of a substantial area of forests in Scotland.