The Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society has appointed Robert Gilchrist as the new Chief Executive Officer to lead them forward in achieving their vision of producing beef fit for the future.

After joining The Society as the breed development manager last year, a period of change meant that Robert then stepped up, when needed, as the acting CEO.

“I’m really pleased to have now been formally appointed as CEO of the largest beef breed society in the UK and am excited to keep moving The Society forward by delivering on the 10-year business plan. We are dedicated to producing beef with the consumer in mind,” says Robert Gilchrist, CEO of the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society.

“I’ve been working in the beef sector for over 20 years and am passionate about driving returns from the marketplace to our members by building on our Certified Aberdeen-Angus beef scheme.

“This is a massive opportunity as this certification scheme is instrumental in protecting the integrity of the breed and upholding our reputation. It also provides us with a traceable product to take to our customers, giving us a competitive advantage,” he explains.

Mr Gilchrist adds that his technical background means that he is extremely excited about the potential genomics offers to the breed. “I’d like to raise more awareness of the value of using BREEDPLAN and EBV’s paired with the right genetics to help produce consistently top-quality beef.”

Angus Stovold, president of The Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society says that since joining The Society 12 months ago, Robert has played a pivotal role and fundamentally stepped up when needed.

“Over the last six months he has exceeded all of our expectations and performed superbly and when it came to the recent CEO recruitment process, Robert was an outstanding candidate,” says Mr Stovold.

“There was no hesitation, the panel all agreed he was the best man for the job and the council are delighted that he’s accepted the CEO role.

“There’s clearly a large inventory to be starting with, but we’ve no doubt that Robert will surpass our expectations in delivering the results, continuing to evolve The Society so that we can maintain and build on our status as the number one beef breed in the UK,” adds Mr Stovold.