Tuesday 21 October 2008
sportscotland announced today that Bob Kinnaird has been appointed as the new principal of Scotland’s National Outdoor Training Centre, Glenmore Lodge. Bob, who has been chief executive of CairnGorm Mountain Ltd. for the last eight years will take up his new role in December 2008.
Welcoming Bob to the sportscotland team, Chief Executive Stewart Harris said: “Glenmore Lodge has an outstanding international reputation and this was a key role for sportscotland to fill to ensure the centre goes from strength to strength. I am delighted that Bob Kinnaird will be joining us.
“Bob has an excellent track record in outdoor sports and in particular of managing a national ski facility in difficult circumstances and I am sure he will bring a wealth of experience to the role of principal.”
Tim Walker, who will hand over to Bob after 31 years at Glenmore Lodge, the last 12 as principal said: “I am absolutely delighted with Bob’s appointment. He is well known, both in the outdoor world and locally here in the Cairngorms and I am reassured about the future of sportscotland’s operation at Glenmore Lodge with Bob at the helm.”
Bob Kinnaird has a spent a life time working in, or around mountains. Following a career teaching in the outdoors which culminated in the post of chief instructor at the British Mountain Training Centre in Norway, Bob was appointed as the chief executive of the British Association of Snowsports Instructors (BASI) in 1990. He delivered stable and successful leadership through his tenure of ten years with the Association, developing BASI into a highly respected national training agency with considerable international credibility, before moving on to CairnGorm Mountain. As chief executive on the mountain Bob has been responsible for transforming the service culture and diversifying the business at a time when climate change has presented many unprecedented challenges.
Looking forward to his new role Bob Kinnaird said: “I am delighted to be joining the sportscotland team, particularly at this time when there is an increasing recognition of the importance of outdoor sports in both education and more generally in society. Glenmore Lodge has a long and distinguished history as a centre of excellence and I look forward to taking on the challenge of ensuring this continues in the future.
“The decision to leave CairnGorm Mountain was a difficult one, but I move on knowing that public sector stakeholder support is providing the stability necessary to ensure jobs and prosperity both for the mountain and for the area as a whole.”
- Glenmore Lodge is Scotland's National Outdoor Training Centre and has an international reputation as a leader in the field of outdoor leadership training and assessment. They also offers a diverse programme of courses accessible to anyone wishing to learn the skills necessary to recreate safely in the outdoors.
- Some of the UK's most experienced and highly qualified people provide coaching and instruction in rock and ice climbing, mountaineering, kayaking on river, sea and surf, open canoeing, mountain biking, orienteering and skiing.
- The lodge is based in the centre of the Cairngorms National Park - Britain's newest and largest National Park.
- The Lodge itself has a climbing wall, gym, kayak rolling pool, sauna, tutorial rooms, a lecture theatre, residential accommodation and a bar.