Ken Macintosh, the former Presiding Officer at the Scottish Parliament, has been appointed as Chair of Lar Housing Trust.
He takes on the role at Lar Housing Trust with immediate effect, after his appointment was ratified at the charity’s April Board meeting. He takes over from retiring Chair, Philip Rodney.
Mr Macintosh, a Labour MSP from the inception of the Scottish Parliament until he was appointed Presiding Officer in 2016, joined Lar’s Board in July 2021, his first non-executive role after leaving politics.
He said: “I first of all want to pay tribute to Philip for his inspirational leadership of Lar. He has overseen a remarkable period of growth for the organisation and under his stewardship drove Lar from start-up to scale up.
“I am of course delighted to take the reins and hope to continue supporting the great work the Lar team undertakes across Scotland, providing much needed, quality mid-market rental homes in areas most in need.”
Lar, which was launched in late 2015 with a £55m loan from the Scottish Government, subsequently secured a further £65m of private finance and now has over 40 sites across Scotland.
Retiring Chair, Philip Rodney, said: “It has been an enormous privilege to sit on the Lar Board and to Chair it for the last three years. It is a remarkable and innovative organisation, with a multi-talented and dedicated staff team, that is helping to tackle Scotland’s severe shortage of quality mid-market homes to rent.
“I wish Ken all the best in his new role and given his wealth of experience and expertise I am confident he will ensure Lar continues to grow and thrive.”
Former MSP Macintosh becomes chair at LAR – Daily Business (dailybusinessgroup.co.uk)
