James Donaldson & Sons Ltd’s company secretary Alan Sinclair has retired after 31 years with the company.
Mr Sinclair joined James Donaldson as finance director and company secretary in 1978. He has been instrumental in the growth of the company and, notably, developed its IT department.
Working with non-executive director Randolph Murray, Mr Sinclair also turned around subsidiary Parker Kislingbury, transforming it from a loss-making company to a profitable one.
Mr Sinclair qualified as a chartered accountant in 1970 and spent the first few years of his career with a selection of construction companies in Edinburgh.
Along with his non-executive role with Donaldsons, Mr Sinclair plans to spend his retirement fishing, cycling and skiing. He will also continue with his role as non-executive director at Crieff Hydro.
A keen fundraiser, Mr Sinclair has spent much of his free time raising funds for Spinal Research, and in 2007 cycled the 1,000 miles between Land’s End and John O’Groats with colleague and friend Randolph Murray. This fundraising will continue into his retirement.
“We thought of doing a ‘Donaldson Tour’ and cycling around all 22 branches across the UK. However, our partners were keener to accompany us through Norway, so that is more likely to be the 2010 challenge.”
Chairman and chief executive Neil Donaldson thanked Mr Sinclair for “three decades of hard work”.
In the run-up to his retirement, Mr Sinclair was succeeded as financial director by Ian Hawkins.
