Recent Guests of Honour for the St Andrew’s Ball
2022
Ian Duncan, Baron Duncan of Springbank, PhD, FDS; and Mr. Benjamin Brust
Ian Duncan was raised to the peerage by the UK Prime Minister in 2017, and immediately joined the government. Over several years Duncan served in each of the Government’s territorial ministries (Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland) and laterally as the UK Government's Climate Minister with responsibility for international negotiations. He is now Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords.
Prior to joining the Government, Duncan spent over a dozen years in Brussels, laterally as a Member of the European Parliament. His policy focus was primarily energy and climate change and he authored a number of EU laws. He previously worked with BP, the Scottish Refugee Council, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation and taught at the University of Bristol. He holds a doctorate in palaeontology.
In addition to his legislative duties, Duncan is the Chair of the National Forest, and the Confederation of Forest Industries, President of the Association for Decentralised Energy, and the English-Speaking Union (Scotland) and a Board Member of the Schwarzenegger Institute and the John Smith Trust.
2019
Peter McAuslan, C.M.
Peter McAuslan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sir George Williams University in 1972. He then worked for the Montreal Y.M.C.A. as a community organizer and at Dawson College where he held various administrative responsibilities over thirteen years. He held the position of secretary-general when he left the college in 1987.
In 1988, he founded the McAuslan Brewing Company, a groundbreaking and internationally respected small brewery that he led as president until the sale of the firm in 2013. Peter has served as president and vice president of the Quebec Microbrewery Association and as a director of the Brewers Association of Canada. Peter is a past president of the Concordia Alumni Association and a previous member of the Concordia University Board of Governors.
Along with his brewmaster wife Ellen, Peter received a McGill Management Award in 2002. He was named a fellow of the Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies at McGill in 2003. In 2004, he received the Award of Distinction from the John Molson School of Business of Concordia University.
In 2003 and 2012, Peter was awarded Queen’s Jubilee medals. He was named Scotsman of the Year by the Quebec Thistle Council in 2001 and Personality of the Year in the category of Business and the Arts by the Conseil des Arts de Montréal and Le Devoir in 2008. Peter was awarded the Order of Canada in 2018 for his pioneering work in the development of the small brewing industry in Canada, his commitment to the support of the arts, and his leadership in establishing the Chair of Canadian-Scottish Studies at McGill University.
Peter is a past president of the St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal and has been a life member since 1985.
He is the founder and president of the McAuslan Malting and Distilling Corporation which owns and markets spirits in Quebec. Currently the company offers Peter’s own brand of gin, and has both rye whisky and single malt whisky quietly aging in oak casks. Peter and Ellen share their Sutton home with four dogs and spend most of their time in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.
Peter is proud of his Quebec Scottish heritage, having roots in Quebec going back to 1772 on his mother’s side and to 1920 on his father’s.
Ellen Bounsall
After completing a Bachelor of Science degree, Ellen Bounsall began her career at Dawson College as an academic adviser for science students. She held a number of administrative positions at the college and was registrar when she left in 1989 to help her husband Peter found Brasserie McAuslan. Ellen took charge of production and was the brewmaster until the company was sold in 2013. During these years she learned the art of brewing while running the production facility and managing the packaging and quality assurance departments with upwards of eighty employees. In 2002, she oversaw the acquisition, installation and commissioning of a new brewing facility. Her beers won numerous awards and worldwide acclaim. In 2002, Ellen was awarded jointly with Peter the 22nd Annual McGill University Management Achievement Award, and in 2012 at the Association des microbrasseries du Québec Congress Gala she received the award “Bâtisseur” to recognize her role as a pioneer in the microbrewing industry.
Ellen has been a member of the Scholarship Committee of the Pink Boots Society, a group formed to encourage women brewers. She served on the organizing committee for the St. Andrew’s Ball and worked to establish and run the Ball’s silent auction for several years. In August 2016, Ellen joined the Board of Trustees of Stanstead College, and in 2018 she was named a director. As a member of the Property and Environmental Committee, she oversaw the design and construction of Cowen House, the new residence for senior students which opened this fall.
Ellen is proud of her paternal Scottish heritage (Clan Cochrane), and her maternal Québécois roots have been traced back to the 1690s.
2018
Mr. Ronald Munro Ferguson of Novar
Born in 1955, Ronald Munro Ferguson was brought up at Novar, in Rossshire the family home of the Munro’s of Novar since 1589. He was educated at Stowe and the University of Texas at Austin where he graduated with a degree in Business Administration.
He obtained a pilot’s licence while at university and flew across America.
He worked for a Saudi Arabian Bank in London before returning home in 1985 to focus on enterprises at Novar. Ronald is the 15th hereditary laird of Novar and has maintained the traditions of the estate while creating a vibrant, modern business with interests in renewable energy, forestry, sawmilling, property development, farming, tourism and most recently, the creation of a single-estate cider alongside his son, William.
The 8th Laird, Sir Hector Munro was colonel of the 42nd Highland Regiment of Foot (The Black Watch) from 1787 to 1805 and was presented with the Regimental Colours in 1803. He laid them up in the gallery of Novar, ‘never to be removed from it so long as one stone of the house remains above another’. They are the oldest surviving colours of the Regiment.
Ronald is a member of the Northern Meeting, a Highland society founded in 1788. He was Convener from 2012 to 2015. During his convenership and together with the secretary Nigel Campbell, they instigated the creation of The Northern Meeting Charity with objectives to help support social interaction through music, dance, sport and outdoor activities in the seven Northern Counties of Scotland.
Ronald is a keen collector and is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars in the City of London.
Ronald enjoys travel. He is a skier, mountain-biker, gardener, outdoorsman and skied the last degree to the South Pole in December 2016.
Ronald has three children with his first wife. He married Erica, a veterinary surgeon, in 2002.
Ronald and Erica have been responsible jointly for many of the recent improvements at Novar including the creation of Ardtalla, a luxury lodge, converted from the eighteenth-century stable square.
2017
Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor
Sir Malcolm MacGregor is the 24th chief of Clan Gregor and Chieftain of the Children of the Mist, the most romantic title in Scotland.
Sir Malcolm grew up in Malaysia, Greece, the USA and Perthshire, Scotland, travelling with his father who was an officer in the Scots Guards. Following his graduation from Eton College, he worked and travelled in the USA for a year.
He served with Scotland’s Regiment of Foot Guards, the Scots Guards, in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe and Northern Ireland and was assigned for two years to the 6th Gurkha Rifles in Hong Kong and Nepal. His final appointment was Chief of Staff of the 51st Highland Brigade. From there, he attained his MBA at Cranfield University.
A highly-respected landscape photographer, Sir Malcolm has authored Wilderness Oman (2002), The Outer Hebrides (2007), and Mull, Iona and Staffa (2011). His work has also taken him to Iceland and France.
In 2008, he was assigned to the HALO Trust, a humanitarian mine-clearance charity, photographing their dangerous work in countries such as Afghanistan, Angola, Somaliland, Cambodia, Georgia and Kosovo. Currently, he is a features photographer and writer for Scots Heritage, an online magazine.
Sir Malcolm is a member of the Queen’s Bodyguard for Scotland. He is a fellow of both the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Photographic Society, and Convenor of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs.
Lady MacGregor, whose professional name is Fiona Armstrong, is a well-known broadcaster with Border/Tyne-Tees TV, ITN and the BBC. Additionally, she writes about Scottish history and current affairs for publications in the UK and the USA. She received a PhD from Strathclyde University on the subject of Highlandism in the Victorian era. Lady MacGregor was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Dumfries in 2016. Sir Malcolm and Lady MacGregor live in Dumfriesshire.
2016
Ian Skone-Rees, FSA Scot, President of the St. Andrew’s Society of Los Angeles and his wife Eileen B. Skone-Rees
Ian James Skone-Rees was born in Swansea S. Wales. His maternal grandfather was a Scot (MacColl) and his paternal grandmother (Currie), which clan he represents as Commissioner for the Pacific Region of the United States.
Ian and Eileen married in Los Angeles in 1972 and then returned to the UK where Eileen continued her education at University of Birmingham. Ian was working for the Shell oil company and they lived in Stratford-upon-Avon. Following Eileen’s graduation they decided to move to Los Angeles, where Eileen’s parents lived, for two years while Ian attended university. Now 41 years later, and two children they are still in LA. During this time Ian worked in the aerospace industry as director of marketing for a components manufacturer; this required frequent travel to the UK, France and Germany. Following one of the cyclical aerospace downturns Ian established his own marketing communications company, initially providing services to the aerospace industry and then concentrating on public education promoting the successful strategies of school districts throughout southern California.
Following retirement Ian further immersed himself in the British community, serving as Vice President in various capacities for the British-American Chamber of Commerce. In 2005 Ian joined the St. Andrew’s Society of Los Angeles and in 2014 after serving as Director of Communications was elected President. Ian has also served on the Executive Committee of the British United Services Club (BUSC).
Ian’s father served in WWII in RAF bomber command and in 1943 was transferred to RCAF 428 Ghost Squadron flying Avro Lancasters. In honour of his father’s service Ian is currently in the process of establishing a branch of the Royal British Legion in Los Angeles.
2015
Charles William Harley Hay, Earl of Kinnoull
Charles William Harley Hay is the 16th Earl of Kinnoull, who succeeded to the title on the death of his father, Arthur Hay, 15th Earl of Kinnoull, in 2013. Charles Kinnoull is a Crossbench (Independent) member of the House of Lords.
He was educated at Eton College and at Oxford University where he was an open scholar and read Chemistry. He went on to read at the City University in London and was called to the Bar in 1990.
From 1990 to date he has worked at Hiscox, a specialist insurance group with offices in 12 countries. For 10 years until 2014 he was a member of the Executive Committee that ran the group and is now a non-executive role.
Charles and his wife Clare live in Perthshire with their four children where they farm organically, producing vegetables, beef and lamb for the major UK supermarkets. Clare, who before marriage was the marketing Director of Mont Blanc UK, has on more than one occasion bought their own carrots at a supermarket in London.
Charles is a Captain in the Atholl Highlanders, the Duke of Atholl’s private army, and is a member of the Queen’s Bodyguard for Scotland (the Royal Company of Archers). He was with the Atholl Highlanders when they visited Montreal in 2000. In a very happy co-incidence Clare’s Grandfather, Mervyn Crawford DSO, commanded the battalion designated the Atholl Highlanders from D-Day until the end of the Second World War.
Charles is also President of the Royal Caledonian Charities Trust and Chairman of the Red Squirrel Survival Trust among various voluntary sector roles.
He was elected to the House of Lords in February 2015 and sits on the Select Committee on Social Mobility among other activities. He is a passionate unionist.
2014
Richard Pound, OC, OQ, QC, Ad. E, FCA
Richard Pound is one of Canada’s most-recognized figures in international sport. In his distinguished career, the native of St. Catharines, Ontario was a two-time vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and was responsible for all Olympic television negotiations, marketing and sponsorships, up to and including the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Pound has been a COC executive member since 1968 and its secretary general for eight years before becoming COC president in 1977 (to 1982). He was founding president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), created in 1999 to coordinate the fight against doping in sport. His involvement continues post-2007 as IOC representative on the WADA Foundation Board.
At the IOC, Pound has had vast and varied roles. Vice-president from 1987 to 1991 and 1996 to 2000, he was a member of the IOC Executive Board from 1983 to 1991 and 1992 to 1996. Pound was chairman of five IOC commissions: the Coordination Commission for the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games, Protection of the Olympic Games, Television Rights Negotiations, Marketing and Olympic Games Study. Vice-chairman of the Eligibility Commission, he has also been active as a member of many other important IOC bodies that included Preparation of the XII Olympic Congress, Olympic Movement, Juridical and Sport and Law.
His career has touched nearly all aspects of the Olympic Games and Movement. Pound has had many significant Olympic roles for Canada. He was director and executive member of the Organizing Committee for Canada’s first Olympic Winter Games, Calgary 1988. He was Deputy Chef de Mission of the Canadian Olympic delegation for the Munich 1972 Olympic Games. He was a director of the Vancouver 2010 Bid Committee, helping influence the successful bid.
As an athlete, Pound was a double Olympic swimming finalist at the 1960 Olympic Games, and captured four medals (one gold, two silver, one bronze) at the 1962 Commonwealth Games. From 1958 to 1962, Pound won several national swimming titles and was elected into the International Swimming and Canadian Swimming Halls of Fame. In 2002 he received the Gold Medallion Award from the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Pound was also once a nationally-ranked squash player.
Pound is the author of nine books: Rocke Robertson Surgeon and Shepherd of Change, Unlucky to the End, Inside Dope, Inside the Olympics, High Impact Quotations, Canadian Facts and Dates, Five Rings Over Korea: The Secret Negotiations Behind the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Chief Justice W.R. Jackett, By the Law of the Land and Stikeman Elliott, The First Fifty Years. A senior partner of Stikeman Elliott’s tax section in Montreal, he is editor or author of several other publications, tax-related.
Pound was awarded the Canadian Olympic Order (Gold) in 1996 and is a member of the Canadian Olympic, Canadian Amateur Athletic and the Quebec Sports Halls of Fame. He is currently Chancellor of McGill University and was chair of its Board of Governors from 1994 to 1999. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and of l’Ordre national du Québec.
[This biography comes from the Canadian Olympic Team Official Website: http://olympic.ca/canadian-olympic-committee/governance/board-of-directors/richard-pound/]
2013
Karyn Brooks, Senior Vice President, BCE
We are very pleased to welcome as Guest of Honour, Ms Karyn A Brooks, FCPA, FCA, Senior Vice President and Controller of BCE and Bell, Canada’s largest telecommunications company. She also sits on the Board of Trustees at Queen’s University, and is Chair of the Audit Committee. Karyn is active in international and domestic activities related to the accounting profession. In 2009, she was named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100th by the Women’s Executive Network. Karyn was born in Montreal and raised in Niagara. Over the course of her career she has worked in Toronto, Calgary, and Montreal. She is married to Bob Gillies and has two grown sons, Ian and Cameron, who live in Calgary.
Karyn is our first female Guest of Honour.
A list of our past guests of honour can be accessed here: http://standrews.qc.ca/society-archives-history/st-andrews-ball-guests-of-honour/ and biographies of some of our recent guests of honour here: http://standrews.qc.ca/society-archives-history/st-andrews-ball-guests-of-honour/recent-guests-of-honour-for-the-st-andrews-ball/
2012
Major General Mike Riddell-Webster & Mrs Riddell-Webster
Major General Mike Riddell-Webster joined The Black Watch in April 1983 when the Battalion was in West Belfast. Prior to Staff College, he served with the Battalion in Germany (Werl and Berlin), Northern Ireland (West Belfast, South Armagh and Ballykinler) and Scotland. In the time that he has commanded a platoon, been a Company Second in Command, the Regimental Signals Officer and the Adjutant. He was also the Aide de Campe to the General Officer Commanding Scotland for a few months immediately prior to Staff College.
Immediately post Staff College, Major General Riddell-Webster commanded a rifle company in 1BW in Hong Kong and Pirbright. Company command was followed by an SO2 tour in the Procurement Executive, working for the Master General of the Ordnance. Major General Riddell-Webster then returned to 1BW as the Second in Command for a year, prior to promotion and taking up the post of MA/CDS from December 1997 until February 2000. A short tour in Bosnia followed as the Chief G2/G3 in HQ MND(SW). Major General Riddell-Webster assumed command of 1BW in December 2000. The Battalion deployed to Pristina on Op AGRICOLA VI between July – November 2001 and on Op TELIC between February – June 2003. Post command, Major General Riddell-Webster was appointed Deputy Director Ground Manoeuvre, in the Equipment Capability area, a post he held between December 2003 and December 2005. He commanded 39 Infantry Brigade between December 2005 and the end of Op BANNER on 31 July 2007, when the Brigade was renamed as 38 (Irish) Brigade. He was Director of the Army Department at the JSCSC for a year from September 2007 before returning to the MOD as Director Equipment Capability (later Head of Capability) Ground Manoeuvre. He attended the first 3 months at the RCDS in late 2011 prior to assuming the appointment of Director of the College of Management and Technology in January 2012.
Text and image from the website: http://www.da.mod.uk/our-work/governance/board-biogs/major-general-m-l-riddell-webster-dso-late-bw
2011
Dr Steven Maclean & Nadine Wielgopolski
Born and raised in Ottawa, he attended Merivale High School. He received his Bachelor’s (1977) and Doctorate in Physics (1983) from York University. 1976-77 he also competed with Canada’s national gymnastics team. Upon graduation, he was a visiting scholar at Stanford University, specialising as a laser physicist. In 1983 he was chosen to be one of Canada’s first six astronauts.
He went into space twice. The first time was Mission STS-52 in 1992, as a payload specialist on Space Shuttle Columbia. While in space he performed a set of experiments known as CANEX-2, including an evaluation of the Space Vision System. His second trip was Mission STS-115, as a mission specialist on Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2006. On this trip he became the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm2, using it to install trusses and solar array panels on the International Space Station.
In between these amazing trips into the Earth’s orbit, Dr. MacLean has served in various capacities within the Space Program at NASA, including Program Manager for the Advanced Space Vision System (1987-93); Astronaut Advisor to the STEAR program (1988-91); Chief Science Advisor to the International Space Station (1993-4); Director General of the Canadian Astronaut Program (1994-1996); Capsule Communicator for the ISS and the Shuttle Program; and Casualty Assistance and Calls Officer. He has published over 25 scientific papers.
In September 2008 Dr. MacLean was appointed the President of the Canadian Space Agency.
There have been a number of honours which have been given to Dr. MacLean, including honourary doctorates from the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean, York University, and Acadia University. In 2006 the Ottawa Carleton District School Board named as school after him-the Steve MacLean Public School. No doubt the being Guest of Honour of the St Andrew’s Ball will feature prominently among his honours in future biographies.
He is married to Nadine Wielgopolski and they have three children.
Dr MacLean is not the first MacLean to be Guest of Honour of the St Andrew’s Ball. The first was Sir Fitzroy Hew Royle MacLean of Dunconnel in 1957. Named by Ian Fleming as one of his inspirations for the character of James Bond, Sir Fitzroy was one of the few people to enter the military during the Second World War as a private and to finish his war service with the rank of Brigadier (in the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders). He rose to the rank of Major-General in 1947. Prior to the War he was part of the British Diplomatic Corps, serving in Paris and Moscow. He began his political career in 1941, becoming Conservative member for Lancaster. He later became MP for Bute and North Ayrshire (1959) which he served until 1974. He died in 1996
In 1980 Sir Charles Hector Fitzroy MacLean, Clan Chief of the MacLeans was Guest of Honour at the St Andrew’s Ball. He had succeeded to the Chiefdom of the clan in 1936 on the death of his grandfather Sir Fitzroy Donald MacLean. He had served in the Scots Guards, after leaving the military in 1954, achieving the rank of Major, Sir Charles entered public service as Lord Lieutenant of Argyllshire, Lord Chamberlain, and Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He died in 1990, and was succeeded by his son Sir Lachlan Hector Charles MacLean.
Dr Steven MacLean had invited his Chief to his last Shuttle launch in 2006, but sadly he was too ill to attend.
Notes: www.macleanclan.com (19 Oct 2011); www.wikipedia.com (19 Oct 2011); www.clanmacleanatlantic.org (19 Oct 2011); www.asc-csa.gc.ca (19 Oct 2011)
Ian Duncan, Baron Duncan of Springbank, PhD, FDS; and Mr. Benjamin Brust
Ian Duncan was raised to the peerage by the UK Prime Minister in 2017, and immediately joined the government. Over several years Duncan served in each of the Government’s territorial ministries (Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland) and laterally as the UK Government's Climate Minister with responsibility for international negotiations. He is now Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords.
Prior to joining the Government, Duncan spent over a dozen years in Brussels, laterally as a Member of the European Parliament. His policy focus was primarily energy and climate change and he authored a number of EU laws. He previously worked with BP, the Scottish Refugee Council, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation and taught at the University of Bristol. He holds a doctorate in palaeontology.
In addition to his legislative duties, Duncan is the Chair of the National Forest, and the Confederation of Forest Industries, President of the Association for Decentralised Energy, and the English-Speaking Union (Scotland) and a Board Member of the Schwarzenegger Institute and the John Smith Trust.
2019
Peter McAuslan, C.M.
Peter McAuslan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sir George Williams University in 1972. He then worked for the Montreal Y.M.C.A. as a community organizer and at Dawson College where he held various administrative responsibilities over thirteen years. He held the position of secretary-general when he left the college in 1987.
In 1988, he founded the McAuslan Brewing Company, a groundbreaking and internationally respected small brewery that he led as president until the sale of the firm in 2013. Peter has served as president and vice president of the Quebec Microbrewery Association and as a director of the Brewers Association of Canada. Peter is a past president of the Concordia Alumni Association and a previous member of the Concordia University Board of Governors.
Along with his brewmaster wife Ellen, Peter received a McGill Management Award in 2002. He was named a fellow of the Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies at McGill in 2003. In 2004, he received the Award of Distinction from the John Molson School of Business of Concordia University.
In 2003 and 2012, Peter was awarded Queen’s Jubilee medals. He was named Scotsman of the Year by the Quebec Thistle Council in 2001 and Personality of the Year in the category of Business and the Arts by the Conseil des Arts de Montréal and Le Devoir in 2008. Peter was awarded the Order of Canada in 2018 for his pioneering work in the development of the small brewing industry in Canada, his commitment to the support of the arts, and his leadership in establishing the Chair of Canadian-Scottish Studies at McGill University.
Peter is a past president of the St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal and has been a life member since 1985.
He is the founder and president of the McAuslan Malting and Distilling Corporation which owns and markets spirits in Quebec. Currently the company offers Peter’s own brand of gin, and has both rye whisky and single malt whisky quietly aging in oak casks. Peter and Ellen share their Sutton home with four dogs and spend most of their time in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.
Peter is proud of his Quebec Scottish heritage, having roots in Quebec going back to 1772 on his mother’s side and to 1920 on his father’s.
Ellen Bounsall
After completing a Bachelor of Science degree, Ellen Bounsall began her career at Dawson College as an academic adviser for science students. She held a number of administrative positions at the college and was registrar when she left in 1989 to help her husband Peter found Brasserie McAuslan. Ellen took charge of production and was the brewmaster until the company was sold in 2013. During these years she learned the art of brewing while running the production facility and managing the packaging and quality assurance departments with upwards of eighty employees. In 2002, she oversaw the acquisition, installation and commissioning of a new brewing facility. Her beers won numerous awards and worldwide acclaim. In 2002, Ellen was awarded jointly with Peter the 22nd Annual McGill University Management Achievement Award, and in 2012 at the Association des microbrasseries du Québec Congress Gala she received the award “Bâtisseur” to recognize her role as a pioneer in the microbrewing industry.
Ellen has been a member of the Scholarship Committee of the Pink Boots Society, a group formed to encourage women brewers. She served on the organizing committee for the St. Andrew’s Ball and worked to establish and run the Ball’s silent auction for several years. In August 2016, Ellen joined the Board of Trustees of Stanstead College, and in 2018 she was named a director. As a member of the Property and Environmental Committee, she oversaw the design and construction of Cowen House, the new residence for senior students which opened this fall.
Ellen is proud of her paternal Scottish heritage (Clan Cochrane), and her maternal Québécois roots have been traced back to the 1690s.
2018
Mr. Ronald Munro Ferguson of Novar
Born in 1955, Ronald Munro Ferguson was brought up at Novar, in Rossshire the family home of the Munro’s of Novar since 1589. He was educated at Stowe and the University of Texas at Austin where he graduated with a degree in Business Administration.
He obtained a pilot’s licence while at university and flew across America.
He worked for a Saudi Arabian Bank in London before returning home in 1985 to focus on enterprises at Novar. Ronald is the 15th hereditary laird of Novar and has maintained the traditions of the estate while creating a vibrant, modern business with interests in renewable energy, forestry, sawmilling, property development, farming, tourism and most recently, the creation of a single-estate cider alongside his son, William.
The 8th Laird, Sir Hector Munro was colonel of the 42nd Highland Regiment of Foot (The Black Watch) from 1787 to 1805 and was presented with the Regimental Colours in 1803. He laid them up in the gallery of Novar, ‘never to be removed from it so long as one stone of the house remains above another’. They are the oldest surviving colours of the Regiment.
Ronald is a member of the Northern Meeting, a Highland society founded in 1788. He was Convener from 2012 to 2015. During his convenership and together with the secretary Nigel Campbell, they instigated the creation of The Northern Meeting Charity with objectives to help support social interaction through music, dance, sport and outdoor activities in the seven Northern Counties of Scotland.
Ronald is a keen collector and is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars in the City of London.
Ronald enjoys travel. He is a skier, mountain-biker, gardener, outdoorsman and skied the last degree to the South Pole in December 2016.
Ronald has three children with his first wife. He married Erica, a veterinary surgeon, in 2002.
Ronald and Erica have been responsible jointly for many of the recent improvements at Novar including the creation of Ardtalla, a luxury lodge, converted from the eighteenth-century stable square.
2017
Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor
Sir Malcolm MacGregor is the 24th chief of Clan Gregor and Chieftain of the Children of the Mist, the most romantic title in Scotland.
Sir Malcolm grew up in Malaysia, Greece, the USA and Perthshire, Scotland, travelling with his father who was an officer in the Scots Guards. Following his graduation from Eton College, he worked and travelled in the USA for a year.
He served with Scotland’s Regiment of Foot Guards, the Scots Guards, in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe and Northern Ireland and was assigned for two years to the 6th Gurkha Rifles in Hong Kong and Nepal. His final appointment was Chief of Staff of the 51st Highland Brigade. From there, he attained his MBA at Cranfield University.
A highly-respected landscape photographer, Sir Malcolm has authored Wilderness Oman (2002), The Outer Hebrides (2007), and Mull, Iona and Staffa (2011). His work has also taken him to Iceland and France.
In 2008, he was assigned to the HALO Trust, a humanitarian mine-clearance charity, photographing their dangerous work in countries such as Afghanistan, Angola, Somaliland, Cambodia, Georgia and Kosovo. Currently, he is a features photographer and writer for Scots Heritage, an online magazine.
Sir Malcolm is a member of the Queen’s Bodyguard for Scotland. He is a fellow of both the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Photographic Society, and Convenor of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs.
Lady MacGregor, whose professional name is Fiona Armstrong, is a well-known broadcaster with Border/Tyne-Tees TV, ITN and the BBC. Additionally, she writes about Scottish history and current affairs for publications in the UK and the USA. She received a PhD from Strathclyde University on the subject of Highlandism in the Victorian era. Lady MacGregor was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Dumfries in 2016. Sir Malcolm and Lady MacGregor live in Dumfriesshire.
2016
Ian Skone-Rees, FSA Scot, President of the St. Andrew’s Society of Los Angeles and his wife Eileen B. Skone-Rees
Ian James Skone-Rees was born in Swansea S. Wales. His maternal grandfather was a Scot (MacColl) and his paternal grandmother (Currie), which clan he represents as Commissioner for the Pacific Region of the United States.
Ian and Eileen married in Los Angeles in 1972 and then returned to the UK where Eileen continued her education at University of Birmingham. Ian was working for the Shell oil company and they lived in Stratford-upon-Avon. Following Eileen’s graduation they decided to move to Los Angeles, where Eileen’s parents lived, for two years while Ian attended university. Now 41 years later, and two children they are still in LA. During this time Ian worked in the aerospace industry as director of marketing for a components manufacturer; this required frequent travel to the UK, France and Germany. Following one of the cyclical aerospace downturns Ian established his own marketing communications company, initially providing services to the aerospace industry and then concentrating on public education promoting the successful strategies of school districts throughout southern California.
Following retirement Ian further immersed himself in the British community, serving as Vice President in various capacities for the British-American Chamber of Commerce. In 2005 Ian joined the St. Andrew’s Society of Los Angeles and in 2014 after serving as Director of Communications was elected President. Ian has also served on the Executive Committee of the British United Services Club (BUSC).
Ian’s father served in WWII in RAF bomber command and in 1943 was transferred to RCAF 428 Ghost Squadron flying Avro Lancasters. In honour of his father’s service Ian is currently in the process of establishing a branch of the Royal British Legion in Los Angeles.
2015
Charles William Harley Hay, Earl of Kinnoull
Charles William Harley Hay is the 16th Earl of Kinnoull, who succeeded to the title on the death of his father, Arthur Hay, 15th Earl of Kinnoull, in 2013. Charles Kinnoull is a Crossbench (Independent) member of the House of Lords.
He was educated at Eton College and at Oxford University where he was an open scholar and read Chemistry. He went on to read at the City University in London and was called to the Bar in 1990.
From 1990 to date he has worked at Hiscox, a specialist insurance group with offices in 12 countries. For 10 years until 2014 he was a member of the Executive Committee that ran the group and is now a non-executive role.
Charles and his wife Clare live in Perthshire with their four children where they farm organically, producing vegetables, beef and lamb for the major UK supermarkets. Clare, who before marriage was the marketing Director of Mont Blanc UK, has on more than one occasion bought their own carrots at a supermarket in London.
Charles is a Captain in the Atholl Highlanders, the Duke of Atholl’s private army, and is a member of the Queen’s Bodyguard for Scotland (the Royal Company of Archers). He was with the Atholl Highlanders when they visited Montreal in 2000. In a very happy co-incidence Clare’s Grandfather, Mervyn Crawford DSO, commanded the battalion designated the Atholl Highlanders from D-Day until the end of the Second World War.
Charles is also President of the Royal Caledonian Charities Trust and Chairman of the Red Squirrel Survival Trust among various voluntary sector roles.
He was elected to the House of Lords in February 2015 and sits on the Select Committee on Social Mobility among other activities. He is a passionate unionist.
2014
Richard Pound, OC, OQ, QC, Ad. E, FCA
Richard Pound is one of Canada’s most-recognized figures in international sport. In his distinguished career, the native of St. Catharines, Ontario was a two-time vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and was responsible for all Olympic television negotiations, marketing and sponsorships, up to and including the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Pound has been a COC executive member since 1968 and its secretary general for eight years before becoming COC president in 1977 (to 1982). He was founding president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), created in 1999 to coordinate the fight against doping in sport. His involvement continues post-2007 as IOC representative on the WADA Foundation Board.
At the IOC, Pound has had vast and varied roles. Vice-president from 1987 to 1991 and 1996 to 2000, he was a member of the IOC Executive Board from 1983 to 1991 and 1992 to 1996. Pound was chairman of five IOC commissions: the Coordination Commission for the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games, Protection of the Olympic Games, Television Rights Negotiations, Marketing and Olympic Games Study. Vice-chairman of the Eligibility Commission, he has also been active as a member of many other important IOC bodies that included Preparation of the XII Olympic Congress, Olympic Movement, Juridical and Sport and Law.
His career has touched nearly all aspects of the Olympic Games and Movement. Pound has had many significant Olympic roles for Canada. He was director and executive member of the Organizing Committee for Canada’s first Olympic Winter Games, Calgary 1988. He was Deputy Chef de Mission of the Canadian Olympic delegation for the Munich 1972 Olympic Games. He was a director of the Vancouver 2010 Bid Committee, helping influence the successful bid.
As an athlete, Pound was a double Olympic swimming finalist at the 1960 Olympic Games, and captured four medals (one gold, two silver, one bronze) at the 1962 Commonwealth Games. From 1958 to 1962, Pound won several national swimming titles and was elected into the International Swimming and Canadian Swimming Halls of Fame. In 2002 he received the Gold Medallion Award from the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Pound was also once a nationally-ranked squash player.
Pound is the author of nine books: Rocke Robertson Surgeon and Shepherd of Change, Unlucky to the End, Inside Dope, Inside the Olympics, High Impact Quotations, Canadian Facts and Dates, Five Rings Over Korea: The Secret Negotiations Behind the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Chief Justice W.R. Jackett, By the Law of the Land and Stikeman Elliott, The First Fifty Years. A senior partner of Stikeman Elliott’s tax section in Montreal, he is editor or author of several other publications, tax-related.
Pound was awarded the Canadian Olympic Order (Gold) in 1996 and is a member of the Canadian Olympic, Canadian Amateur Athletic and the Quebec Sports Halls of Fame. He is currently Chancellor of McGill University and was chair of its Board of Governors from 1994 to 1999. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and of l’Ordre national du Québec.
[This biography comes from the Canadian Olympic Team Official Website: http://olympic.ca/canadian-olympic-committee/governance/board-of-directors/richard-pound/]
2013
Karyn Brooks, Senior Vice President, BCE
We are very pleased to welcome as Guest of Honour, Ms Karyn A Brooks, FCPA, FCA, Senior Vice President and Controller of BCE and Bell, Canada’s largest telecommunications company. She also sits on the Board of Trustees at Queen’s University, and is Chair of the Audit Committee. Karyn is active in international and domestic activities related to the accounting profession. In 2009, she was named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100th by the Women’s Executive Network. Karyn was born in Montreal and raised in Niagara. Over the course of her career she has worked in Toronto, Calgary, and Montreal. She is married to Bob Gillies and has two grown sons, Ian and Cameron, who live in Calgary.
Karyn is our first female Guest of Honour.
A list of our past guests of honour can be accessed here: http://standrews.qc.ca/society-archives-history/st-andrews-ball-guests-of-honour/ and biographies of some of our recent guests of honour here: http://standrews.qc.ca/society-archives-history/st-andrews-ball-guests-of-honour/recent-guests-of-honour-for-the-st-andrews-ball/
2012
Major General Mike Riddell-Webster & Mrs Riddell-Webster
Major General Mike Riddell-Webster joined The Black Watch in April 1983 when the Battalion was in West Belfast. Prior to Staff College, he served with the Battalion in Germany (Werl and Berlin), Northern Ireland (West Belfast, South Armagh and Ballykinler) and Scotland. In the time that he has commanded a platoon, been a Company Second in Command, the Regimental Signals Officer and the Adjutant. He was also the Aide de Campe to the General Officer Commanding Scotland for a few months immediately prior to Staff College.
Immediately post Staff College, Major General Riddell-Webster commanded a rifle company in 1BW in Hong Kong and Pirbright. Company command was followed by an SO2 tour in the Procurement Executive, working for the Master General of the Ordnance. Major General Riddell-Webster then returned to 1BW as the Second in Command for a year, prior to promotion and taking up the post of MA/CDS from December 1997 until February 2000. A short tour in Bosnia followed as the Chief G2/G3 in HQ MND(SW). Major General Riddell-Webster assumed command of 1BW in December 2000. The Battalion deployed to Pristina on Op AGRICOLA VI between July – November 2001 and on Op TELIC between February – June 2003. Post command, Major General Riddell-Webster was appointed Deputy Director Ground Manoeuvre, in the Equipment Capability area, a post he held between December 2003 and December 2005. He commanded 39 Infantry Brigade between December 2005 and the end of Op BANNER on 31 July 2007, when the Brigade was renamed as 38 (Irish) Brigade. He was Director of the Army Department at the JSCSC for a year from September 2007 before returning to the MOD as Director Equipment Capability (later Head of Capability) Ground Manoeuvre. He attended the first 3 months at the RCDS in late 2011 prior to assuming the appointment of Director of the College of Management and Technology in January 2012.
Text and image from the website: http://www.da.mod.uk/our-work/governance/board-biogs/major-general-m-l-riddell-webster-dso-late-bw
2011
Dr Steven Maclean & Nadine Wielgopolski
Born and raised in Ottawa, he attended Merivale High School. He received his Bachelor’s (1977) and Doctorate in Physics (1983) from York University. 1976-77 he also competed with Canada’s national gymnastics team. Upon graduation, he was a visiting scholar at Stanford University, specialising as a laser physicist. In 1983 he was chosen to be one of Canada’s first six astronauts.
He went into space twice. The first time was Mission STS-52 in 1992, as a payload specialist on Space Shuttle Columbia. While in space he performed a set of experiments known as CANEX-2, including an evaluation of the Space Vision System. His second trip was Mission STS-115, as a mission specialist on Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2006. On this trip he became the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm2, using it to install trusses and solar array panels on the International Space Station.
In between these amazing trips into the Earth’s orbit, Dr. MacLean has served in various capacities within the Space Program at NASA, including Program Manager for the Advanced Space Vision System (1987-93); Astronaut Advisor to the STEAR program (1988-91); Chief Science Advisor to the International Space Station (1993-4); Director General of the Canadian Astronaut Program (1994-1996); Capsule Communicator for the ISS and the Shuttle Program; and Casualty Assistance and Calls Officer. He has published over 25 scientific papers.
In September 2008 Dr. MacLean was appointed the President of the Canadian Space Agency.
There have been a number of honours which have been given to Dr. MacLean, including honourary doctorates from the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean, York University, and Acadia University. In 2006 the Ottawa Carleton District School Board named as school after him-the Steve MacLean Public School. No doubt the being Guest of Honour of the St Andrew’s Ball will feature prominently among his honours in future biographies.
He is married to Nadine Wielgopolski and they have three children.
Dr MacLean is not the first MacLean to be Guest of Honour of the St Andrew’s Ball. The first was Sir Fitzroy Hew Royle MacLean of Dunconnel in 1957. Named by Ian Fleming as one of his inspirations for the character of James Bond, Sir Fitzroy was one of the few people to enter the military during the Second World War as a private and to finish his war service with the rank of Brigadier (in the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders). He rose to the rank of Major-General in 1947. Prior to the War he was part of the British Diplomatic Corps, serving in Paris and Moscow. He began his political career in 1941, becoming Conservative member for Lancaster. He later became MP for Bute and North Ayrshire (1959) which he served until 1974. He died in 1996
In 1980 Sir Charles Hector Fitzroy MacLean, Clan Chief of the MacLeans was Guest of Honour at the St Andrew’s Ball. He had succeeded to the Chiefdom of the clan in 1936 on the death of his grandfather Sir Fitzroy Donald MacLean. He had served in the Scots Guards, after leaving the military in 1954, achieving the rank of Major, Sir Charles entered public service as Lord Lieutenant of Argyllshire, Lord Chamberlain, and Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He died in 1990, and was succeeded by his son Sir Lachlan Hector Charles MacLean.
Dr Steven MacLean had invited his Chief to his last Shuttle launch in 2006, but sadly he was too ill to attend.
Notes: www.macleanclan.com (19 Oct 2011); www.wikipedia.com (19 Oct 2011); www.clanmacleanatlantic.org (19 Oct 2011); www.asc-csa.gc.ca (19 Oct 2011)
