Roddy Gow is the Founder of the Asia Scotland Institute in Edinburgh, a pan Asian entity, with the mission of equipping Tomorrow’s Leaders in Scotland with the knowledge and skill to engage effectively with the Asian markets and improve links between Scotland and the Asian region. He is also the Chairman and Founder of Canongate Partners, an international consulting firm, specialised in solving human and financial capital challenges for clients seeking to enter Asia and the Emerging Markets. His long experience of global search consulting also includes being a Senior Adviser to Riverhouse Partners and the McLean Partnership as well, as the Manden Group. Earlier he Chaired the Advisory Board of Positive Moves Consulting(UK), a global executive search consulting firm specialising in senior appointments in the Emerging Markets of Asia and Africa and in the provision of advice on doing business in those regions. He was previously the Chief Executive of Asia House in London, a pan Asian not for profit institution , where he drove its mission to educate and inform the people of the UK about a region extending from the Gulf in the West to Japan in the East.
An international business leader who has successfully built and led global practices and developed clients at the highest levels, he has also been active in volunteer leadership positions and as a speaker in business forums. He has lived and worked in the United States for many years and travelled extensively in Asia, Africa and South America. During a career spanning service as an Officer in the British Army, several years as a banker in the UK and the US and over thirty years working at the highest levels of global executive search, he has always been interested in the challenges of understanding and embracing the skills needed to function effectively across national boundaries. He has worked on expanding understanding of where the art of leadership intersects with the science of management. He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the British Empire) in 2002 for his services to British Trade in the United States while serving as the Chairman of British American Business, New York and London, followed by the role of President and then Chairman of the British American Business Council, the largest bilateral trade organisation in the world with thirty four chapters in major markets in the USA and the UK.
A member of the Business Advisory Council of the Said Business School, Oxford University, he is also a Visiting Professor at London Metropolitan University and a member of the Advisory Council for the Welsh National Opera.
Roddy Gow OBE