West Lothian Chamber of Commerce has announced the appointment of its new Chief Executive.
Local businessman Charles Wardman, co-founder and CEO of Wardman UK, a leading West Lothian-based IT and cyber secure platform provider, takes over from interim CEO, Ian Wallace, who held the role whilst the Chamber board sought a permanent replacement for previous incumbent, Charlene Wallace.
Charles co-founded the business, Wardman UK, with his wife Eve, back in 2009. It very quickly established itself as one of the new generation of IT and technology businesses offering connectivity, security and support on a single platform, enabling its UK wide client base to self-manage their own infrastructures.
Charles plans to adopt much of the Wardman UK ‘family ethos’ into his new role at West Lothian Chamber, where the focus has been to create new ways of innovative thinking and exceeding customer expectation, ensuring that ‘what we do matters, but how we do it matters a whole lot more.’
He said: “Shaping and defining a new era for West Lothian Chamber of Commerce will come from a perspective of creating an understood value about our future role for the business community. Every Chamber is rooted in its local geography and as we become more accustomed to home working or our businesses grow outside from where we are located, what does it then mean to be a member of your local chamber?
It is important that West Lothian Chamber not only speaks for its businesses as it traditionally has always done but harnesses its valuable knowledge and content from a truly engaged audience of members. The Chamber has a pivotal role in becoming a repository for that knowledge. By creating this platform, we can learn from each other, build on a smart, successful network and bring tangible value to chamber membership.
Billy MacLeod, Board President at West Lothian Chamber of Commerce said: “Charles Wardman’s extensive business experience, coupled with his vision to give West Lothian Chamber a representative voice across a raft of local, regional and national business and economic matters, perfectly matched the Board’s roadmap and made him the resounding choice to lead the Chamber into the future.
West Lothian remains one of the strongest economies across the central belt and under Charles, we will have a proactive and determined leader who will help us continually thrive.”
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