Scottish businessman Sir Ian Wood is planning to stand down within three years as chairman of the international energy service giant bearing his family name.
Sir Ian, who will be 68 in July, said he would be disappointed if he had not stepped down from his post at Wood Group when he turned 70, however, he has no plans to put his feet up.
The Wood Family Trust is expected to take up an increasing amount of his time in the years ahead. The trust was set up in 2007 to invest £50million in economic, community and enterprise projects in sub-Saharan Africa and the UK.
It is not an aid fund. Instead, the trust is based around “venture philanthropy”, in which Sir Ian and his family use the business skills they have acquired to invest in projects which will boost the earnings of some of the world’s poorest people.
The Wood chairman feels he has a responsibility to help Africa after having done business in the continent on his way to amassing an estimated £700million fortune.
He has been the most successful Aberdonian to date at building an international business around the North Sea oil and gas industry.
Sir Ian turned what was once a fishing company into an energy service group which operates around the world.
It now employs more than 28,000 people across 50 countries.
Sir Ian is a well known and respected figure in the international oil and gas community.
His endeavours have not gone unrecognised. He has received many prestigious awards and honours, including a knighthood in 1994.
Among Sir Ian’s various high-level appointments was a three-year term as chairman of Scottish Enterprise until December 2000.