From teenage volunteer to charity CEO in 20 years

Scouts Scotland has appointed one of its former teenager volunteers as its next chief executive.

Graeme Luke has been named as CEO after 20 years at the organisation.

At the age of 16 he became a young leader at Scouts Scotland before becoming an adult leader when he turned 18. He has held voluntary roles at local, regional and Scotland wide levels at the charity since.

Most recently he has been head of scouting operations and deputy chief executive at Scouts Scotland since 2015.

“Thanks to Scouts I have developed skills and achieved in ways I never could have imagined,” said Luke.

“I am committed to making sure that as many young people as possible can access the amazing opportunities that I’ve had through Scouts.”

Among his priorities will be rebuilding Scotland’s scout adventure centres and providing further outdoor learning opportunities for young people.

He added: “The pandemic has been so hard on all of us, but most of all our young people.
My focus will be working with our staff and volunteer teams on recovery and re-growth, and making sure that our amazing volunteers have what they need to support our members.”

Scouts Scotland chair Gordon Robertson added: “I am so delighted that Graeme is our new Chief Executive Officer. We ran an incredibly robust recruitment process and were so impressed with the candidates that we interviewed.

“Graeme’s experience, skills, values and vision shone throughout the process, and I know that he will be an absolutely fantastic leader for Scouts Scotland.”