Allan Laing, who led a management buyout that transformed two ailing companies into Pentagon, a £40m specialities and fine chemicals business in five years, has joined the main board of the UK's National Skills Academy Process Industries.
The Academy is helping the polymers, chemicals, pharmaceutical and downstream petroleum industries get to grips with crucial skills issues. It works with accredited training providers to help businesses identify skills gaps in their training and development so they can sustain skilled workforces.
Laing has 35 years" experience in the chemical sector, starting his career with ICI in 1975. Pentagon employs 170 people at two sites in the North West of England.
Laing says the Academy's ethos of "for employers, by employers" is at the heart of its work and it is vital that employers themselves take ownership of their skills issues.
He added: "The process industries are going through a period of great change and the skills we need today are not necessarily those we will need tomorrow, and we need to plan for that."