FED Ambassador: Dr Iain MacRitchie is a social entrepreneur, growth & change specialist and philanthropist. Iain is founder of MCR Pathways, the award winning in school mentoring programme which now supports over 8,000 of the country’s most disadvantaged young people across 150 secondary schools each week. In an international business career, as CEO or Executive Chair he has led the transformation of 20 corporates, Board advisor to over 100 others, founded 3 businesses and 2 charities and has held Director positions in private, public and third sectors as well as investment funds, professional bodies and a Think Tank.
It was Iain’s leadership role merging 3 failing care organisations, with almost 100 children’s homes, schools and foster agency, that now drives him. Despite the transformation in the quality, operations and financial performance. Iain could not reconcile that it made no difference to the outcomes of the young people in care. Iain is focused on sharing and connecting effective practice with policy to ensure disadvantaged young people are determined by their potential and never their circumstances.
Iain’s work in supporting the country’s most disadvantaged young people has been recognised by several awards including Glasgow’s St Mungo Medal, a Lifetime Achievement Award for Diversity, IOD regional and Third Sector Director awards and being named as one of the 2019 Class of Influential Leaders worldwide by AACSB International. He also became visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde in 2020 and 2023 was named in the Top 100 Influential People in the UK.
