New leadership 

Allan Burns, former executive director of Diageo Scotland and global procurement director for Diageo worldwide, has been appointed chairman of Scotland Food and Drink. The newly created organisation aims to boost the Scottish grocery industry from £7.9bn to £10bn by 2017. 

Dairy UK elections 

Mark Allen, chief executive of Dairy Crest, was elected vice chairman of Dairy UK at the trade body's AGM last week. The position was left empty earlier this year when Tim Smith stepped down as head of Arla Foods UK. Andy Smith, group MD of Lactalis McLelland, and Les Knipe from Cumbria, have been re-elected to the board. 

Sandell heads south 

Tesco's south east office, its third regional buying office to open this year, is to be headed by Quentin Sandell, who has been with the company for 17 years and a buyer for seven years. Sandell will be supported by technical manager for the south east, David Humphreys. They will be based at Tesco in Horsham. 

An Irish move 

Former Henderson Group buyer Mervyn Jones has joined Asda's team in Northern Ireland as frozen food buyer after 14 years with the Belfast-based Spar wholesaler. Preeta Lakshminarayanan also joins the NI buying team, to work with local grocery suppliers and general merchandise, from Asda's head office. 

O'Sullivan's beef 

One of the world's largest beef and pork processor, JBS Group, has appointed Marcus O'Sullivan as commercial director for its London office, which trades under the name Friboi UK. O'Sullivan will be responsible for ongoing fresh and frozen beef sales at major multiples. He comes from a similar role in the Republic of Ireland, having spent 15 years at Kepak Group.