About us / The Team
Our team is hugely knowledgeable about timber, which means we can offer you excellent technical advice.
John Russell / Managing Director
Son of the founder of the original business, John has developed Russwood into a specialised timber products company. John has over twenty-five years' experience in the industry and is highly knowledgeable, not only on the huge variety of timber available on the market, but also on the characteristics and technical competences applicable to each.
Sandy Neilson / Chairman
Sandy retired after a career in Banking and Financial Services and became non-executive Chairman of Russwood in 2006. Strategy and Planning are key to long term business success and Sandy works with John and other members of the management team on a number of strategic and tactical projects. A keen golfer, Sandy splits his time between Glasgow and Newtonmore.
Paul-John Mackintosh / Operations Director
PJ, as he is best known, has been involved in building and related industries for over twenty years. His depth of knowledge of the timber market is equally valuable in discussion with customers and in negotiation with suppliers. A stickler for quality and efficiency, PJ’s technical contribution at Board and other levels is invaluable.
Lorna Crombie / Finance and Admin Manager
Lorna has been with Russwood for over twenty years. She manages the Accounts and Administration team at Station Sawmill and keeps the office running smoothly.
Alaister Jeffrey / Cladding Sales
Alaister joined Russwood in 2000 after a background in engineering. He shares his experience and knowledge on a wide range of products with Architects, ensuring prospective projects are accurately specified and priced; and works with other members of the Cladding and Decking sales team on pricing.
John Smith / Cladding and Timber Sales
John has worked in Sales for over thirty years, and joined the Russwood Timber Sales team in 2007. In early 2010 John spent a week at BM TRADA’s training centre, learning about visual strength grading of softwood. This allows Russwood to grade Douglas Fir and other softwood beams in-house, meaning assured performance of structural timbers.
James McDonnell / Decking Sales
James McDonnell joins us from the field of customer service, always an area in which we strive for excellence at Russwood. He was drawn to the Highlands from the south by his love for the mountains, and when not advising customers on Russwood’s range of decking products, can often be found scaling the heights of the cliff-faces in the Cairngorms or storming down hill on his mountain bike.
Matt Watts / Head of Sales and Marketing
Matt has over 22 years experience working in Financial Services across a range of customer segments and disciplines including business development, sales & service and change management. Matt is responsible for sales and marketing aspects of our UK cladding, decking, timber and flooring business. An outdoor enthusiast he spends most of his spare time mountaineering, kayaking, skiing and exploring Scotland’s great wilderness. Matt is married to Jade and splits his time between Newtonmore, Edinburgh and Colchester.
Sarah Cheyne / Flooring Manager
Sarah manages our flooring division here at Station Sawmill. She is originally from Edinburgh, but spent her teenage years in Newtonmore. She has travelled and worked abroad for a number of years, venturing as far as Australia and New Zealand, before returning to Newtonmore and joining Russwood’s fast-growing team. Always a smiling face, she brightens not only the showroom, but our You-tube "info-mercials" on flooring!
Eva Oden / Flooring
Eva hails from Sweden, where she worked for fourteen years for a wooden furniture manufacturer. She has now brought her expertise in timber and eye for quality to Newtonmore, which makes her an invaluable member of the sales team. Her depth of knowledge on many aspects of our product range has helped numerous projects reach a happy conclusion.
Danielle Bruce / Flooring Sales
Danielle joined Russwood’s team early in 2010 as Trainee in our Flooring department. Building on her eye for designer clothing she is rapidly learning the ropes and undertaking in-house and external training in her programme of learning. As a student Danielle spent her summers working at Newtonmore’s Highland Folk Museum, and is a ‘weel kent face’ to many of our local customers.
Kay Pearson / Marketing Manager
Kay has spent over six years in marketing management roles within leading global technology companies. Having recently relocated back to Scotland from Vienna, where she managed international campaigns for a global software provider, Kay admits that she is missing her frequent trips to the Austrian Alps! Kay’s marketing expertise will be key in helping Russwood to fulfill our ambitious growth plans.
Pippa Hadley / Marketing Development
Pippa assists with a wide spectrum of marketing requirements, helping promote Russwood on many levels. She has an in depth background in customer relations - honed by over a decade working in her family business – and a passion for natural wood that pre-dates her employment here! Perfect for getting our company noticed.
Dorothy Air / Secretarial Assistant to MD
With a varied background in administration, including Local Council and Forestry, Dorothy enjoys many duties as PA to the Managing Director. She has responsibility for co-ordinating our CPD programme, and also manages all personnel details of our ever increasing staff base.
Vicky Dakers / Finance and Administration
Vicky is responsible for invoicing and credit control, a particularly important role given Russwood's growth ambitions and requirement for rigorous financial management throughout the operation.
Heather Fraser / Finance Assistant
Heather provides help with the day to day accounting within our busy finance department. She also works with P.J. managing the FSC chain of custody, ensuring our environmental credentials are as solid as the timber we provide!
Kirsteen Collie / Administrator
Kirsteen is the first point of contact when visiting or telephoning Russwood. She is as quick to offer a cup of tea or coffee as she is to offer a winning smile to the visitors here at Station Sawmill. Kirsteen is a core member of Russwood’s highly efficient office team, and is a well practised expert at dealing with a multitude of customer enquiries.
Annette Harrigan / Haulage and Logistics
Annette is a core member of Russwood’s highly efficient office team. She is responsible for the logistics of our haulage operation, and ensures that our customers get the goods on time. She also makes sure that Big Mac navigates up to 26 tonnes of lorry and load safely there and back again, on some of Scotland's more obscure roads!
John MacRae / Delivers the Goods
'Big MacRae,' as he is affectionately known, drives all over Scotland and Northern England delivering tons of Russwood timber every year to building sites, homes and offices. A keen photographer, John has compiled a fascinating portfolio of customer projects, from schools and sports clubs to halls and sitting-rooms.
Yard Team / Timber Management
Far too many members of staff work in our industrious sawmill and yard to list here, and stopping each of them to take a photo would prove a challenge! To give you a taste, we have Andy Burnett as our Yard Foreman, and Andy Parker helps with operations and deliveries. Willy Ritchie is essential to our flooring operations, whilst Nick Mitchell and Blair Mackintosh keep the sawmill sawing smoothly. Brian Cheyne and Paul Waters put some shape to the product in the planing mill, whilst George Barnard, Chris Houghton and Chris Sellar are pivotal in getting everything from A to B and back again within the yard. George Ellis meanwhile, works tirelessly to ensure that our vacuum coating plant coats our cladding impeccably. A well oiled machine.
