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Former minister places his faith in regenerating industrial wastelands

Profile of Tom Campbell, the former Church of Scotland minister who is now chief executive of Fusion Assets, a 50/50 joint venture between Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire Council, backed by public and private sector funding, set up at the start of the year to capitalise on regeneration and economic development opportunities in North Lanarkshire.

Campbell will outline his vision for Fusion on Tuesday at a launch meeting to be held in Ken McCulloch's stylish Dakota Hotel at Eurocentral.

Hotel business multimillionaire McCulloch is one of three private sector members on the nine-strong board of Fusion Assets. The others are Jane Wood, head of public affairs in Scotland for Boots, who chairs the board, and David Gebbie, formerly a director with Clydeport.

Campbell spent seven years as a Church of Scotland minister with his own parish in Paisley before deciding he wanted to change direction.

"My parish ministry work wasn't fulfilling my aspirations and ambitions - that's a pretty good signal to get out because that is not what it's supposed to be about. I felt I needed something more to be fulfilled professionally," he says.

He says swapping a dog collar for a shirt and tie is not easy. It requires a prospective employer to take a leap of faith in a person's abilities and skills.

Campbell received useful tips from a former minister who became a human resources executive with Caterpillar, but he says the man who changed his life by giving him a start in business world was Tim Davison, then in charge of what was to become the Greater Glasgow Community and Mental Health Trust.

"Tim took a chance on me and it transformed my life," Campbell says.

Full story at the Sunday Herald.