Bowls Scotland announce departure of Alan McMillan

Bowls Scotland can today announce that our Chief Executive Officer, Alan McMillan, will move on from his position as CEO in October 2024, having taken up a new role within the sports industry.

Alan was initially appointed as CEO of the Scottish Bowling Association (SBA) in 2009. Working with a number of stakeholders and volunteers from the SBA and Scottish Women’s Bowling Association (SWBA), he presided over the merger of both associations to become one unified national governing body, Bowls Scotland.

Since then, Alan has helped develop Bowls Scotland into one of the largest sport’s governing bodies in Scotland with over 800 member clubs and 50,000 playing members. Under his leadership, the organisation has expanded from a modest team of two staff members to a team of 16 highly skilled professionals.

Throughout his time as CEO, Alan has led the organisations admin & finance, development, high performance and marketing & communications departments to new heights. Scotland have won gold medals at each of the last three Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Gold Coast and Birmingham respectively and over 50% of Bowls Scotland member clubs are now registered as Try Bowls clubs, signposting themselves as welcoming local community hubs. Using his expertise, Alan has played a vital role in securing partnerships and sponsors to support Bowls Scotland’s vision, with the company now having a healthy complement of seven commercial partners.

Speaking on his time working at Bowls Scotland, Alan McMillan commented: “It has been a real honour and privilege to work in bowls and to work for Bowls Scotland. Over the last 14 years I have met many wonderful people who all have the best interests of the game in their hearts.

“I would like to thank all of those people, volunteers, staff, players and supporters of the game who joined me on my journey in bowls.

“Developing any sport can be a real challenge and bowls is no exception. I will continue to watch with interest at the progress being made in continuing to move this great sport forward and cementing bowls as Scotland’s truly local community sport. 

Paying tribute to Alan’s extraordinary leadership and longevity, Bowls Scotland interim Chair, David Scouller, added: “Having worked with Alan over the past eight years, I am well aware of his immense contribution to the sport of bowls.

“His vision for modernising bowls and his dedication to the role, along with supporting and guiding his hard-working staff, has been greatly appreciated.

“On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Alan and wish him continued success in his future career.”