Sandy Manson was awarded a degree in Bachelor of Commerce (with distinction) from the University of Edinburgh in 1982.
He trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen in Edinburgh in 1985 and in 1991 he returned to his native Aberdeenshire and joined Johnston Carmichael Chartered Accountants as an Associate. He was promoted to Partner in 1993 and became the Managing Partner of their Aberdeen office when the firm’s revenues were £5m. In 2007 he was appointed Chief Executive of Johnston Carmichael and Chair in 2019. Today Johnston Carmichael’s revenues are approaching £60m and the firm employs 850 people across 13 locations making it the largest independent accounting firm in Scotland and a top 20 firm in the UK. Sandy retires from Johnston Carmichael on 31 May 2022.
Sandy spent much of his professional life working with and advising family businesses in a range of sectors.
In wanting to give back to the accountancy profession, Sandy was appointed a member of the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) in 2011 and elected President 2018/19.
In 2020, Sandy was appointed by Her Majesty The Queen as Lord-Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire. He is also Chair of Salvesen Mindroom Centre, a charity specialising in supporting young people with neurodiversity challenges and is an Honorary Professor of the University of Stirling where he sits on the advisory board of the management school. He is also the former Honorary Dutch Consul for the North of Scotland and Chair of the Development Trust for the University of Aberdeen.