Philip Riddle was appointed Chief Executive of VisitScotland on 16 July 2001.

He was educated at Dunfermline High School and Cambridge University where he achieved an MA in history. He has also obtained an MBA from Edinburgh University.

Philip has worked primarily in marketing and general management. From Edinburgh, he joined the Royal Dutch/Shell Group where he worked for 23 years in a number of senior managerial posts across their worldwide network. He has also been a milkman, a teacher, a diplomat and, more recently, a business angel.

In 2007 he was awarded an OBE for services to the tourist industry.