Former Scottish Enterprise chief Robert Crawford is to lead the economic development of the south-east of England.
Dr Crawford, a prospective SNP candidate for Westminster, has quit his senior post at Glasgow Caledonian University to take up the new challenge, the university said yesterday.
The 57-year-old has been appointed chief operating officer of Seeda, the South East of England Development Agency.
Dr Crawford yesterday said: "I have very much enjoyed my time at Caledonian and have learned a great deal, but it is no secret that I miss the world of economic development. The opportunity to return to it, especially to an agency the size of Seeda, proved irresistible."
The SNP yesterday said they expected Dr Crawford to fight the North Ayrshire and Arran seat at the next Westminster elections, which will take place no later than 2010. Labour currently holds the seat with a majority of 11,000 but has lost the area to the Nationalists at Holyrood.
Dr Crawford was one of three former heads of Scottish Enterprise to come out in favour of independence shortly before the last Holyrood elections. He had left his job at Scottish Enterprise, one of the best paid in the Scottish public sector, five years ago, partly because of the strain of such a high public profile.
His post at Caledonian has also thrust him into the limelight. As executive director for business development and commercialisation, his job was to squeeze new opportunities out of the university for cash generation. Well-paid business development jobs were advertised at Caledonian earlier this year but have since been withdrawn as the university goes through a process of painful voluntary redundancies.
Caledonian has faced a revolt by some of its own staff over some of its innovations, including its £500,000 joint venture with London-based firm Into, a business designed to lure more foreign students to Glasgow. Opponents of the Into venture are set to protest at the Scottish Parliament tomorrow.
Professor Pamela Gillies, Glasgow Caledonian's Principal and Vice-Chancellor, said: "Robert has transformed the way our university thinks about business development.
"Through establishing new processes, networks and income streams and by appointing colleagues with the right expertise, he has laid a strong and solid foundation for the promotion of entrepreneurialism and enterprise throughout the institution.
"We will all greatly miss his energy, drive and enthusiasm. I will personally also miss his collegial approach and good humour and wish him well in his exciting and exacting new challenge."
The Herald understands that Crawford will retain his other voluntary jobs in Scotland, including his unpaid chairmanship of Glasgow Gateway, the regeneration body for much of the east end of Glasgow and parts of South Lanarkshire.
He also chairs a group of business experts advising the Scottish Government on economic policy.
Seeda is one of the biggest regeneration agencies in the UK and serves an area with a population of eight million, stretching from Kent to Oxfordshire but not including Greater London.
Crawford's new job represents the latest line on one of Scotland's most remarkable CVs. The son of a butcher, Crawford left school at 15 as a "trouble-maker" before eventually going to Harvard in his 20s and working as everything from an SNP librarian to an advisor on economic recovery for war-torn Kosovo.
Last night Crawford said: "I will look back at my time at Glasgow Caledonian with a great deal of affection and the university will always have me as a supporter in the future.
"The ambitious agenda which has been set for the university by the principal is exactly what higher education in Scotland needs if it is to compete with the best in the world."
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