Scottish-based engineered biomaterials manufacturer encircol has boosted its leadership team with the appointment of a commercial director.
Tony Gordon joins as encircol moves from product development towards market delivery. He will be responsible for product management and specification, and planning for encircol’s commercial future as it brings its disruptive range of high-performance industrial materials to market.
With a background in developing and delivering energy-saving solutions to markets across the UK and Europe, Tony has decades of experience in materials manufacturing. He previously worked with encircol CEO Ken Munro at insulation manufacturer Superglass and building materials group TechnoNICOL.
encircol, which is backed by 200-year-old family firm Scottish Leather Group (SLG), was launched in June 2026 to transform collagen-derived by-products from leather manufacturing into high-performance industrial materials.
The business builds on SLG’s existing proprietary BioPRO® technology. Nominated for the Earthshot Prize, BioPRO® is a protein-based moulded foam which incorporates collagen recovered from leather manufacturing to create a highly durable, recoverable filling for use in seating. BioPRO® is already certified and in commercial use in aviation, automotive and mass transit seating.
encircol’s range will create circular advantage compared with phenolic-based materials by re-using an existing waste stream to create high-performance products for sectors including energy, construction and advanced manufacturing.
It also anticipates growing demand for environmentally responsible industrial materials as changing regulations require businesses to account for the embodied carbon and lifecycle performance of the materials they specify.
Tony Gordon, commercial director, encircol, said:
“I’ve built my career in manufacturing, and I’ve always been motivated by businesses where you can see and touch the result of what you do. That’s a big part of what attracted me to encircol. We have the opportunity to take an established manufacturing capability and a really interesting technology platform, then turn that into physical products that can challenge the way some very traditional markets operate. The chance to help build that from the ground up and to do something genuinely disruptive was incredibly compelling.”
Ken Munro, CEO, encircol, said:
“Having worked with Tony over the past decade and more, I know first-hand what he brings: a genuine expert in product development and specification, with a track record of turning manufacturing capability into products that customers want to buy. That’s exactly what encircol needs as we move from development into market delivery.
“It’s great to be working with Tony again and our senior team looks forward to building the next chapter for encircol with him.”
The business, which is operating from Stirling University Innovation Park, is progressing certification work and has an advanced research facility in Glasgow, where Scottish Leather Group has opened a 75,000 sq ft production base dedicated to scaling BioPRO®.
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