Lord Glenarthur took over as Chairman of the National Employer Advisory Board (NEAB) from Mr John Bridgeman in December 2002.  He has been a member of the Board since 1996.  Lord Glenarthur is a Governor of Nuffield Hospitals, a Commissioner of The Royal Hospital Chelsea and a Director of Audax Global S.a`.r.l.  From 2002 until July 2006 he was also a Director of The Medical Defence Union Director of The Medical Defence Union and Audax Trading (Overseas) Ltd.  He is President of the British Helicopter Advisory Board.

Lord Glenarthur is a hereditary peer elected to sit in the House of Lords.

Commissioned into the 10th Royal Hussars (PWO) in 1963, he served as a Troop Leader and as ADC to the High Commissioner in Aden before becoming Regimental Signals Officer in 1967.  He undertook an Army Pilots Course in 1968 and served as Second in Command of the Air Squadron of the 17th/21st Lancers between 1969 and 1971.  After two years as Adjutant of The Royal Hussars (PWO) he commanded successively the Air Squadrons of 16th/5th, the Queen's Royal Lancers and 1st Royal Tank Regiment before leaving the regular army in 1975.

He served as a Reserve Officer with The Royal Hussars (PWO) between 1976 and 1980.

Lord Glenarthur continued to fly commercially as a Captain with British Airways Helicopters Limited between 1976 and 1982, but also took his seat in the House of Lords in 1976.  He joined the Government in 1982 as a Lord in Waiting (Government Whip) and became Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) in 1983.  He then moved to the Home Office before being promoted to Minister of State for Scotland in 1986.  His last ministerial appointment was as Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 1987 to 1989. Amongst his particular responsibilities were Hong Kong and the United Kingdom's relationship with China.

On leaving government, he joined Hanson plc as a senior executive and ultimately became Deputy Chairman of Hanson Pacific Limited.  He was also Chairman of St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, NHS Trust from 1991 to 1998, an advisor to British Aerospace plc and was a non-executive director of Millenium Chemicals Inc from 1996-2004.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, and a Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators.
Lord Glenarthur is a Lieutenant in The Queen's Body Guard for Scotland (Royal Company of Archers) and is a Deputy Lieutenant for Aberdeenshire.  He is also Honorary Colonel of 306 Field Hospital (Volunteers) and Honorary Air Commodore of 612 (County of Aberdeen) Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force.  He lives near Banchory in Kincardineshire and is married with one son and a daughter.