MacDonald, who started in the role last month, spent the last 26 years working for printer manufacturer Oki. He was managing director at Oki UK since 2001 and a member of the main board of Oki Europe since 2008.

"I’m delighted to be joining Tullis Russell at such an exciting time for the business," said MacDonald.

"We have built an enviable position within the market based on our ability to develop and maintain strong and lasting relationships with our strategic partners. We will continue to focus on enhancing these relationships whilst harvesting the value-add opportunities that exist."

Tullis Russell is Scotland’s largest, locally-headquartered, employee-owned business and has more than 740 employee owners working across three international sites.

"A key draw for me was Tullis Russell's employee-owned structure, its unique culture and the opportunity to work for a company with such a long and rich heritage," said MacDonald.

"Employee-ownership in itself doesn’t make a business successful, but the culture of employee engagement it fosters, combined with the ability to truly plan for the long term, is what makes Tullis Russell different."

MacDonald will be responsible for the firm’s Markinch mill, which produces high quality paper and boards for use in the graphical, cards, covers and premium packaging markets.

Group chief executive Chris Parr said: "Niall is an extremely valuable addition to our established executive team and his extensive leadership experience will help us to accelerate the delivery of our clear and focused strategy.

"Although trading conditions continue to be tough, we are well placed to captialise on market opportunities and Niall will play an important part in driving this initiative."