Ringing in the chamber changes

Gerald Jennings

It’s all change at the West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce today, as the organisation holds its Annual General Meeting and sees several people move roles.

The business support group, which runs Bradford, Leeds and York & North Yorkshire chambers, will today see a shift in its Board of Directors. Gerald Jennings will succeed Stephen Wright as the group’s chairman, with Andy Caton coming in as vice president.

Jennings will step down from his role as president of Leeds Chamber, which he has held for 2.5 years. Caton was the president of Bradford’s chamber until July this year – a role he held for two years.  Paula Dillon, a partner at Bond Dickinson, will become the President of the Leeds chamber of commerce.

The AGM will be held at Bradford’s Midland Hotel, when the organisation’s annual 2016-17 report will also be discussed.

Ahead of the event, Mike Cartwright, Policy Executive for the Chamber, said: “Today’s meeting will demonstrate that we have some of the region’s finest business people involved in steering the Chamber ship.  They give their time voluntarily to help make our region a better place in which to do business, and we are very grateful for that.

“The meeting will also see that our organisation is financially robust, had a successful  2016-17 – demonstrated through a published annual report – and is looking forward to tackling the challenges that go with growing our economy and delivering on behalf of our businesses.”

A lunch will follow the formal proceedings, at which David Cutter, Skipton Building Society’s chief executive, will speak.

Reflecting on his time as president of the Leeds chamber, Jennings said: “When I took on the role, I wanted to try and make a real difference. I wanted to move away from the perception that quite a lot of businesses had of chambers – that they were male, pale and stale. There was also a perception that it was just about SMEs. I wanted to change the dynamic and reach out to larger businesses.”

Jennings said that much of this has been achieved and that now there was a real mix of businesses interacting with the chamber in order to mutually benefit from a sharing of business knowledge and experience. He said it was also a focus for the chamber to become involved in the political landscape of the region, providing a voice for businesses and having input into major items from the outset – topics including devolution, transport improvements and Northern Powerhouse.

In addition, he said the chamber has developed key relationships across the public sector to represent the business voice. “As a result, we are at the table now when key decisions are being made,” he added.

Jennings added that welcoming Transport Minister Chris Grayling  earlier this year to speak at the chamber’s annual dinner was testimony to what the organisation had done to raise the importance of the transport agenda with central government.

Other key highlights included the involvement in setting up Leeds BID and the opportunity to influence HS2 coming into Leeds city centre. Areas including transport, the skills agenda and housing will continue to be top of the list for the chamber’s focus groups. The housing group, which has been in place for around nine months, has a mix of large and small developers – as well as third sector representatives and planners – come to the table.

“Businesses don’t want to be part of a talking shop, they want deliverable actions,” Jennings added.

As chair of West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, Jennings will take on more of a governance role; attending the eight board meetings a year in order to steer the whole organisation forward. Outside of the chamber, Jennings, who has lived and worked in West Yorkshire for 32 years, is involved with numerous other businesses and organisations including Henry Boot, Social Communications, The Tetley and Ahead Partnership. He is also a governor at Leeds City College.

 

 

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