Chamber reveals new president
East Midlands Chamber has announced Robert Mayo as its president for 2017/18.
He received the chains of office from outgoing President Geoff Poyzer at the Chamber’s annual general meeting.
Mayo is development director at Nottinghamshire’s historic Welbeck Estate, with responsibility to bring about the transformation of one of the most significant groups of listed buildings in the East Midlands.
He trained and qualified as a chartered surveyor and has spent much of his career involved in the regeneration of historic buildings.
As well as being a director at East Midlands Chamber, Mayo is chair of the D2N2 Rural Reference Group, vice-chair of North Notts BID and a director of St Leger Homes.
He is also place chair at the North Notts Business Improvement District, or BID, the first of its kind in the country as it will cover the whole of the district of Bassetlaw instead of being limited to a very small area. It will have a budget of £3.5m over five years if successful.
Mayo said: “I would like to extend my personal thanks to Geoff Poyzer, my predecessor, for choosing me as his deputy for the past year and for all his hard work during his 12 months in office.
“I promise to uphold the dignity of this office and to be the best ambassador that I can be for the Chamber, for the region and for business generally.”
Mayo said he has four areas on which he wants to focus during his year in office – Brexit, helping local firms to begin their export journey, the region’s rural economy and promoting the North Notts BID.
Kevin Harris
Kevin Harris, from accountancy firm RSM, has been appointed as vice-president for the year.
He has worked in the accountancy profession for more than 30 years since graduating from university and obtained an MBA in 2004.
He recently left PKF Cooper Parry to join RSM in Leicester this year as a Partner.
Harris is vice-chair of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) and has been heavily involved in helping to attract significant inward investment into Leicestershire in recent years.
Board changes announced at the AGM include directors Dawn Edwards, James Bowie, Stuart Dawkins and Jaffer Kapasi, who were due to retire by rotation this year, being re-elected unopposed and the formal appointment to the Board of Eileen Richards, Martin Rigley and Lindsey Williams, all of whom were co-opted earlier in the year.
Board members retiring having completed their permitted term under the Chamber’s governance rules were Russell Thompson and past-presidents Jean Mountain, Ian Greenaway, David Merifield and Richard Wilkins.
