New leader for North of England Excellence

CBI director Andrew Palmer has been appointed as chief executive of North of England Excellence.

Mr Palmer, the CBI’s regional director of operations based in Leeds, will take up his new role in October as the successor to David Teale, who is standing down after eight years in the post.

He joined the CBI in 1999 and has also been its regional director for London, and membership and operations director for Scotland.

Before joining the CBI, he worked as a business reporter on the Yorkshire Post and as a senior laboratory manager at the National Blood Authority.

Outside of work, he is on the board of national charity Making Music, is the chairman of Ripon’s St Cecilia Orchestra and is an occasional church organist.

He served as a board member of NoEE from 2009 to 2012.

NoEE is a not-for-profit organisation which helps businesses and organisations across the north to improve their competitiveness, performance and productivity.

Its members across the public, private and voluntary sectors share best practice, and NoEE runs training courses, conferences, an internationally-recognised accreditation scheme and a highly-respected annual awards scheme.

Members in the north west include FirstTransPennine Express, Merseyrail, Amec, Manchester City Council and URENCO.

NoEE chairman Paul Evans said: “We interviewed an incredibly strong shortlist of candidates but Andrew came through as the outstanding person to take NoEE to the next stage of its development.

“I am very much looking forward to working with him to continue NoEE’s work of improving business performance and the competitiveness and productivity of the northern economy.

“Through this, I know NoEE will make an increasingly important contribution to the development of the Northern Powerhouse.”

Mr Palmer said: “North of England Excellence is a great organisation and I am looking forward to working with a wonderful team to help achieve our goals.

“Our members and partners are among the best businesses and organisations in the country, and I am determined to showcase their ambition, world-leading collaborations and the quality of their workforces, and to ensure they are ready to make the most of the opportunities which lie ahead.

“I also want the NoEE to be at the forefront of progress on devolution and the Northern Powerhouse.”