Greater Manchester LEP board announced

CO-OPERATIVE Group chief executive Peter Marks, Manchester university boss Dame Nancy Rothwell and Ask Developments’ head Ken Knott are among the private sector representatives who will make up the board of the new Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

BT Group regional director Mike Blackburn was named as the chair of the new LEP last week, but the other eight appointees have been revealed today.

In total, the board consists of nine members from the private sector and four from the public sector – Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) chairman Lord Peter Smith and vice chairs Sir Richard Leese, Cllr Howard Sykes and Cllr Bob Bibby.

The recruitment process for Greater Manchester’s LEP board began on January 28 and was co-ordinanted by Gatenby Sanderson.

Blackburn said: “The collective skills and experience of the board is impressive. We are all committed to driving Manchester’s economic growth and helping to create local jobs and I look forward to getting down to business.”

The first meeting of Greater Manchester’s LEP board will take place later this month.

A full list of the nine private sector members appears below:-

• Mike Blackburn, regional director of BT (chair)
• Keith Johnston – Partner and Head of North West Market, Addleshaw Goddard
• Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell – President and Vice Chancellor, University of Manchester
• Neil McArthur – Chairman and Head of Innovation, Talk Talk Technology
• Ken Knott – Chief Executive, Ask Developments Group
• Peter Marks – Group Chief Executive, Co-operative Group
• Alison Tumilty – Deputy Chief Executive and Finance Director, Rathbone Training
• Roger Milburn – Director, Ove Arup and Partners
• Scott Fletcher – Chairman, ANS Group