Birmingham LEP makes first senior appointment
A FORMER president of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce has been named as chairman of the new Development Board for the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) covering Birmingham and Solihull.
Bridget Blow’s appointment to head the Development Board was announced by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group today. In addition to Birmingham and Solihull, the LEP also covers East Staffordshire, Lichfield and Tamworth.
The appointment follows the Government’s green light for the LEP bid last week.
Ms Blow brings extensive business experience to the body having previously served as chief executive of Birmingham-based ITNet between 1994 and 2005 and as a non-executive director of the Bank of England from 2000-2005. She expects to be in the voluntary post for up to four months.
She said: “I look forward to working with business and local authority colleagues to design and deliver the conditions necessary to create a full-time functioning Local Enterprise Partnership Board.
“This will include designing a process to identify the business representatives and independent business chair. We have agreed that business representatives who serve on the Development Board will not be eligible for election to the full board.
“This therefore removes any risk of potential conflicts of interest cutting across the work of private sector Development Board members.”
Representatives of business support organisations in the area will work in the short-term to identify business representation on the Development Board. These representatives will work with local authority leaders to establish the full LEP.
Cllr Mike Whitby, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “I believe we are very fortunate to have the support of someone of Bridget’s calibre to chair our Development Board agenda.
“Her business experience combined with a strong project background and knowledge of the public sector makes her an ideal choice.”
Ms Blow has skills in technology, turnover and profit growth, major sales of outsourced services, use of off-shoring and corporate deals including management and employee buyout, floatation, sale and acquisition.
She also brings extensive experience of strategy setting, human resources, systems, change management and governance.
Her current business roles include non-executive chairman of Harvard International plc (formerly ALBA plc), a leading distributor of consumer electrical goods for digital markets, and a member of its nominations, audit and remuneration committees. She is also non-executive director (Deputy Chairman) of Coventry Building Society; non-executive chairman of Trustmarque Group Ltd; and non-executive director of Birmingham Hippodrome.
