Business Link chief executive named
HELEN West OBE has been appointed chief executive of the new Yorkshire and Humber regional Business Link.
The new Business Link service provider, Y&H IDB won the £29m-a-year contract to deliver a new regional Business Link service from April next year. The company has been scouring the public and private sectors for a strong and credible CEO to lead the new organisation.
“We were expecting to make an appointment from outside the existing Business Link organisation as the role is so dramatically different from anything that has come before, but Helen demonstrated she was the best amongst a field of very impressive candidates,” said Chris Melvin, managing director of Reed in Partnership, one of the two parent companies behind the future Business Link provider.
“We needed to find a strong, passionate and highly credible leader to bring a new approach to delivering the best possible support to businesses in the region.
Helen has demonstrated her skills and knowledge in this arena, and she will now be selecting a new team to help her build the new organisation,” he added.
Ms West was awarded the OBE recently in recognition of her work supporting business in her native Yorkshire where she has spent the majority of her career.
She was offered the role in the same week that she went to Buckingham Palace to receive her OBE from Her Majesty The Queen.
She was previously chief executive of York and North Yorkshire Business Link, a position she took in 1996 following six years with North Yorkshire TEC.
“This is a huge challenge and a fantastic opportunity to make a real impact supporting the region's start-up entrepreneurs and growing businesses. The new organisation will be structured very differently, and we have a clean sheet of paper to design the most efficient and effective service provision possible,” said Ms West.
West will be working closely with the transition team from Reed in Partnership and Exemplas, the two parent businesses, to assemble her management team and develop the services that will go 'live' on April 1, 2008.
Tom Riordan chief executive of regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, who awarded the delivery contract to Y&H IDB as part of its remit to support economic development of the Yorkshire and Humber region, welcomed the appointment.
“It was crucial for the new organisation to have a strong and highly motivated individual at the helm, and in Helen we have exactly the right person to take the service into a bold new era.” commented Riordan.
“Appointing from within the existing Business Link network brings the best learning and a deep understanding of the delivery of support to the region'sbusinesses, but Helen has shown that she understands the fundamentally different way the service can be delivered to ensure the best use of public funds and the most effective way to support businesses here” he added.
