BUCKSLEP - Key Persons
As the Managing Director at Berkeley Strategic, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Berkeley Group Plc, Adrian Brown is responsible for the long-term land business of the Group. Adrian has successfully promoted numerous large-scale development schemes for the Group over the past 21 years and brings a wealth of highly relevant expertise and experience to add real value to the Buckinghamshire LEP Board. In addition, Adrian was a board member of the Aylesbury Vale Advantage and latterly Chair of the Buckinghamshire Advantage Board.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Director of Corporate Affairs
As Director of Corporate Affairs, Andrew has been instrumental in the development of the Pinewood site and development of the international reputation of the studio and in particular in developing strong investment links.
A Board member of Buckinghamshire LEP since 2012, Andrew has been instrumental in guiding and supporting the growth of the LEP and his knowledge of the film and creative arts sector has been invaluable in the development of this growth area for Buckinghamshire. Andrew, who lives in Stoke Poges, is also a Non-Executive Director of Buckinghamshire Business First.
Job Titles:
- Director Aylesbury Vale Enterprise Zone
Anthony is a Chartered Surveyor with over 30 years' experience in commercial and residential development and regeneration projects. As Director of Aylesbury Vale Enterprise Zone (AVEZ) he is responsible for working with stakeholders to promote and deliver development across the three Enterprise Zone sites at Silverstone, Westcott and Arla/ Woodlands.
Anthony read for a BSC (Hons) in Urban Land Economics at Sheffield Hallam University and qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 1989. Until 2004 he worked in London in development consultancy, for the City of London Corporation, English Partnerships and the London Development Agency. From 2004 Anthony worked for the Homes and Communities Agency, mainly on major projects in Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes, before becoming AVEZ Director in May 2017.
Caroline has 20 years' experience in socio-economic research and a Master's degree in Social & Market Research. She's a fan of maps and charts!
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive, Epilepsy Society
Prior to her position as Chief Executive of the Epilepsy Society in November 2016, Clare was Chief Executive of Leonard Cheshire Disability for five years. Before joining the charity which supports disabled people in the UK and around the world, she was the first Chief Executive of the Judicial Appointments Commission and held senior civil service positions at the Cabinet Office, Home Office and Department for Constitutional Affairs.
She has also worked in the private sector at IBM and was a member of the executive committee of Coca Cola GB and Ireland where, as Director of Active Lifestyles, she was responsible for the company's partnerships with the voluntary sector.
Job Titles:
- Head of External Affairs, Governmental and Political Relations at Bosch
Job Titles:
- Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Planning & Regeneration, Buckinghamshire Council
After a 20 year career in the City where Gareth was Managing Director at Deutsche Bank and Nomura, he became a Councillor in 2017. Gareth is now Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration for Buckinghamshire Council.
Job Titles:
- Partner at Blaser Mills Law
Hiren Gandhi is currently a Partner at Blaser Mills Law, a Legal 500 and Chambers UK top ranked law firm primarily based in Buckinghamshire, where he oversees the business development and marketing functions for the firm, playing a key role in the strategic growth of the firm and across all of its teams. Prior to joining Blaser Mills, Hiren worked for several other law firms, advising multi-national corporates such as Shell, Nissan, and Jaguar-Land Rover. Hiren is also currently Vice-Chairman and Non-Executive Director on the board of Buckinghamshire Business First.
Ian has established a reputation for making things happen in Buckinghamshire since first arriving in the county almost 25 years ago.
As Leisure, Culture and Tourism Manager at Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) he was integral to the development of the Swan Pool and Aqua Vale Leisure Centres, he helped establish a rural arts programme that still thrives today and he delivered the first commercial visitor guides and website covering Bucks. By developing a ground-breaking cultural strategy he was able to help AVDC secure millions of pounds of developer contributions for the community infrastructure required to support growth.
This experience led Ian to take on the challenge of managing Buckinghamshire's preparations for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, a challenge he relished. Ian helped make Dorney Lake the most popular of all of the Games venues and Stoke Mandeville the most successful of all international training camp destinations, and helped Buckinghamshire businesses secure over £70 million in Games related contracts.
Since the Games he has helped secure a permanent Olympic legacy for Buckinghamshire. Stoke Mandeville's position as the Birthplace of the Paralympic Movement will now be celebrated every two years as the only permanent location in the lighting of the Paralympic Flame.
Not surprisingly, with a career that has been heavily influenced by sport, Ian finds it difficult to pass a bat, racquet or club without picking it up and is a regular fixture at the weekly parkrun in his hometown of Buckingham.
Job Titles:
- Economic & Labour Market Analyst
James previously worked in evaluation for Young Enterprise, where he developed his understanding of the skills needed for the future world of work. James will apply this experience into gathering insight on the skills agenda in the Buckinghamshire LEP area.
James majored in International Development at the University of Northampton and received the Bernie Ashmore Award for conducting an evaluation of the 2015 earthquake emergency response in Nepal in collaboration with NAMI College. James went on to teach English and Maths in China as part of a British Council graduate programme, and later worked for various charities where he received an award for his year-long experience volunteering for disability charity Scope.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operation Officer, Satellite Applications Catapult
As Chief Operating Officer of the Satellite Applications Catapult Lucy is responsible for supporting enterprises across the UK in understanding and exploiting the potential of space and satellites to create opportunities and transform businesses.
With a background in Physics and Engineering, Lucy's career to date has involved the launch for satellites that provide communications for much of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and building a satellite operations centre in West Cornwall that operated a fleet of communications satellites.
She is an ardent believer in the Catapult vision "To innovate for a better world, empowered by satellites". Many see the growing space industry as a potential source of economic growth; Lucy also sees it as a way of improving the future for everyone, and of building connections between people and communities that will transform the way we relate to each other.
Marina leads the Enterprise Coordinator team delivering the under 19 skills agenda for Buckinghamshire and is also Careers Hub lead.
Having graduated in business studies and completing a graduate trainee program with IBM, Marina then moved into Investment Banking, specialising in Latin American equity fund management, which made use of her language skills. Having had a keen interest in training and development, Marina trained to be a teacher of Business. She has always believed in involving business in the classroom and embraced the ethos of the Peter Jones Academy ‘bringing the boardroom into the classroom'.
Job Titles:
- Leader, Buckinghamshire Council
Martin is Leader of Buckinghamshire County Council. His responsibilities include overall policy direction and strategy, communications, external relations with Government and representative bodies.
He leads on the counties economic development. Before joining the County Council Martin worked in business for twenty eight years. He is a Governor of a school in one of Buckinghamshire's most deprived areas.
Job Titles:
- Director, All Spring Media
Martina has nearly 20 years' experience of the independent film sector. She has also considerable experience of developing and delivering training programmes for entrants to the creative industries, right through to professionals wishing to update their skills.
In 2011 Martina set up All Spring Media as a media education consultancy. Prior to that Martina managed the Film and Digital Media Exchange, a £2.5 million project based at the University of Hertfordshire designed to build a bridge between education and the film and digital media industries.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Managing Director of Buckinghamshire Business First
Philippa Batting is currently Managing Director of the largest business representative organisation in Buckinghamshire with more than 11,000 businesses now in its membership. Philippa brings a wealth of entrepreneurial and results-driven experience in addition to an extensive network of business connections to the Buckinghamshire LEP Board.
Job Titles:
- Innovation and Digital Programme Manager
Rachel is trained in Information and Library Management and began her career in local government managing Heritage Lottery Fund Projects. With 10 years' experience in the higher education sector, Rachel spent six years specialising in digital systems development and implementing innovation programmes within university libraries. Rachel's work for the Local Enterprise Partnership focuses on digital strategy planning to support innovative collaboration within Buckinghamshire.
Job Titles:
- Director of Finance
- Officer
Richard is a Chartered Public Finance Accountant and S151 Officer for Buckinghamshire County Council, the Accountable Body for the Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership. As the Chief Financial Officer for the County Council and Buckinghamshire LEP, he is responsible for finance, internal audit & risk management, pensions, exchequer functions and procurement.
Richard read Mathematics and Operational Research at the University of Lancaster and has worked across a number of local authorities. He earned his CIPFA qualification in 1997 and joined Buckinghamshire County Council in 2010. Richard supports Buckinghamshire LEP's governance and assurance framework.
Richard, who is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), has a history balanced between the public and private sectors, with experience working with organisations large and small. This list includes Buckinghamshire County Council, BT, the National Blood Authority, the National House-Building Council and most recently Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Ex Officio Private Sector Board Member
Richard has lead responsibility for the business led Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership, including the development and implementation of a Bucks plan to align public and private sector investment and secure and invest European and UK Government funding to build the conditions for sustainable economic growth across Buckinghamshire and by collaborating with neighboring areas.
A Chartered Town Planner and Chartered Surveyor specialising in public private delivery, prior to the LEP Richard led a successful public private local delivery vehicle that translated planned employment, infrastructure and housing growth from the Sustainable Communities Plan into tangible outcomes on the ground.
Sarah has 30+ years working to support Board level individuals/teams; the last 15 of which have been on an independent, self-employed basis working with organisations in a wide variety of settings including economic development, clinical research, high end engineering, financial services and 1-2-1 support for successful entrepreneurs.
Job Titles:
- Cabinet Member for Transport, Buckinghamshire Council
Steven has a strong international business background in Hospitality, Software Development, Research, Consultancy and Property development, having worked for large FTSE 100 companies, SME's and as an entrepreneur in his own business. As a Director he assumed primary responsibility for strategic planning and commercial growth.
Steven is a Wycombe District councillor representing the Greater Hughenden ward and through his executive cabinet role plays a key part in the economic development, asset management and regeneration of the Wycombe district; not least the substantial capital investment programme in the area.