Following an extensive, open recruitment process, we are delighted to announce the appointments to our Leadership Boards and the people who will help shape our work over the next two years.
A very warm welcome to Liz Williams CIHM (Rentplus-UK ), Joanna Lee-Mills (Shakespeare Martineau) and Christopher Plumley (Trowers & Hamlins) who have joined our Housing and Communities Leadership Board. We are thrilled to be welcoming Liz, Joanna and Chris to the team who have been appointed following an extensive recruitment drive across the region.
Liz, Joanna and Chris will be joining our existing board members, Dr Halima Sacranie – Chair), Dominic Bradley, Alan Fraser, Mike Leonard, Afzal Hussain DL and Dr Steve McCabe, as we work to address critical issues around Housing and Communities in the Midlands, supporting independent debate on strategy, policy and practice.
Housing and Communities Leadership Board
We are delighted to announce our Digital Leadership Board, chaired by Professor Ardavan Amini (EsseSystems). A very warm welcome to our new ‘recruits’, Hollie Whittles (InfoSec Director, Purple Frog Systems Ltd), Tracy Pound (Maximity Ltd and CompTIA), Sarg Senthil (Kagool), who join Professor Steven Furnell (University of Nottingham), Professor Mohammad Patwary (University of Wolverhampton) and Haydn Povey (SCI Semiconductor) on the team. Each of the board members bring with them a specialism across the #Digital environment and decades of experience. We are delighted to have such experience and expertise on board.
Digital Leadership Board
Alongside our Housing and Communities and Digital workstreams, we have introduced two new areas of policy to our work; ‘People and Skills’ and ‘Infrastructure’.
To lead our People and Skills work, we welcome Megan Cooper (Chair of the Board and Sales Director, Serco), Parminder Singh Garcha (Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority), Dr .Benjamin Silverstone (WMG, University of Warwick), Lewis Walker (University College Birmingham), Rob Neal (Oxbridge), Diane Vernon MBE (EmployabilityUK), Alison Grade (Mission Accomplished), Gareth Jones (Virgin Money) and Ian Harrison (Growhouse Growth Business).
People and Skills Leadership Board
We are thrilled to be welcoming such a fantastic team to help shape our work in this key area of policy for the West Midlands and equally delighted to welcome such an experienced Board to lead our Infrastructure work. The Board, to be chaired by Tim Fawcett (Mott MacDonald) was developed as an output of our Connections for Prosperity conference, held at Warwick Conferences in July and will focus on how we deliver sustainable and inclusive outcomes for the region.
Tim will be joined by Raynee De Zoysa (Balfour Beatty plc), Harbinder Singh Birdi (Birdi & Partners), Deb Bunce (University College Birmingham), Paul Woods (WSP), Andrew Jinks (National Highways), Craig Flindall (Warwickshire County Cricket Club Edgbaston Stadium), Tolu Osekita (Strategic Advisor, Family Office) and Sandeep Shingadia (Transport for West Midlands). An extremely warm welcome to the team!
Infrastructure Leadership Board