Ruth Dooley

Ruth Dooley is a partner at Hazlewoods LLP.  She is a chartered accountant and tax adviser for a wide range of companies and private clients and is a previous winner of South West Accountant of the Year.  She has been instructed as an expert witness in over 100 cases and has experience in family, professional negligence and commercial cases.

During her thirty years in Gloucestershire, she has contributed to the Prince’s Trust, Fredericks Gloucestershire, BBC Radio Gloucestershire, the Honourable Company of Gloucestershire and she is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Gloucestershire.

David Owen

David is Chief Executive of GFirst LEP, one of the most successful Local Enterprise Partnerships in the UK. He is also Director of Economy and Environment at Gloucestershire County Council, Chair of The Summerfield Charitable Trust and a member of the Government’s Future Flight Advisory Board.

He is a previous member of the International Advisory Committee of the International Economic Development Council, former President of the Cheltenham Chamber of Commerce and former Chairman of the South West UK Business Advisory Group. He has a BA (Hons) in business studies and an MA in leading change. Follow David on Twitter: @CEOGFirst.

Dev Chakraborty

Dev has over 25 years of experience in marketing, sales and media roles in the South West, including 10 years of senior management and board level experience. Companies included; Northcliffe Newspapers, Pirate FM in Cornwall, Star FM in Bristol and the Crimestoppers Charity.

Since 2009 the focus changed to Business Support spending time at Business West, then joining the Growth Hub in Gloucestershire as one of the original Business Guides.

Dev’s current role of Deputy Chief Executive at GFirst LEP oversees the Inward Investment team, the Made in Gloucestershire initiative, all infrastructure projects and the Marketing/Branding of the LEP.

Deborah Potts

With over 25 years professional experience of supporting Voluntary & Community Sector (VCS) organisations to grow, Deborah has an all-encompassing knowledge of the sector that is rooted in a genuine passion for its power to change lives.  Deborah is currently CEO of The Music Works and has recently led the development of a new £1.8 million music hub for young people in Gloucestershire. Her skills lie in maximising social impact through strategic development and income generation. As previous CEO of Women in Sport and interim Director of Operations for the English Federation of Disability Sport, she also has a strong track record in championing equality of opportunity for marginalised groups.

Ian Mean

Ian Mean is Director for Business West in Gloucestershire. He is also a media and marketing consultant following retirement as editor of the Western Daily Press and was previously editor in chief of Gloucestershire Media. He is chairman of the NHS Hospitals Trust organ donation committee. His specific role will include being the Small Business Champion for the LEP. 

Ian is well placed and well versed in the business needs of Gloucestershire, having him as the Small Business Champion will ensure that all business voices are heard. 

Jackie Labbe

Jackie joined the University of Gloucestershire in June 2021 as the Deputy-Vice-Chancellor and Provost. Jackie has overall responsibility for the development and delivery of the academic portfolio and for academic planning and budgeting. She leads the seven Heads of School and guides, supports, and facilitates their strategic leadership. 

Jackie chairs the Portfolio Diversification Programme Board and the Education Strategy Board, both of which are key pillars in delivering growth ambitions and developing the curriculum to take account of the current and future educational needs of students.

Jackie is a Professor of British Literature, the author of five monographs, more than 50 articles and essays, and has a PhD in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jenny Raymond

Jenny is a partner with Harrison Clark Rickerbys’ dispute resolution department in Cheltenham. She specialises in a wide range of commercial disputes including financial services, banking and insurance disputes, as well as disputes relating to the misuse of confidential information and breaches of post termination restrictions.  She trained and qualified in London and has a broad range of experience, representing a range of clients from multinational companies to local individuals.

She has lived in Gloucestershire for 8 years, having grown up in a local community in Pembrokeshire. Jenny feels entirely at home in the county, and loves the sense of community as well as the huge opportunities that the county has to offer. 

Joe Roberts

Joe has been a Director at Roberts Limbrick for over 12 years, helping to lead and manage the practice as well as designing numerous award-winning Architectural projects both in Gloucestershire and nationally. Roberts Limbrick has developed both a local and national reputation within the Architecture and Construction industry. The practice has grown through some very challenging times into a practice that employs over 100 professionals and works across a wide range of sectors from Sport and Leisure to Commercial, Education, Residential and Health.

Joe was born, educated and spent most of his working life in Gloucestershire and considers himself a proud, passionate, Gloucestrian. Outside of his role as a Director at Roberts Limbrick, he is also a member of Gloucester Severn Rotary Club, sits on the board of the Gloucestershire Design Review Panel and the Cheltenham Economic Recovery Taskforce.

Lucy Ackland

Lucy Ackland is a senior engineer at Renishaw plc, the County’s largest private sector employer. A Gloucestershire native, she is a passionate engineer with over 18 years of manufacturing, design, program management and customer application experience.

Aged just 16, she became an engineering apprentice, ultimately gaining a first-class honours degree in mechanical and manufacturing engineering. Based on her own experiences, Lucy is a strong advocate for apprenticeships, women in engineering and education engagement, and dedicates significant time to mentoring young people, organising STEM activities and advising on apprenticeship development.

In 2014 she won the Women’s Engineering Society Prize at the Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards and in 2017 was named as one of the UK’s Top 50 Women in Engineering.

Cllr Mark Hawthorne

Mark is the Leader of Gloucestershire County Council. Upon taking over as leader, Mark became the driving force behind the council’s Meeting the Challenge project – a fundamental redesign of how the council operates, with a view to saving £114 million over four years. Two years on, the programme is on target with £65 million already saved.

Looking to the future, Mark’s focus is continuing the economic stimulus programme and supporting Gloucestershire’s businesses, while keeping council tax as low as possible. A key task for the year ahead is to deliver a new highways contract that will improve how Gloucestershire’s roads are maintained, along with transforming social care and increasing the ability for communities to decide on and deliver more of the services that are important to them.

Matt Charman

Over the past 20+ years, Matt has successfully built a career in Marketing across a range of different businesses and industries. He has worked in start-ups, a publicly funded consultancy and since 2010 has been part of the team that built the Cloud business unit within Google. His experience in fast paced tech businesses has given Matt a deep understanding of internet technologies and the opportunities these provide to businesses of all sizes to re-invent and create new opportunities for growth.

Matt has lived in Gloucestershire all his life, is passionate about the community, and how fair and equitable access to new technologies can meet the needs of this diverse region.

Matt Lennard

Matt is the Chief Officer of the Gloucestershire VCS Alliance. Matt’s role is to oversee the delivery of all VCS Alliance projects and to ensure the organisation is delivering on its business strategy.   Matt sits on many partnership boards throughout the county and is supporting the development of the new Integrated Care System by championing the voice of the sector and ensuring it can shape and develop the priorities.

Nicola Bird

Nicola is the founder and Managing Director of AccXel, the UK’s first industry-led education facility, co-funded by GFirst LEP. She is also the Safety & Business Development Director, and third generation of an £80m family construction business in Gloucestershire, K W Bell Group.

Raised in the Forest of Dean, Nicola has a Master’s degree in Construction Safety & Environmental Management from the University of South Wales, and a post graduate certificate in Leading Business from the University of Gloucestershire.

With a passion for education and skills, Nicola is changing the face of construction education to support the chronic shortage by developing and empowering people already in and entering the industry.

Richard Cook

Richard is the Leader of Gloucester City Council and Cabinet Member for Environment.

Tyler Attwood

Tyler is a graduate of Swindon Dance: Centre for Advanced Training (CAT), he has evolved as a dancer, expanding his understanding of street dance and venturing into classical dance, in styles such as ballet and contemporary. Tyler went on to study at Northern School for Contemporary Dance, where he graduated from in 2017 with a BPA (Hons) in contemporary dance.

Tyler’s training has led him to venture into the world of teaching, as he values the passing on of the knowledge in which he has gained to the future generations invaluable.

Tyler established Your Next Move in 2015 – a community interest company whose primary aim is to help raise aspirations of young people through Hip Hop related activity.

Rowena Hay

Rowena is the Leader of Cheltenham Borough Council