Member Article

Greater Manchester growth body appoints new chief

Former NWDA chief Mark Hughes,MBA, has been named as the chief executive of a new organisation that will spearhead economic growth in Greater Manchester.

As head of the Northwest Regional Development Agency, Mr Hughes lead an important regeneration quango under the Labour government. Following several waves of redundancies, the NWDA finally closed its doors in March Last year.

Mr Hughes will now front a newly formed body that aims to boost trade, investment, business growth and support in the Greater Manchester area, all in line with plans made by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and the Local Enterprise Partnership.

The organisation will work alongside other investment agencies such as MIDAS, trade and investment services, UKTI, the Business Growth Hub and Finance for Business.

Mr Hughes commented: “I look forward to working with colleagues at MIDAS, UKTI and the Business Growth Hub to integrate all that Greater Manchester has to offer to businesses and to ensure that the city-region capitalises on the opportunities that increasingly devolved local governance can provide.”

He will take up his role on Monday, under the joint chairmanship of Ian Stewart, mayor of Salford and the chairman of Bruntwood Group, Michael Oglesby CBE, who represents the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

Mr Oglesby said: “Manchester has ambitious plans for growth over the next few years and Mark’s role will be to take a lead in achieving this. He will be an excellent addition to Greater Manchester’s wider leadership team.”

Mr Stewart added: “This new organisation, under Mark’s stewardship, will enable us to further strengthen the relationship between local and central government, shaping the business support services provided to ensure that we are creating local jobs for local people.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .