Meet our Board of Directors

Kevin Harris

RSM UK Audit LLP

Kevin is a strong advocate for the Leicestershire community, having been Immediate Past-Chair of the Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP). Kevin is Managing Partner of the Leicester office of RSM and has decades of strategic accountancy experience.

Stuart Dawkins

Stuart has a broad range of business and banking experience, including strategic planning and corporate communications for a FTSE100 company. His portfolio of non-executive and advisory roles includes serving on boards for several large organisations.

Lindsey Williams

Futures Housing Group

Lindsey is passionate about social housing. As an active member of the Chartered Institute of Housing, she plays a key role in boosting the housing sector’s profile with central government. Lindsey is Group Chief Executive of Futures Housing.

Scott Knowles DL

East Midlands Chamber

Scott represents the Chamber, our members and our communities, managing various capital and revenue generating projects. Scott has a proven track record in the communications technology sector, helping organisations and businesses embrace emerging technologies.

Dawn Whitemore

SMB College Group

Dawn has a track record of delivering significant business and quality improvements, along with sustainable financial turnarounds. Dawn has decades of experience as a senior leader in the further and higher education sectors and is Principal and CEO of SMB College Group.

Eileen Richards MBE DL

Eileen Richards Recruitment

Eileen has won a series of accolades for her achievements, and her various roles include the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire. Eileen is Co-Chair of our Enterprising Women network, and is the founder and director of ER Recruitment Ltd.

Mark Deakin

Turner & Townsend

Mark has taken an active role in leading local development, regeneration and people development projects, as well as large global projects for Rolls-Royce and Amazon. Mark’s high-profile responsibilities include various chair and director roles.

David Williams MBE DL

Geldards LLP

David has represented the region on a local and international level for many years. He holds several non-executive and trustee positions, including Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Derbyshire and Deputy Chair of D2N2 LEP. David is Chairman of Geldards LLP.

Dr Cham Kang

Qinesis

Cham is passionate about innovation and developing new markets. As a business and marketing consultant/coach for the STEM sectors, he has worked with global multinationals and SMEs. Cham has expertise in chemicals, healthcare, biotech, pharma and cosmetics.

Anjuu Trevedi MBE

De Montfort University and Twycross Zoo

Anjuu heads up Knowledge Exchange and Innovation at De Montfort University. She brings to the university in-depth knowledge and successful track record of delivering industry-university collaborations thanks to 23 plus years in the higher education sector. As the Head of Knowledge Exchange and Innovation, Anjuu’s ambition is to accelerate and grow R&D and innovation-led collaborations with the private and third sector businesses, especially SMEs, as well as the public sector.

In addition to the Knowledge Exchange and Innovation role at DMU, Anjuu also leads Twycross Zoo’s partnerships development for the brand-new NSCC (National Science and Conservation Centre), a mini university biodiversity conservation ‘centre of excellence’ being built adjacent to the Zoo. As the Senior Partnerships Development Manager NSCC, Anjuu’s focus is to engage and develop strategic collaborations with universities, business partners and stakeholders to deliver greater biodiversity conservation-led R&D, innovation, educational programmes and public engagement.

Emma Baumback

Future Wealth Life Management

Emma is passionate about supporting young professionals and helping them to succeed and grow, and she is Immediate Past-Chair of the Board for Generation Next. Emma is an Independent Financial Planner for Future Life Wealth Management based in Northeast Derbyshire.

Martin Barnett

TTK Confectionary (trading as The Treat Kitchen)

TTK has grown its confectionary business from one single store in Nottingham to a thriving food gifting business that trades from 5,000 locations across the UK and exports to 22 countries globally. TTK is recognised as one of TikTok’s fastest growing businesses and has multiple B2C income channels online.

Martin is also Vice Chair at member charity Base 51, a young person support charity based in Nottingham.

Sandra Wiggins

Authentically Balanced, Manufacturing Mentor and Leadership Coach

Sandra has over 35 years of leadership experience within the corporate world of engineering, manufacturing, and international logistics.

Sandra is co-founder of DPI UK Ltd, an established East Midlands SME manufacturer of soft signage, as well as the CEO of Sandra Wiggins Consulting Ltd t/a Authentically Balanced. This new business aims to support manufacturing leaders to create cultural transformation, structure, and scale by engaging its team through psychological and behavioural safety. Sandra sold her majority shareholding in DPI in October 2023.

Maz Patel

Scope Construction

Possessing overall control of the business currently due to rapid turnover growth of £8m in 2023, Maz has been the driving force behind the growth, direction and focus of the business alongside his business partner who is focused on operational delivery.

Scope is an award-winning construction services provider, most recently the Chamber’s Leicestershire Business Awards, 2022 Business of the Year.

George Oliver

1284

1284 director George is a former Editor of The Leicester Mercury and Leicestershire Live. He spent 15 years in regional journalism, including nine years as a Senior Leadership Team member.

George founded 1284 in 2020 as a strategic communications agency, specialising in innovation and regional development.

Amit Sonpal

Barclays Bank

Amit leads the Barclays Mid-Corporate team across the East Midlands and has done so since September 2021, having previously led the local Business Banking SME Team in the East Midlands supporting businesses to scale up and grow across all sectors.

Working with key Micro Markets across the East Midlands, Amit is experienced in external engagement and business development collaboration.

Amit also works to support colleagues through career development, coaching and mentoring. He co-leads on the Barclays Race at work and Multicultural workstreams and is a multi-Award winner in Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion.