Fresh faces move onto GFirst Board in shake-up for local enterprise partnership

Four fresh faces have been revealed as new board members of Gloucestershire’s Local Enterprise Partnership, GFirst LEP,

The news followed the recent announcement of Ruth Dooley becoming the new Chair of Gloucestershire’s Local Enterprise Partnership, GFirst LEP.

Tyler Attwood is Founder/Director of Your Next Move Ltd. Nicola Bird is Founder and Managing Director of AccXel Ltd and Safety and Business Development Director of Bell Contracting. Matt Charman is Head of Public Sector Marketing at Google and Joe Roberts, Director of Gloucester architects Roberts Limbrick Ltd.

They are replacing four current private sector board members, who have come to the end of their permitted terms on the board: Dr Diane Savory, Adam Starkey, Mike Warner and Rob Loveday. Lorrin White, due to changes in personal circumstances, also decided to step down from the board at the same time.

David Owen, CEO GFirst LEP said, “We were overwhelmed with both the quality and quantity of the applicants looking to join the GFirst LEP Board. Of course we are sad to have to say goodbye to Diane, Adam, Mike, Rob and Lorrin who collectively have served nearly 35 years on the GFirst LEP Board and have been fantastic assets to the Board, but I look forward to working with our new Board members and I’m sure their energy and enthusiasm will be invigorating.”

There have also been changes in Local Authority Membership of the GFirst LEP Board.

Steve Jordan from Cheltenham Borough Council stood down from the board following the local elections in May 2021. District authorities have approved the appointment of Doina Cornell, Leader of Stroud District Council as their representative and the appointment of Richard Cook, Leader of Gloucester City Council as observer to the board.

Your Next Move Ltd is a not for profit organisation aiming to raise the aspirations of young people in Gloucester, through hip-hop culture and related activity. Its founder. It was founded by Tyler Attwood.

Growing up in the city of Gloucester, south west England, Tyler began dancing from the age of 13. After two years of training in the style of B-boying, Tyler joined local youth dance company, GD:URBAN and Swindon based Youth company, YDA Urban. His interests began to broaden to embrace styles new to him, like Popping. Tyler went on to study at the Northern School for Contemporary Dance, where he graduated from in 2017 with a BPA (Hons) in contemporary dance.

Tyler’s training led him into the world of teaching, and he has taught in primary, secondary schools, community centres and youth clubs in and the South West.

AccXel is a Construction Skills Accelerator Centre based in Gloucestershire and is the first co-funded, industry led construction education facility in the UK.

Located in Cinderford, Gloucestershire, the pioneering centre is co-funded by K W Bell Group and the Government’s Getting Building Funding awarded by GFirst LEP.

Nicola Bell, Founder and Managing Director of AccXel Ltd said, “I am very excited to use my private sector experience to support and contribute to the Board, the GFirst vision, and more importantly, the County. Equally, I am eager to learn from my appointment to closer align both public and private sector business practices to enhance partnership and collaboration for the betterment of Gloucestershire."

Matt Charman 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 him 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.

Joe Roberts, Director of Roberts Limbrick said, “I am delighted and humbled to have been invited to join the board of GFirst LEP. I hope that my experience as both a business leader and award-winning designer will enable me to bring both commercial and creative thinking to the role, as well as expertise in key areas such as construction, design, regeneration and placemaking.”