The Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has announced the appointment of Joanna Robinson – managing director of Bradford manufacturing company Mansfield Pollard – to its board.

Joanna joins other business leaders to sit on its panels to oversee work on skills, business support, innovation and the resource efficiency agenda.

Dave Harris, regional director at RBS Corporate Banking in Yorkshire, and Ian Cherry, chief financial officer at Nexus Vehicle Management have also joined the board. The three new appointments have been made following three members of the LEP board retiring.

The LEP brings together expertise from the private and public sectors to deliver the LEP’s transformative vision for the City Region: to be a globally recognised economy where good growth delivers high levels of prosperity, jobs and quality of life for everyone.

Working in partnership with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, the Board and its new members will oversee the delivery of the ambitions outlined in the recently revised Strategic Economic Plan for the region. The plan sets out the 20 year strategy to grow the economy through good growth, bringing jobs and prosperity to those who live and work here. The new Board and Panel members will also ensure that the City Region’s sector strengths, geography and diversity are represented and celebrated.  

LEP Chair, Roger Marsh OBE said: “I am delighted to welcome such a high calibre of talented business people to our Board and Panels. The LEP has achieved phenomenal success over the last few years - we have an ambition to create 35,700 jobs over the next 20 years and make the City Region a near £100bn economy by 2036 – and these appointments are set to further bolster our success.

“Having recently launched our revised Strategic Economic Plan for the region, with a renewed vision for future economic growth, it is an exciting time to be joining the partnership. I believe the new members will bring with them a wealth of experience, knowledge and sector expertise that will help us deliver on our ambitions as well as genuine passion for the place they live and work. ”

The private sector-led Business, Innovation and Growth Panel will be joined by several new members, as does the Green Economy Panel which oversees the strategy and delivery of energy and resource efficiency programmes. In addition, new members will join the LEP’s Employment and Skills Panel, who are responsible for delivering the actions set out in the recently launched Skills Plan for Leeds City Region