The LEP Board is a business-led partnership between businesses, universities, the region’s councils, and the Combined Authority.
About the Local Enterprise Partnership
Our role
The West of England Local Enterprise Partnership’s (LEP’s) role is to secure the region’s continued economic success by promoting an environment where businesses thrive and healthy and productive communities grow in a sustainable way. We work with Government to promote and champion the economic success of the region and support the attraction of new inward investment.
We shape regional policy to ensure residents have the right skills and can benefit from the region’s success and we support business growth by working to attract new jobs to Bristol, Bath and Weston-super-Mare and the surrounding areas. The board’s business members are influential leaders with valuable industry knowledge and expertise to help advise both within the region and beyond. The West of England offers excellent quality of life and has a growing national and international profile. It’s a great place to live and work and, as a partnership between business and local authorities, we are making it a better one.
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The LEP Board
LEP ChairRichard Bonner
Richard is the UK Market Director for Buildings and Places at Atkins.
As a Chartered Civil Engineer, he has a background in programmes, design and consultancy. An accomplished business leader, proven record of delivering P&L performance, growth and operational excellence, strategic planning and execution. Deep understanding of the economic drivers and systems leadership of Place. Richard an experienced Non Exec Director and Chair, and is the Chair of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership, past president of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce (Business West), and a member of the Western Gateway Partnership Board.
Stephen was previously the Chief Executive of Bristol City Council having previously been the council’s Executive Director for Growth and Regeneration. His achievements include the City Leap decarbonisation project, Temple Quarter regeneration and the council’s house building programme.
Board member profiles
Our board members come from a diverse array of professional backgrounds. They apply their diverse experiences and perspectives to relevant sectors across the West of England. Board member Neil Douglas is specifically responsible for representing and engaging with the small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) business community.
Vice ChairProfessor Sue Rigby
Professor Sue Rigby is the Vice-Chancellor of Bath Spa University.
Sue began her role as Vice-Chancellor in January 2018. She was previously Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Student Development at the University of Lincoln. In this role, she supported the student journey from application to alumni and oversaw the Colleges of Science and Arts.
Sue is a palaeontologist by background and was an academic at the universities of Cambridge, Leicester, and Edinburgh. She later moved into senior management, first as Assistant Principal and then Vice Principal at the University of Edinburgh. She is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).
Sue is currently an Executive Member of the MillionPlus group (The Association for Modern Universities). She is Chair of Student Minds (a Student Mental Health Charity) and a board member of the QAA (Quality Assurance Agency). Sue is also Chair of the QAA Credit Framework Group. She was recently Chair of the Natural Sciences TEF Pilot Panel and Chair of the Learning Gain Steering Group for Office for Students.
Sue led the Inclusive Development strand of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ Disabled Students Sector Leadership Group. She also led the work undertaken by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to define information needs for taught postgraduate students. This work has since been formalised into national policy, affecting all UK universities and many higher education colleges.
Christopher Grier is Vice President, Head of Procurement Landing Gear, Fuel Systems and Power on Board Procurement at Airbus. Having graduated in Mechanical Engineering, he started his career with BAE SYSTEMS in Prestwick.
He transferred to Airbus in Filton in 2004. Christopher has held leadership roles at Airbus within its programmes team. These roles have focused on wing development for A400M and A350XWB aircrafts.
David joined The Bristol Port Company in October 2008 as Operations Director. In 2016, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer.
Prior to his roles with The Bristol Port Company, he spent 24 years serving in the British Army. During this time, he was involved in several operational deployments. In 2007, this culminated in him commanding a battalion in Afghanistan.
Joanne is a partner at Foot Anstey LLP, specialising in advising businesses and stakeholders affected by financial distress. Since 2001, she has worked with many businesses across the region. She also works nationally in the financial services, construction, and retail sectors. Her role is focused on opportunities for turnaround, preservation of employment, and building sustainable growth. It also involves managing formal insolvency processes. She provides board-level advice concerning the duties and responsibilities of directors in financial difficulty.
Joanne has served on several voluntary boards and is currently a board member of both the Insolvency Lawyers’ Association and the Turnaround Management Association. She has also served on the Law Society National Equality and Diversity Committee. Joanne has spent many years in governance for primary schools in both Bristol and South Gloucestershire, focusing on vulnerable children and raising aspirations.
Margot is the Global General Counsel for Arup. Arup is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London which provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment. Arup has more than 16,000 staff in over 90 offices across 35 countries around the world.
Margot works out of Bristol and London as a senior solicitor, and has worked in the Southwest region since 2004. She worked for Osborne Clarke before moving in-house to work with Hyder PLC, and later becoming a partner in Arcadis LLP.
Margot grew up in London and graduated with a law degree from University College London (UCL). She has held many senior management positions, acting as part of several UK boards.
Margot values equality, diversity, and inclusion agendas – both inside and outside of work. She is a community governor at St Mary Redcliffe Primary School, and lives with her husband and two sons in Bristol.
Neil has lived and worked in North Somerset for most of his life. In 1984, he graduated from Bristol University in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. In 1991, he obtained a Masters in Subsea Engineering from Cranfield University.
Neil worked for an international corporation for 23 years in various engineering and management positions until 2007. Along with co-director Max Nodder, he then established Viper Subsea. This company specialised in technology development and integrity management of subsea located controls equipment. Head-quartered in Portishead, Viper Subsea became Viper Innovations as the business diversified.
Neil received the Institute of Directors’ South West Director of the Year Award in 2011. He also sits on the Board of LiveWire Innovation Inc., a Utah-based technology company.
Neil is a nominated SME representative on the LEP Board.
Nigel Costley has been the Regional Secretary of the South West TUC since 1996. This involves representing the TUC and the trade union movement, promoting TUC campaigns and supporting the work of individual unions.
Nigel took up a number of part-time and distance learning courses leading to a Master of Science degree in Training and Human Resource Management with Leicester University and more recently obtaining his PhD with University of the West of England.
Nigel has always campaigned for equal rights and opportunities. He was founder and Vice-Chair of Equality South West an umbrella body to champion equal opportunities. He has been a leading figure in pressing the case for improved support for migrant workers in the region and chaired the regional Migrant Workers Forum.
Passionate about social history, Nigel is the author of a book called West Country Rebels and a book on the 1913 China Clay Strike in Cornwall.
Ruth is the Chief Compliance Officer and Group General Counsel for Wessex Water. Ruth joined Wessex Water in 2016 after a legal career in London and Bristol specialising in competition law issues across a broad range of sectors and clients. Ruth has wide experience of legal and governance matters and has overall responsibility for compliance and group services. Ruth was appointed to the board of Wessex Water Services Limited in September 2022. Ruth is also a Board member of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership and Bath Festivals.
Councillor Kevin Guy is the leader of Bath & North East Somerset Council on which he represents Bathavon North ward. He has a First Class degree in International Politics & Social & Economic History from Aberystwyth University. Kevin spent seven years serving in the Royal Navy, including as a member of NATO Naval Intelligence based in Naples.
Claire became leader of South Gloucestershire Council in May 2023, having been a ward councillor since 2007. A Cambridge mathematics graduate, Claire spent a decade working in the software industry and more recently has carried out research at the University of Bristol into the environmental impacts of computing services.
Cllr Tony Dyer
Tony was born and raised in Bristol and joined the Green Party in 2008. He has represented the Southville Ward as a local Councillor since 2021 and appointed as Leader of the Council on 21 May 2024, he is the political figurehead of Bristol City Council. He has a comprehensive working background in IT consultancy, data analytics, and business, delivering large scale projects for multiple organisations and specific interest and expertise in local government finances, housing, and urban planning.
Metro MayorDan Norris
Dan Norris is the Metro Mayor for the West of England.
Dan was elected in May 2021. He previously worked across the area as an NSPCC trained child protection officer and local MP as well as running his own businesses.
