David Williams (Chair)

David is the Chairman of national commercial law practice Geldards LLP. A property law specialist, David has had experience outside the law as a property developer and in senior management of a top building society. He also brings experience of working on the Board of a Health Trust and as Vice Chairman of Derbyshire Learning and Skills Council.

Brian Baker

After 23 years in the telecommunications sector as a regional manager with BT, Brian joined Airwave Solutions - a secure digital radio network dedicated for the exclusive use of all the UK's emergency and public safety services. Brian has spent the last two years working on all aspects of the security requirements for the London 2012 Olympic Games, working with the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) ensuring a safe and secure Games.

George Cowcher

George Cowcher is Chief Executive of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce which speaks on behalf of 10,000 companies in the two counties and the Derbyshire Enterprise Agency. He sits on a number of Boards in both Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. George, who is a Chartered Town Planner, was previously Chief Executive of the North East Chamber and has held business related posts with the South West Regional Development Agency and One NorthEast.

Stuart Dawkins

Stuart is building a portfolio of non-executive and advisory roles, mainly supporting the local community. He has significant business experience of a FTSE100 company, H.M. Treasury, Inland Revenue and Alliance & Leicester. He has also held numerous roles in the voluntary sector, including membership of the East Midlands Advisory Board of Business in the Community (BITC). Stuart is a non-executive director of the Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce and Leicestershire County and Rutland Community Health Services.

Danielle Gillett (Company Secretary)

Danielle leads the Corporate Services directorate of EMB working at a strategic level with the board, shareholders, partners and stakeholders. Other roles include Non-Executive Director for the Leicestershire Business Awards and adviser to DeMontfort University's Campus Enterprise Incubation Centre. Previous roles include Company Secretary and FD for the Leicestershire Chamber Group and Non-Executive Director and Company Secretary for the LeicestHerday Trust.

Ian Greenaway

Ian is Managing Director of MTM Products Limited, a manufacturing company based in Chesterfield. His considerable experience in the manufacturing sector, along with his business acumen is important in ensuring EMB delivers to this important sector.

Paul Griffiths

Paul Griffiths is Chief Executive of Northamptonshire Chamber. He makes sure that the Chamber's Members, which employ almost 40% of the county's workforce, have their voice heard at local, regional and national levels and that Members can take advantage of extensive networking opportunities and savings on essential business services. Paul is a qualified Accountant with an extensive business background at senior level, in both finance and general management roles.

Rachel Mallows

Rachel runs two Northamptonshire based businesses with a regional remit, providing training, mentoring, project management and consultancy (Rachel Mallows Services to Business) and PR and event management (enthusepr Ltd). A strong supporter of women's issues, Rachel is an East Midlands Women's Ambassador and a regional Business Champion. She is a director of Northamptonshire Chamber and the trading subsidiary for The Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation, a charity funding a cure for spinal cord injury.

Stephen Smith

Stephen is Chief Executive and one of the founding directors of EMB, having created and led the formation of the company in 2005. EMB has a first class track record of over achievement on contract performance, providing excellent results for our customers. Stephen's extensive management experience in the private sector, alongside detailed knowledge of business support, enables him to provide practical, relevant help to companies. He also understands fully the needs of public funding bodies and how to implement policy and other initiatives effectively.

 

Stephen Smith
Chief Executive

As Chief Executive and one of the founding directors of EMB in 2005, Stephen created and led the formation of the company from initial idea through inception to full operation, including detailed transition into a single regional model from the five previous county-based Business Link operators.

EMB is now a wide ranging, strongly integrated business support services organisation with income of over £20m and a first class track record of over achievement on contract performance. As a highly experienced general manager Stephen has concentrated on giving EMB operational excellence and a strong service ethos.

With extensive experience across a number of business sectors Stephen speaks with direct authority on companies' support needs. His focus is on providing practical, relevant help to end user businesses along with significant added value to funders over and above contract targets.

Danielle Gillett
Executive Director (Corporate Services)

As one of the founding Directors of EMB, Danielle has led on the development and implementation of the corporate and governance infrastructure of EMB enabling the successful set-up and delivery of market leading and value for money services.

A professionally qualified accountant with over 19 years experience, Danielle heads the Corporate Services directorate of EMB working at a strategic level with the board, shareholders, partners and stakeholders as part of the executive management team. She was a key player in the transition of the Business Support strategy in the East Midlands, leading on managing the impact on people working in this field. Her team is responsible for the provision of core services including HR, Training and Development, ICT, Financial Management, H&S and Facilities management.

She is a founder member of the International Women's Day Trust and is a national Women's Enterprise Ambassador on behalf of the Women's Enterprise Task Force.

Richard Gill
Executive Director (Operations)

Richard is one of the founding Directors of EMB Ltd. He has a strong business based background at senior and strategic level in small, medium and large organisations and has directed major change management and restructuring projects. His practical experience, supported by significant academic honours, including an MBA, helped him become a competent and insightful adviser. His expertise and knowledge have shaped the development of the structure and values of the client-facing Operations Team in the East Midlands.

Richard led the development of the adviser team structure in the East Midlands implementing EMB's "thinking regionally, acting locally" philosophy. This work included integrating advisers from five former Business Links through the TUPE process into one focused, regionally consistent and locally managed team delivering excellent performance. A core strand of this integration was the development and implementation of a company-wide common business diagnostic framework.

As part of our 'provider plus' ethos, Richard contributes to the development of, and the rapid response to, the changing needs of our customers (funders) and clients (businesses). For example, this has involved work on skills, developing and changing the diagnostic in response to the credit crunch, the transition loans fund and flood recovery scheme. His holistic knowledge of the business support landscape allows him to represent EMB on various national forums and groups, contributing to service enhancement.

Phoebe Edwards
Executive Director (Business Development)

As one of the founding Directors of EMB Ltd, Phoebe has led on the development of innovative multi-channel client engagement strategies. These include the successful implementation of the market-leading Enquiry Hub which applies contact centre processes and systems to an enterprise support environment. A key player in the transition of the business support strategy in the East Midlands, she provided customer journey insight which informed system and process development.

A CIM qualified marketer, Phoebe heads the Business Development directorate, working at a strategic level with customers, stakeholders and the EMB board to ensure service relevance and end user satisfaction during a period of significant change. She leads the teams that engage and provide first level service to our clients, which span marketing, new media, events, information and enquiry handling. Collectively these have increased take up of Business Link services in the East Midlands by 41% over the past two years whilst maintaining customer satisfaction at 90%.

Phoebe also leads on relationship development and defines the strategy for effective engagement with public and private sector stakeholders, regularly presenting to large audiences. Her team also has a strong diversity imperative developing new ways to engage hard to reach audiences through creative partnerships and inventive marketing campaigns. An acknowledged expert on enterprise support, Phoebe regularly participates in national task and finish groups, advisory panels and theme boards.

Sean Read
Executive Director (Planning and Performance)

Sean is one of the founding Directors of EMB Ltd and with a strong background in business support at a senior level and is responsible for the Performance & Planning Directorate within EMB.

Sean has a strong understanding of business support issues with experience of balancing this with the needs of key stakeholders and the public sector.

Sean's teams are responsible for business compliance and the development of region-wide systems and processes to underpin delivery of large scale region wide contracts. In addition, he manages £8m in regional grant programmes and is responsible for the application, claims and monitoring process behind these.

Sean takes a lead on the identification and development of good practice across the company, capturing how we do business and building plans and frameworks around which EMB can improve service delivery. He has successfully implemented KPI performance management routines and quality management systems with direct and relevant experience of ISO 9001, Investors in People, Customer First and EFQM Business Excellence for both EMB and his previous companies.