Senior Management Team

Andrea’s role is to lead & direct the HR strategy to deliver an exceptional service and support to the Company and external clients in order to foster true employee engagement and drive high people performance, ensuring this is in line with the business objectives and aims. Andrea has over 20 years HR experience and has been with Business West for 10 years.

Contact Andrea - andrea.crombleholme@businesswest.co.uk

Emma plays a vital role in shaping and delivering our long-term strategy, putting our current and prospective business members at the heart of everything we do. Ensures the Business West membership team is integrated, working cohesively across all member levels and through the local chambers of the Business West region.  All with the aim of achieving our wider company purpose of backing and serving business and making a material positive impact on inclusive and environmentally sustainable business growth for the social and economic success of the region.

James leads on our commercial activities supporting the business community, a Chartered Marketeer with an MBA from the University of Bath combined with 25 years practical business experience in a variety of sectors, within both FTSE 100 and SME companies.

Jessica works with the Managing Director and Exec Board to implement the company’s vision and strategic direction. She leads on aligning and linking operations to meet Business West’s leadership and service goals, acting as a catalyst for continuous improvement measures and projects so that Business West can best deliver outstanding customer experience.

Jo is responsible for helping to set the financial direction of the company, ensuring strong financial controls and sound financial viability. A key part of her role is to provide quality financial and management information to managers, the Board and contracting agencies. She's also responsible for supporting managers and helping to structure project activity in the best financial way.

Mary brings extensive experience of sales and marketing in businesses of all sizes - from start ups to MSBs - across a variety of sectors in the UK, USA and Ireland. She is responsible for Business West's marketing, PR & communications strategy, ensuring that all businesses in the region are aware of, and take up the services available to help them start up, grow, innovate and trade overseas. Proud of Business West's reputation as the ‘go to’ organisation for all business issues, Mary helps to identify members’ concerns which are fed into government to be taken on board when key decisions are being made.

Contact Mary - mary.martin@businesswest.co.uk

Matt is Director of Policy at Business West, responsible for listening to and representing the concerns of the wide range of our business members.  He is a specialist in economic policy and has a long history of economic and business research and work in government affairs. He has written reports for the Prime Minister on improving England’s economic performance, reports on improving city growth and several high profile housing reports.

Matt also worked for several years as a trade specialist supporting emerging market economies on trade negotiations at the World Trade Organisation and in European Union bilateral negotiations and as an advisor for the G33 and G90 group of countries. He has written and been quoted in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Times and the BBC and has written articles for International Affairs and the Princeton Encyclopaedia of the World Economy.

Contact Matt - matt.griffith@businesswest.co.uk

From 1983 Phil worked in the North Sea oil & gas fields as an offshore construction engineer for an American oil company. The stagnating North Sea oil industry of the late 80’s led Phil to do an MBA at London Business School and University of California Berkeley, which was followed by a role as a mergers and acquisitions specialist at a City of London investment bank.

Phil moved to Bristol in the early 90’s to become CEO of the West of England Business Link. In 2003 Phil took on his current position as MD of Business West, the largest Chamber of Commerce in the UK, and a public purpose company, which operates the West of England Initiative and the Bristol, Bath, Gloucestershire and Swindon & Wiltshire Chambers of Commerce. It also operates various public sector contracts, including Innovate UK services for the SW region.

Business West is the co-founder of Destination Bristol and the Bristol Cultural Development Partnership. Phil is Chair of the South West Ventures Fund Advisory committee and sits on the Court of Bristol University.