BCC Board of Directors
Neville Reyner CBE DL
President, British Chambers of Commerce
Neville Reyner started his working life as an electrician in the Coal Mines of North East Lancashire and progressed to be become a Chartered Electrical Engineer.
He spent 15 years as UK Executive Vice President of Mitsubishi Electric Europe, a global electrical conglomerate, and was responsible for a turnover of £250 million. He left at the end of 1998. Neville also took Mitsubishi Semiconductor in the UK & Ireland from start-up, to a company worth over £150 million in 15 years. Prior to this, he worked with Fairchild Semiconductor and Analog Devices. Neville was the Deputy Chairman of the East of England Regional Development Agency (EEDA) between 1999 and 2003, and over his five year term he championed innovation.
He has a BSc degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Leeds, and a Masters in Business Administration from Cranfield. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers & Commerce, and the Institute of Directors. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute.
In the 2001 New Year Honours, Neville was appointed CBE for services to business, and in 2003 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Hertfordshire.
David Frost
Director General, British Chambers of Commerce
David Frost has been Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) since January 2003.
Prior to this he was Chief Executive of Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce and Business Link.
David is Chairman of the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship. He is a Board Member of Ufi/Learn Direct and also a member of the National Employer Advisory Board for the Reserve Forces.
In February 2008 David received an Honorary Doctorate from Birmingham City University.
His interests are motorcycling, cycling and sailing and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is a member of the Court of Assistants of the Worshipful Company of Loriners.
Alan Ferguson
Executive Chair, Fergusons Blyth Ltd and Fergusons Transport
Is the owner and Executive Chairman of Fergusons Blyth Limited and Fergusons Transport.
In 1970, at an early age, Alan joined his father Eddie in the family's transport business, which had been started by his father Matt Ferguson in Blyth, Northumberland, at the height of the depression in 1926.
Alan is extremely passionate about the North-East region's economic prosperity and is a tireless campaigner for improved regional infrastructure, particularly the road networks and currently such campaigns as the dualling of the A1 North to Edinburgh and the upgrading of the roundabouts to the north and south of the Tyne Tunnel.
Kirk Fletcher
Managing Director, Experian
Kirk has spent the last 18 years working within and across a wide range of Experian business units and roles.
Kirk joined Experian in 1992 as a Junior Account Executive and spent almost 10 years with Experian’s Business Strategies division. In 1996 he took on responsibility for developing relationships within the Automotive sector and this quickly became one of the fastest growing areas of the company.
In June 2004 he became Sales Director for Experian’s Automotive division. A key responsibility of this role was the development and deployment of new data driven solutions across Experian’s franchise dealer clients. Kirk was appointed Managing Director for Automotive business in October 2007 and led the business through a significant restructure. He is Experian’s FSA ‘Approved Person’ and a registered Director of Vehicle Mileage Check Ltd, an Experian business now based in Nottingham.
In April of this year, he took on his current role leading Experian's Business Information and Automotive businesses in the UK and Ireland. With full P&L responsibility, he oversees over 400 people covering offices in Nottingham, London, Manchester, Dublin and Paris. In addition, Kirk also leads Experian UK and Ireland's strategic development of services to and for the small to medium enterprise sector.
Originally born in Nottingham when away from work he enjoys relaxing with his two young daughters, walking in the peak district, BBQing at any opportunity and climbing the occasional mountain.
Combining outside interests with life at Experian saw him lead an Experian team to complete the National 3 Peaks Challenge in June 2008 and travel to Argentina for a month to raise funds for MacMillan, Experian’s charity partner, in December 2008.
Now in his 18th year at Experian he is highly passionate about the business and its role in the local community and is delighted to have joined the Board of the BCC.
Nora Senior
Executive Chair UK Regions and Ireland, Weber Shandwick
Nora Senior is Executive Chair UK Regions and Ireland of global public relations and public affairs consultancy, Weber Shandwick.
She has over 22 years experience of agency, specialising in corporate, public sector and government communications. She has significant expertise in working with both large organisations as well as start-up companies, across a wide range of sectors, including property/construction, finance, healthcare, technology and FMCG.
Prior to Weber Shandwick, she was Managing Director of The PR Centre based in Edinburgh, which she had established in 1990. This followed five years with Saatchi & Saatchi's Scottish-based PR consultancy, Hall Associates, where she was also Managing Director.
Nora has been recognised by a number of industry awards including Scottish Businesswoman of the Year (2003); a global ‘Stevie' award for Best Woman in Business in Europe, Middle East and Asia; a Scottish Woman of Achievement Award and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations for outstanding contribution to the PR industry in Scotland.
She is a non-executive Board member of the National Trust for Scotland and Vice Chair of the Scottish Chamber of Commerce (SCC), a Regional Adviser to the London Stock Exchange and Chair of the Women in Business Group (Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce).
Mark Froud
Chief Executive, Sussex Enterprise
Mark became the Chief Executive of Sussex Enterprise in June 2002. He started at Sussex Enterprise in September 1996 as Director of Economic Research and developed the company’s reputation for delivering high quality, action focused research that underpins our operational capability. In 2001 he became Director of Policy responsible for planning, media relations and campaigning activity, management of economic development projects, delivery of business networking opportunities to businesses and economic and customer research.
Mark is a Director of the West Sussex Economic Partnership, the West Sussex Economic Skills and Enterprise Board and a member of the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership. He is also a governor of Central Sussex College Corporation, and is Chair of the Sussex Employment and Skills Board.
Before joining Sussex Enterprise Mark was commercial projects manager at the Policy Research Institute, based within Leeds Metropolitan University. He managed a team of 14 academics, selling and delivering research and policy development services to the public sector. Clients ranged from the Sri Lankan government to local government. Prior to that he was principal consultant with Enterprise plc and helped establish their consultancy business, developing it to a profitable turnover of over £10million p.a.
Brian Hibbert CBE
Chairman, Bedfordshire & Luton Chamber of Commerce
Brian was Managing Director of Lockheed Martin UK Insys Limited until his retirement in November 2006. Since then he has taken on a number of non executive roles including that of director of our national body, the British Chambers of Commerce.
Having joined the long established Ampthill defence systems company Hunting Engineering Limited in 1973, he was a MD for a management buyout of the company in 2001. The company was purchased by Lockheed Martin UK Holdings in October 2005. Brian initially joined Hunting from Rolls Royce where, after a number of different roles in engineering and project management, he was appointed Engineering Director in 1991 and Managing Director in 1993.
A qualified Chartered Engineer and European Engineer, Brian is a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers as well as Vice-President and Fellow of the Society of Environmental Engineers He is also a member of the Institute of Directors and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He has served on a number of influential aerospace trade organisation, such as the Society of British Aerospace Companies, the CBI Technology and Innovation committee, the Court of Cranfield University, In the 2004 New Years Honours list he was awarded the CBE for services to the defence industry.
Nigel Tomlinson
Chief Executive, Sheffield Chamber
Nigel has been Chief Executive of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce group of companies since 1997.
Between 1981 and 1997 Nigel worked for British and US multi-nationals on international trade and corporate international investment on all continents. He also designed and implemented change management, leadership and continuous improvement programmes for group subsidiary companies around the world. In 1995 he gained an MBA specialising in corporate strategy from Hull University where he was also an undergraduate.
Since Nigel joined Sheffield Chamber of Commerce he has played a lead role in the ongoing regeneration of the city of Sheffield and the modernisation of the Chamber. The Chamber is one of the most innovative in Europe and has grown both organically and through acquisition. It also exports its experience and skills around the world in the delivery of capacity building projects with the EU and UN. Nigel is also a member of the BCC’s International Trade Group and has designed and delivered training courses for Eurochambres in Brussels.
In both 2007 and 2009 Sheffield Chamber of Commerce was a finalist in the World Chamber Awards and in 2008 was voted the UK Chamber of the Year.
He lives in the countryside near to Doncaster with his American wife Kim and their two sons Michael and David.
Ronan Quigley
Director of Finance & Administration, British Chambers of Commerce
Ronan Quigley has been Director of Finance & Administration at the British Chambers of Commerce since September 2001.
The British Chambers of Commerce represents over 100,000 businesses through a network of 55 Accredited Chambers of Commerce. The role of the BCC is to promote the interests of British Business and represent the interests of the Chambers of Commerce. A subsidiary company, BCC Enterprises, develops a range of commercial activities for the benefit of Chambers and their members.