Before being appointed Chief Executive of North East of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) in April 2018, Philip worked with NEPIC for 6 years helping deliver ERDF projects and serving its pharmaceutical members. Prior to his time with the Cluster, Philip held roles at the Centre of Excellence in Life Sciences and technical management positions within GSK in the UK and US. With extensive pharmaceutical process development and manufacturing experience in the fields of antibiotics and biopharmaceuticals, Philip holds a first degree in Biochemistry, a masters in Biochemical Engineering and is a member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Paul Butler joined the North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA) as Chief Executive Officer in March 2015 and quickly established the NEAA as the leading automotive cluster in the UK. He represents the regions automotive sector on the Automotive Council’s Supply Chain Group, Digitlisation Group and Regional Economic Forum. Paul also represents the NEAA on the European Automotive Clusters Network and is the only UK based Cluster Benchmarking Expert for the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA).

Prior to this Paul spent 10 years with the North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC), has supported the delivery of the UKTI Trade services across the North East, and has previously ran his own publishing business.

Paul has extensive knowledge of the business support environment at both regional, national and international level, and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Durham.