Main Board Member and Business Advisory Board Member.
Richard Wearmouth is the deputy leader of Northumberland County Council and serves as a cabinet member on the North of Tyne Combined Authority. He has a professional background in environmental science with a particular focus on the international renewable energy sector.
Read Richard’s Register of Interest here.
Investment Board Member.
Carl Johnson is the Deputy Mayor of North Tyneside.
Carl was first elected in 2012 to represent the Battle Hill ward on North Tyneside council at the age of 19. Carl served on various roles on the council and was Chair of the standards committee (2012-2017) and was Cabinet member for Environment and Transport (2017-2021) before becoming the Deputy Mayor of the council in May 2021. Carl also represents the council on a host of local, regional and national organisations.
Carl currently works for North Tyneside MP Mary Glindon as a researcher, Carl is also a qualified Teacher and Town Planner.
You can read Carl’s Register of Interests here.
Board member
Professor Chris Day CBE took up the role of Vice-Chancellor and President at Newcastle University with effect from 1 January 2017. A Consultant Hepatologist with an international reputation in medical research, he is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He has served on the Council of the Medical Research Council and the Executive of the Medical Schools Council. Professor Day was Chair of the Clinical Medicine Sub-Panel for the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) Exercise.
Professor Day is currently a member of the Universities UK Board, Chair of the Office for Strategic Co-ordination of Health Research (OSCHR), Chair of the N8 Group of Research Universities, and, for REF 2021, will Chair the institutional environment pilot panel, which will pilot the assessment of the research environment at institution level. Professor Day is also a Deputy Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear.
You can read Professor Day’s Register of Interests here.
SAP Board Member
John started his career as an Apprentice in 1983 and worked his way through the Engineering and Manufacturing routes to become Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing for Marelli (formerly Calsonic) – a Top 5 Global Automotive company, and one of the major employers in the region.
John has always had a passion for skills and education – taking every opportunity in his career up to MBA level, and believes everyone should be afforded every opportunity in Education. He has been a Governor of Sunderland College since 2016, and since 2019 the Chair of Sunderland college following the formation of Education Partnership North East.
After taking a planned early retirement in 2020, John now continues with his roles in the North East LEP, EPNE etc, as well as passing on his knowledge in Automotive and Business lecturing at Leeds University.
Despite many years of Business Travel, John has always lived in the North East (born, bred and proud of it), is married to Claire and has two grown up children.
Board member
Yvonne Gale is CEO of NEL Fund Managers, a North East impact investment firm where she is responsible for the strategic direction and leadership. Yvonne is a finance specialist passionate about improving access to finance for small businesses and enabling economic growth. She holds a doctorate in investment decision making, fellowship of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a membership of the Institute of Economic Development. She advised the UK government Small Business Commissioner on prompt payment for small businesses and the UAE Ministry of Finance-backed, Mohammed bin Rashid AED 2 billion Innovation Fund. She holds several non-executive board and advisory board positions as well as charity trustee roles from very local to highly international.
Regional Director of CBI
Sarah is North East Regional Director for national business organisation the CBI, representing member interests at a local, national and international level.
Building on her commercial background, as part of her role, Sarah is working to improve economic opportunity in the region and works with both regional LEP’s on education and economic projects, including North East Ambition. She is passionate about raising aspirations in our young people and is engaged with a number of organisations on diversity initiatives.
Innovation Board Member
Dr Colin Herron has over 40 years’ experience in the automotive sector working for a first tier supplier and 17 years with Nissan. After being seconded to the RDA by Nissan,Colin joined the RDA and stayed with it until leaving in 2011 to create Zero Carbon Futures, a consultancy subsidiary of Gateshead College specialising in Electric vehicle and associate technologies. A member of the Newcastle city futures group, NEAA advisory board and the IET National Manufacturing Policy Panel. Working with several universities and a Visiting Professor at Newcastle University.
Investment Board Adviser.
Trained as a chartered accountant, Jason is responsible for the monitoring and reporting of the funds in addition to managing the financial systems of the business and liaising with the European Investment Bank and other stakeholders. He has worked in regional venture capital for the past 13 years, having joined NStar in 2004 helping to establish and manage the North East Proof of Concept Fund and the North East Co Investment Fund.
In 2010, Jason transferred to North East Finance where he served as finance director throughout the investment life of the North East JEREMIE Fund.
You can read Jason’s Register of Interests here.
Board member
Darren Laybourn is a practising Chartered Quantity Surveyor and Director of Construction Management Consultant Turner & Townsend.
Darren has over 32 years’ experience of delivering many of the region’s largest and most complexed Real Estate and Infrastructure programmes.
Alongside this Darren has helped develop Turner & Townsend into one of the region’s largest and most successful Construction Management Consultants.
He currently serves on CBI Regional Board & North East Board Action for Children, as well as being a particularly active member of RICS amongst other member groups.
Darren is passionate about developing people, business and making a difference to the region’s economy and looks forward to assisting the NELEP Growth Board to deliver real results.
