Lucinda has been at CEG since 2018 and leads the organisation’s social impact programme. Within this role she has a responsibility to work with residents, partners and stakeholders to ensure that key developments engage with the local community and that benefits are felt as widely as possible. As part of this role she is particularly interested in supporting young people to access training, apprenticeships and employment opportunities through CEG’s Forging Futures Campus. Through these programmes CEG has generated over £11 million of Social Value in the Leeds area.

Prior to working for CEG, Lucinda was an elected member of Leeds City Council for 10 years, representing Kirkstall Ward. During this time she served on the Executive Board for 8 years holding a number of portfolio positions. She was Deputy Leader of Leeds City Council for 3 years. In 2022, Lucinda was made an Honorary Alderman of the City of Leeds.

Before being elected Lucinda worked for the Royal Mencap Society in their community development team. She continues to sit on a variety of boards for local and national charities and cultural organisations.

Stephen Church is EY’s Market Leader for the North of England. Stephen leads a 2000 strong team, supporting entrepreneurial businesses and large corporate and public sector entities.

Stephen brings 30 years of experience from working across multiple industry sectors. He builds connections across leadership, sector and industry boundaries and delivers digitally enabled transformation for clients with demanding change agendas.

Stephen is passionate about the North and a firm believer in the value and support that EY has to offer our region in achieving its growth ambitions.

Helen currently leads the Arcadis Rail business in the UK and Ireland. Helen joined Arcadis in March this year and prior to that set up and led the International Consultancy for Transport for London (TfL). She started her career in the rail industry as a management graduate in Railtrack but has also worked in project management, technical advisory and business leadership roles.

Helen brings an ability to balance commercial performance with people centred leadership and revels in the challenges that organisational change brings. As Operations Director at WSP she managed the integration and merger of Parsons Brinckerhoff and Mouchel teams into one combined business.

A multi-award-winning entrepreneur, innovation and organisational growth expert who has helped establish and scale several hundred businesses globally. Ammar is Chair of the Business Growth Board and SME representative on the North East Local Enterprise Partnership Main Board, Founder and Chairman of not-for-profit social enterprise Asian Business Connexions (ABC) and President of the Federation of Asian Business alongside being a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership & Management (FInstLM), Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs (FIOEE) and Royal Society of Arts(FRSA). He has a particular interest in innovation and enterprise education as ex-Chair of Governors of a Primary School, current Chair of the Progression Forum and a David Goldman visiting Professor of Innovation and Enterprise at Newcastle University. Ammar launched the Primary Inspiration through Enterprise (PIE) Project Charity in 2013, the first of its kind within the UK to deliver enterprise vocational qualifications to primary age pupils and more recently launched Yohlar- the world’s first Level 6 Qualification in Business Model Innovation.

Ammar was appointed a CBE in 2014 for outstanding services to Business and the Community, and has been consistently recognised across the UK for his tireless efforts in supporting and promoting trade, education and innovation, including British Asian Entrepreneur of the Year in 2019, Maserati top 100 Entrepreneur, Northern Asian Power List, Digital Transformation Leader, Williams and Glyn top 50, Institute of Directors and British Community Honours Award to name but a few.

Other roles held by Ammar include Honorary Colonel 101 Regiment RA, immediate past Chair of the Institute of Directors North East North, Member and Northern Representative on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ethnic Minority Business, Private Sector Representative on European Structural Funds Advisory Board, Patron of Charlie Bear for Cancer Care Charity, Founder of the SME Centre of Excellence which helps SMEs start, survive and thrive, and he co-hosts a weekly radio show on Spice FM.

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe was elected Leader of Bradford Council in May 2016. She was also Chair of West Yorkshire Combined Authority from 2017 until 2021 and was instrumental in securing the West Yorkshire Mayoral Devolution Deal, which resulted in West Yorkshire electing its first Metro Mayor in May 2021. She is now Chair of West Yorkshire Transport Committee. Prior to becoming Leader, Susan was the Portfolio Holder for Employment, Skills and Culture and has had a passion for culture-led regeneration ever since. Before politics Susan had a wide ranging career, from running her own business, to working in marketing and spending five years in a management role at a national newspaper. She also worked for Business in the Community for 10 years where she was Head of Regeneration.

Born and raised in the region, he took office as Mayor in May 2022, elected on a platform of restoring the pride, purpose and prosperity of South Yorkshire. After graduating from Leeds University, Oliver began his career at Barnsley Council working on low carbon regeneration projects. Since then, he’s worked in Parliament, in the US Congress and with the charity BookTrust.  He was Chair of the Board at Sheffield Hallam Students’ Union and has worked on a number of high-profile political campaigns, both within the region and abroad. During his first year as
Mayor, Oliver has started work delivering his manifesto pledges, building on his promise to do politics differently, and to fight for a better deal for South Yorkshire.

Andy Burnham was first elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester in May 2017 and was re-elected for a second term in May 2021.
Responsible for shaping the future of Greater Manchester, Andy’s priorities include building a London-style integrated transport system, ending rough sleeping, transforming Greater Manchester into one of the greenest city regions in Europe and making Greater Manchester a great place to grow up, get on, and grow old.
Before being elected Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy was MP for Leigh from 2001. In government, Andy has held Ministerial positions at the Home Office, Department of Health and the Treasury. In 2008 he became Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, before returning to Health as Secretary of State in 2009.
In opposition, Andy has served as Shadow Education Secretary, Shadow Health Secretary and Shadow Home Secretary.
Andy lives in Leigh, Greater Manchester, with his wife and three children.

Tracy Brabin is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who was elected as the first Mayor of West Yorkshire, and the first ever woman Metro Mayor in England, in May 2021. During her campaign, Tracy pledged to create 1,000 skilled jobs for young people, lead a ‘Creative New Deal’ for the region, bring buses back under public control, tackle the climate emergency and build 5,000 affordable and sustainable homes. As Mayor, Tracy also inherits the roles and responsibilities of the former Police and Crime Commissioner. Her priorities for policing include to recruit more frontline officers and staff and to prioritise the safety of women and girls.

Prior to her election as Mayor, Tracy was the Member of Parliament for Batley and Spen from 2016 until 2021. As MP, she held appointments as Shadow Early Years Minister, Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and Shadow Minister for Cultural Industries. Moreover, Tracy is a former member of the Women and Equalities Select Committee and a former chair of the Gaps in Support All-Party Parliamentary Group, having led the campaign on behalf of the three million people excluded from Government financial support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Born in Batley, Tracy was an actor and screenwriter prior to entering politics, appearing in several British soap operas and writing for several television series. Tracy now lives in Kirklees, West Yorkshire. She has a husband and two daughters, all of whom work in the creative industries.

Andy is responsible for the safe delivery with £7bn portfolio of complex major infrastructure projects at Sellafield in Cumbria. The site is becoming one of the UK’s busiest construction hubs as part of its ongoing hazard and risk reduction programme.
Andy has more than 30 years’ experience of working on major programmes, he was previously director for the Defence, Energy and Utilities arm of global consultancy and construction firm Mace, and was instrumental in the organisation expanding into the nuclear market, supporting new nuclear build and decommissioning in the UK.

Following a 4 year mechanical engineering apprenticeship, Sharon joined Darchem (now Esterline) in 2003 as a trainee design engineer, where she was involved in the design of blast-proof and fireproof enclosures for safety-critical equipment. One year later, she was appointed senior engineer. After gaining an HNC in production engineering and a first-class BEng honours degree at Teesside University, Sharon re-joined Tees Components in 2005 as general manager and in 2018 was appointed Managing Director, where she has since steered the business into new markets, attracting new clients in areas such as renewables and defence.

Darren has worked in FE since 1995 initially in colleges in the South East and London. He is currently the Principal and Chief Executive of Hartlepool College of Further Education based in the North East and has held this post since 2013. The college prides itself on being focused on employers’ needs especially in the engineering, construction and health sectors. To underline this fact, the college has an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted judgement for its apprenticeship work – an accolade it has held since 2017.

Professor Kieran Jude Fernandes is the Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor (Development and Engagement) and Professor of Operations Management at the Durham University Business School. He was appointed by the UK Secretary of State for International Development as a Non-Executive Director of the UK National Commission (UKNC) for UNESCO with special responsibility for Higher Education, and in 2017 was elected vice-chair of the UKNC.

Professor Fernandes is a world-leading expert on modelling complex systems and on digital innovation in supply chains. His research has modelled complex systems ranging from crime networks to global supply chains, with a strong track record in translation to the business community. Using a complex systems lens he has worked with construction, pharmaceutical, biotech and digital firms. His research has been funded by prestigious and competitive funding bodies like the British Council, Department for Business Innovation and Skills, Economic and Social Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, NASA, North East Local Enterprise Partnership, Royal Academy of Engineering and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affair.

Simon Hughes joined Nuclear Waste Services as Community and Siting Director in 2020, from Agilia Infrastructure Partners, where he was a Project Director. Previously he worked for Portsmouth Water as the Environment, Stakeholder and Planning lead for the Havant Thicket Reservoir project.
Before that he spent 3 years at Thames Water, leading capital programme delivery and working with communities and stakeholders to develop the case for major water infrastructure investment. Prior to that he spent 25 years at the Environment Agency, ultimately as Deputy Director Operations for London. His experience spanned leading nuclear regulatory teams to working with flooded communities and leading the EA’s engagement with the Thames Tideway Tunnel DCO.

Professor Charlie Jeffery became Vice-Chancellor and President at the University of York in September 2019. He joined us from the University of Edinburgh where he had been Senior Vice-Principal since 2014. He was a Member of Council of the Economic and Social Research Council from 2006-12 and Chair of the Political Studies Association of the UK from 2009-12. He has a deep-rooted interest in how university research and education can serve the general benefit of society, or public good. In Edinburgh and now in York he has worked to bring together the University with local authorities, businesses, other universities and colleges to promote inclusive economic development, and to open up access to university study and economic opportunity to people from disadvantaged backgrounds - both in the UK and internationally. Charlie is committed to sustainability, in particular, harnessing the expertise and passion of the university sector to respond to the climate crisis.

Charlie is Chair of the N8 Research Partnership (a collaboration of the eight most research intensive universities in the North of England), a member of the Partnership Board of key organisations in the City of York, the York Central Steering Board, and the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board. He lives in York with his family.

Sara Prowse is CEO of UA92, a ground-breaking higher education institution co-founded by the Class of ‘92 and Lancaster University. With a successful 30-year career in consumer retail across the UK, US and Europe, Sara has developed a reputation for strategic brand management and accelerating brands into the digital environment. She has held senior positions at Debenhams and Shop Direct before becoming MD at Lands End and most recently, CEO at Hotter Shoes. After meeting with Gary Neville the founder she was quickly brought into the vision to transform and modernise higher education. She joined as CEO of UA92 in May 2021.

Based in Old Trafford, Manchester, UA92 is committed to making higher education accessible to all no matter the background, through its founding principles of accessibility, social mobility and inclusivity.
It offers a portfolio of degree and higher education courses across business, sport, media and digital disciplines, accredited by Lancaster University, and prepares students for the world of work by offering industry-led courses through its partnerships with leading industry names. Ensuring the institution not only paves a new path for education but supports the local community, Sara has implemented a raft of successes at UA92, and has helped develop partnerships with the likes of Microsoft, TalkTalk, KPMG, Trafford Council, Lancashire Cricket Club and Manchester United.

Sara is a refreshing voice for the UK education sector and regularly discusses the need for greater accessibility and inclusivity within higher education, especially in disadvantaged areas of the North West where admissions to higher education fall below the national average. Away from the boardroom, Sara lives in Cheshire with her partner, and enjoys travelling, yoga, holistic health and wellbeing.

Conal Henry is Founder and Chair of Fibrus. Before co-founding Fibrus Conal was CEO of enet taking it from start up to its £200m acquisition by the Irish Infrastructure Fund in 2017, as CEO of Enet, Conal also lead what is now known as NBI to become the winning bidder for the €2bn Irish National Broadband Plan. Prior to enet, Conal was Commercial Director at Ryanair having been Head of Finance for Non Food and George Clothing at Asda in the UK.
Conal graduated in Law from QUB in 1991 and is a Chartered Management Accountant.

Bruce is Plant Director at Drax Power Station responsible for all site activities at the world’s largest biomass power station and Europe’s largest single site renewable generator. Drax Power Station is located near Selby in North Yorkshire and is rated at 4GW consisting of 4 power units that have been converted to run on sustainable biomass and 2 coal units that close in September 2022. Since joining the business in November 2019, Bruce has been focussed on ensuring improving safety and aligning the cost base of the plant to ensure long term sustainability beyond the closure of the coal units.

Prior to moving to Drax, Bruce was based in Newcastle for 8 years managing manufacturing businesses in the oil and gas supply chain with a focus on high technology subsea products.
In his early career, Bruce qualified as an electrical and mechanical engineering at Aston University and started his career working in large power stations in various engineering and management positions leading to him managing the worlds most advanced gas fired power plant in South Wales in 2002. In 2005 he had an opportunity to move into managing the business operations, trading over £100M of gas and power per year and latterly into developing and operating new solar, wind and gas fired power plants across Europe and California with a portfolio of assets worth over $1.5Bn.

Bruce has always had a passion for developing business strategy as a means to building world class and strongly performing teams and using this to change organisational culture.

Professor Davies became Pro-Vice-Chancellor Global in 2014. His responsibilities changed to Pro-Vice-Chancellor Global and Sustainability in October 2022. He is a petroleum geologist who started his career with various postings in the UK and abroad in the oil and gas industry, mainly with ExxonMobil. He is now working on climate change, marine methane hydrates and building projects in the area of carbon capture and storage.

He has held a number of pan-university leadership roles, including the founder and first Director of the Durham Energy Institute at Durham University. He later became Dean for Knowledge Exchange and Impact and was responsible for implementing the University's strategy for research impact. He is responsible for home and international student targets, international presence and impact of the university, international student recruitment, world rankings, the entry of international students into the University and our two overseas campuses. The sustainability element includes our university net-zero target and our research and education across the UNSDGs.

Diana has lived and worked in the Humber for the past 27 years, initially moving to the region to work for BP Chemicals at Saltend. After several technology roles within BP, Diana transitioned into commercial operations at the Saltend site, ultimately working as Business Development Manager, attracting chemical investment to the UK and the Humber.

In September 2017, Diana joined the board of Future Humber as Managing Director, leading the executive team. She is responsible for guiding the vision and strategy to promote the Humber both nationally and internationally and is passionate about working with the businesses and organisations to strengthen the regional voice and build a sustainable future. Diana is focused upon building strategic partnerships to drive a just transition to a new net zero economy, and put the Humber on the global stage for whole-place decarbonisation.

Martijn is the Managing Director of Open Access rail operators Lumo and Hull Trains.
He has extensive experience in the transport sector with previous roles at Arriva in both its bus and rail divisions, as CEO of council-owned Reading Buses and, joined First from The Go-Ahead Group where he was Managing Director of its North East and East Yorkshire regional bus operations.
Martijn is also a Board member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), the sector’s professional development body.

Anna advises institutional investors, property companies, local authorities, asset managers and developers on all types of property-based direct and indirect transactions, including sales and purchases of assets and property-owning corporates and trusts, forward funding deals, development agreements and leases. She works with clients such as abrdn and Schroders. She has considerable experience in real estate joint ventures and structuring funding/profit share arrangements, advising on both corporate and real estate aspects.

Anna is co-head of AG's Transport Sector and has a particular expertise relating to the investment and development of land around and including transport hubs including stations and airports.

Kamran is founder and CEO of Impact Hub Bradford CIC, a locally rooted, globally connected social innovation hub and coworking space based in the historic area of Little Germany, Bradford. Impact Hub Bradford inspires, connects and supports changemakers, social entrepreneurs, businesses and start-ups to build solutions that create positive social impact. Impact Hub has worked alongside brands such as Red Bull, Channel 4, TEDx, PWC and successfully led a partnership to secure a £6.6M social Investment fund for Bradford District which Kamran now chairs.
Kamran was appointed a Non-Executive Director of the Leeds Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP – Feb’ 2020) and of Bradford City of Culture 2025 Trust (Nov’ 2019). Kamran holds a Masters in International Politics, undergraduate degree in Youth & Community work and has over twenty years’ sector experience. Prior to setting up his own social enterprise, Kamran worked for Unltd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs. Kamran is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Common Purpose Graduate and is trained in both the Art of Hosting and unconscious bias & intersectionality.

Kim McGuinness is the Labour and Co-Operative candidate to be the first North East mayor. She is standing on a promise to make the North East the home of real opportunity with a plan to end child poverty and create local, well-paid jobs across the region.
She has vowed to create a North East that goes beyond net zero with climate change policies that change lives, where there is a good home for everyone, whether you rent or own and a well-paid job enjoyed by a skilled workforce backed by strong trade unions. And a North East where public transport is safe, reliable, affordable – and publicly owned.
As mayor her economic plan for the North East will be based on three key strands; improving the foundational economy, delivering on the green jobs revolution and making regional pride a key economic driver with investment in arts and music, culture and sport.
Kim is currently Police and Crime Commissioner for the Northumbria force area. She made crime prevention and neighbourhood support a key feature of strategic policing plan Fighting Poverty, Fighting Crime and has invested in youth services as a way of improving life chances for all.
As PCC Kim oversaw the creation of the region’s first Violence Reduction Unit which saw investment in local Sure Start-style services as a way of supporting families and young people away from desperation and crime.
Kim has led locally on efforts to tackle Violence against Women and Girls, including her flagship Domestic Abuse policy of putting DA specialist into police call centres.

Catherine has worked in the heritage sector for over 25 years, starting out in local government on the south coast and midlands before moving back home to Newcastle to work for English Heritage. She worked across the North East (with a brief stint in Yorkshire) before moving down to Manchester to take up the post of Regional Director for Historic England’s North West team. In 2022, she stepped away for a year from the regional role, leading a programme to help the organisation and sector partners to adapt to a changing climate. Catherine is now back as Regional Director North West, bringing that climate change experience to the team’s work. Catherine is an urban planner by training and in heart…passionate about making places that not only work but that also bring people joy.

Syima Aslam is the founder and Artistic Director of the Bradford Literature Festival (BLF), which she established in 2014. A 10-day literary and cultural celebration, BLF welcomes 115,000 visitors to Bradford annually and is celebrated as the most socio-economically and ethnically diverse literary festival in Europe and the second largest literature festival in the UK.
Under Syima’s directorship, BLF has had a significant impact on the country’s literary landscape, hailed as ‘one of the most innovative and inspirational festivals in the UK’, bringing together literature from all genres, promoting intercultural fluency, providing a platform for marginalised voices, and reflecting the changing face of contemporary Britain through a programme which celebrates diversity, empathy and artistic excellence.

Anne-Marie is the Chief Executive Officer of The Brilliant Club, a UK-wide university access charity focused on increasing the number of less advantaged students accessing the most competitive universities and supporting them to succeed when they get there.

Anne-Marie is from Doncaster, was the first in her family to go to university and has dedicated her career to opening up educational opportunity to the next generation. In 2018 she was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to higher education.

In recent years Anne-Marie was the independent chair of the Department for Education’s Bradford Opportunity Area. Opportunity Areas supported social mobility in the 12 areas of the country where it is most challenged. She now leads a broad-based coalition of organisations in Bradford who are working together to improve opportunities for young people in the city – the Education Alliance for Life Chances.

Anne-Marie was the Director of Social Mobility and Student Success at King’s College London between 2012 and 2019. In this role she founded an award-winning parental engagement endeavour called Parent Power. She has also served as a member of the Universities UK Ministerial Social Mobility Advisory Group and as the elected Chair of the Russell Group Widening Participation Association.

Anne-Marie has previously worked at University College Oxford and holds a University of Oxford Teaching Award. She studied at the University of York and served a sabbatical term as the president of the students’ union.

Anne Longfield CBE is Chair of the Commission on Young Lives, an independent commission to develop proposals for a new national system to prevent crisis in vulnerable young people and support them to succeed in life.
Anne has spent the last three decades working to improve the life chances of children, particularly the most vulnerable. From March 2015 to February 2021, she was Children’s Commissioner for England.
She previously led a national children’s charity and has also worked on the delivery of the Sure Start programme in the Cabinet Office.
Anne is a passionate champion for children, influencing and shaping the national debate and policy agenda for children and their families. She spent many years campaigning for better childcare, often at a time when many saw the issue as obscure or niche.
As Children’s Commissioner, Anne spent six years championing the rights and interests of children with those in power who make decisions about children’s lives, acting as children’s ‘eyes and ears’ in the corridors of power in Whitehall and Westminster.
Anne was Special Advisor to the Lords Public Services Committee during their inquiry into public services and vulnerable children, and the Independent Chair of the NHS Children and Young People Learning Disability and Autism Board.
Anne is chair of the newly-formed What Works in SEND, a non-executive director of the Bradford Children and Family Trust, and board member of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.