Page 39 – Business in the Community

Clive Nelson

Clive Nelson in dark suit, striped shirt and blue tie smiles at the camera

Clive Nelson

Managing Director,
Marsh

East of England Leadership Board

Clive is Head of Client Advisory for the Risk Management Practice of Marsh, responsible for colleagues in Norwich and Manchester.

In addition he acts as Client Executive for Marsh clients, and on external projects – including with the International Women of Excellence and UEA Business School.

He is co-sponsoring a project called Balance within Marsh, to help enhance Marsh’s success by promoting a gender intelligent environment that attracts, develops and retains talented employees.

Clive was born and educated in the eastern region and lives just outside Norwich, with his family and two dogs. He is keen to help promote and develop the east of England.

Frank Nigriello

Frank passionately believes that responsible business behaviour sits at the heart of business.  Frank is chairman of Oxfordshire Business First, a not-for-profit company focused on innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. This organisation works to share business knowledge and encourage young entrepreneurs to take their first steps in starting their own business.

Frank has been Chairman of Oxfordshire’s Economic Partnership, Chairman of the Oxfordshire Employment and Skills Board, and a member of the South Regional Economic Delivery Council.

Unipart is a long-standing member of Business in the Community (BITC). Frank is responsible for embedding and implementing CR across all levels in the organisation.

Frank joined BITC’s South East Leadership Board in 2012, and has taken up the position of the Business Cluster lead for the new Oxford Cluster, looking to raise the aspirations and career opportunities for young people living in the most challenging areas of Oxford.

Through Frank’s leadership Oxfordshire Business First’s goal is to oil the wheels of the wealth-creating engine by tapping into the generosity and goodwill of those business people who are willing to share their knowledge and experience with others, to create a better society for all.

Adam Bradley

Adam Bradley wearing a striped shirt and tie in a selfie

Adam Bradley

Growth Director – Bristol,
Jacobs

South West Leadership Board

Adam is a Chartered Land Surveyor with over 20 years of experience and works for Jacobs in Bristol as its City Growth Director.

He has had a varied career working in numerous industries and market sectors. These include: leading project and frameworks within the construction, nuclear, mine and minerals industries and local authorities sectors. Adam led Jacobs’ Geomatics business where he focused on business development, including building a presence in the Middle East and integrating innovative solutions to add value to projects and clients. Prior to his City Growth Director role, Adam was Head of Operations for Jacobs’ utilities business in Europe. 

Adam is passionate about the company’s core values and believes people are the heart of any business. He was born in the West Country and has lived in the region for the majority of his life. Having worked in and around Bristol with a number of stakeholders, he has the local knowledge to help support the goals of Business in the Community and contribute to make a positive change for the good.

Adam says “It’s not just about the natural beauty of rugged coastline, rolling hills and Somerset levels, but how the area can continue to thrive through supporting south west regional development.”

Adam is married to Beverly, loves to walk their dog MacKenzie, relax through fishing at rivers, lakes and reservoirs across Europe and swims at least three times a week. Travel is also a passion and this is where he spends all of his money, apparently not on fishing equipment, or so he tells Beverly.

Dan Cooke

Dan Cooke in white shirt and grey tie smiles off camera.

Dan Cooke

Group Head of Sustainability, Pennon

Circular Economy Taskforce
South West Leadership Board

An experienced environmental and communications professional, Dan’s responsibilities include strategy and programmes of sustainability across the resources, waste and water operating businesses within the FTSE 250 Pennon Group. 

Recent responsibilities at Viridor include regulatory affairs and strategic policy response, and previously; political, media and community relations, corporate and development communications, community consultation and the promotion and marketing of the company’s services and capabilities. 

He is Chairman of the Welsh Environmental Services Association, Chair of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management Communications Committee, a CIWM General Councillor and Exec Committee member, past-chair of the CIWM South West, and a trustee of the Carymoor Environmental Trust. 

Prior to joining Viridor, Dan has worked within the environmental charity and local authority sectors. 

About Business in the Community’s Circular Economy Taskforce

Each area of work Business in the Community (BITC) undertakes is led by a group of senior executives who provide strategic guidance and support us in achieving our objectives.

BITC’s Circular Economy Taskforce brings together a group of senior executives committed to delivering a high impact programme to bring the circular economy to life.

The Taskforce supports BITC’s Environment Leadership Team, who are helping business drive innovation that turns the threats of the climate emergency into opportunity for people and nature.

Find out more about BITC’s work on the environment.

Wendy Edwards

Wendy Edwards wearing a blue top with coloured polka dots

Wendy Edwards

Human Capital Leader, Wales & West,
PwC

South West Leadership Board

Wendy is an experienced HR professional at PwC and is passionate about helping individuals, teams and the organisation to reach their potential through the identification of strategies to develop and change.

As a senior human capital leader, Wendy works closely with the leadership teams she supports to drive the people agenda. Her role covers a broad remit of activities including: talent management, inclusion, reward, performance, development, engagement, employee relations and wellbeing.

At the start of her career with PwC, Wendy qualified as a chartered accountant, which provided her with a commercial and business focused lens, which she applies to the people agenda.

Wendy is a qualified executive coach with a specialism in resilience coaching and is also a mental-health first-aider.  

Wendy is on the committee of Engage for Success in Wales, which is part of a growing, dynamic, voluntary movement promoting employee engagement.

She has been a school governor for over seven years and in the role of Chair for five of these.

Richard Hawes

Richard Hawes looks off to the side

Richard Hawes

Partner,
Deloitte LLP

South West Leadership Board

Richard Hawes is a Deloitte partner based in Bristol and leads the firm’s restructuring teams in the South West and South Wales.

He advises corporates facing financial stress and their stakeholders. He also is Global Lead of Deloitte’s Managed Exit services proposition, which supports large corporates on how to deal with underperforming and non-core parts of this business.

Richard also leads Deloitte’s work in the South West supporting local charities as part of the firm’s One Million Futures initiative. This includes Bristol-based 1625 Independent People, which supports young, homeless individuals with a variety of programmes. Richard hopes that his involvement with Business in the Community should help maximise the support that Deloitte can give to community support initiatives. 

Outside of work, Richard was forced to become a cyclist when he signed up to the Deloitte Ride Across Britain (Land’s End to John O’Groats) in 2012 to support the Paralympics. He is also still trying to keep music as an alternative career option as he drums in a Chepstow band.

Dimitri Houtart

Dmitri Houtart in suit jacket and striped shirt looks at the camera

Dimitri Houtart

Rural Affairs Champion and Radio 4 Rural Affairs and Environment Editor,
BBC

South West Leadership Board

As the BBC’s Rural Affairs Champion, Dimitri helps and advises on the coverage of rural issues across the whole of the BBC including news. Dimitri also has direct responsibility for all of Radio 4’s rural affairs and environment programming. His portfolio includes the daily news programme Farming Today as well as series such as Costing the Earth, Open Country and Ramblings. Dimitri also looks after the BBC Food & Farming awards. He is responsible for about 150 hours of original programming a year including more than 160 features, documentaries and investigative programmes.

Previously Dimitri was the Current Affairs Editor for BBC West (television). He has also been involved in some of the BBC’s major restructuring and strategy work. Over the years he has collected several awards including seven RTS and an international Prix Circom commendation.

Dimitri is passionate about disability rights and mentors disabled members of BBC staff to help them move into management. Before the BBC, Dimitri worked in the indie sector and for ITV. He is also a visiting lecturer at several universities.

Neil Vernon

Neil Vernon in a shirt and pin stripe suit

Neil Vernon

Chief Technology Officer,
Gresham Technologies PLC

South West Leadership Board

Neil is a commercially oriented technologist delivering innovative software solutions to financial institutions. In 2010, Neil pitched a product investment opportunity to the board of Gresham Technologies that resulted in Gresham opening a ten-person development centre in the north of Bristol. Today that group numbers 50 highly talented software engineers working out of modern “innovation labs” in the heart of Bristol.

Neil is married and has three children aged 13, ten and seven and, when time from a busy family life allows, he is a keen cyclist.

Carole Parkes

Carole Parkes mid-presentation at a podium

Carole Parkes

Professor of Responsible Management,
Winchester University Business School

South East Leadership Board

Carole Parkes is Professor of Responsible Management at Winchester University Business School, a United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) Champion School. She has both a business and academic background, previously working as a human resources professional in both the retail and health sectors.

Carole is a member the PRME Global Advisory Group, the recent Chair of the PRME Regional Chapter UK & Ireland and Chair of the UK Sustainability Literacy Test Group. In July 2017, at the 10th Anniversary PRME Global Forum UN Reception, Carole was presented with a PRME Pioneer Award for her leadership and commitment to the development of PRME, and her appointment as Special Advisor to the UN for the PRME initiative was announced.

Carole is an editor of publications for the Fighting Poverty as a Challenge for Management Education PRME Working Group, edited a PRME 10th Anniversary Special Issue of the International Journal of Management Education). Carole is also an Inaugural Fellow of the Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges (EAUC), on the editorial board for Greenleaf Publishing and an editor for Sage publications.

Carole was previously Director of Social Responsibility and Sustainability at Aston University, where she developed and led ethics, responsibility and sustainability, first in the Business School and the Aston MBA and then across all schools in the University. She was also invited to be the Christopher Chair in Business Ethics at Dominican University in Chicago and, a researcher in residence at the UN PRME in New York.

Mark Smith

Mark Smith in suit and shirt smiles into the camera

Mark Smith

Chief Executive,
The Southern Co-op

South East Leadership Board

Mark has spent much of his professional career in the retail sector including senior Finance and Commercial roles with Marks and Spencer plc working in both their UK and overseas businesses.

He joined The Southern Co-operative in 2005 as Chief Financial Officer, and was promoted to become Chief Executive in October 2008.

The Southern Co-operative is an independent regional business owned by its customer and colleague members. It employs 4,500 people primarily in 250 trading outlets across the South of England. Turnover is £0.4bn per annum. 

Mark is a fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and a member of the Institute of Directors. He was Chairman of The Portsmouth Cultural Trust from 2011-2017 and is a former Director of Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Chamber of Commerce.