I am really pleased to have joined the Directors' Board of the Greater Lincolnshire LEP. It's an exciting time for Greater Lincolnshire, especially as we are seeing changes to governance, funding and politics especially with talks of devolution.

I believe that Greater Lincolnshire will thrive if we pool our resources together and I am honoured to have some influence at the LEP as it navigates these changes. 

Since joining the board I have already had the opportunity to attend a few meetings, both virtually and face to face, and what excites me the most is looking around the room at the other directors and seeing how much I can learn from these people, from both a business perspective and a personal one. I will be making an effort to get to know them well, particularly as its clear to me that everyone at the LEP has a common agenda. 

I joined the LEP Board as SME champion, alongside Liam Scully, and I think it's great that the LEP is as passionate about SMEs as I am. My goal is to ensure that these businesses have a real influence when it comes to deciding growth plans and other long-term decisions. 

In 2007, I set up my current business E-Factor Group, a not-for-profit that supports small and medium enterprises up and down the country. Having worked with over 2,000 small businesses, I believe my skills from this business will help me in my role at the LEP. 

Before setting up E-Factor Group I worked in all aspects of business and have held a variety of roles including Sales Manager at The Guardian Newspaper and then Managing Director at Grimsby and Scunthorpe Newspapers. I was also a member of a Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) in Grimsby. 

During my time in these roles, particularly on the LSP, I learned a lot about a range of sectors and most importantly how to translate between them. I believe we need to make information more accessible, cut out the jargon and make it as simple as possible so people outside our sectors can understand us clearly. Again, I believe these skills will help me in my role at the LEP, particularly when communicating across our game-changer sectors.  

Whenever I have been asked about my personal aspirations, I always say to love what you do for work. I am lucky enough to say that I have reached my aspirations, I work at a fantastic company with a marvellous team, and I love coming in to work every day. I am also so lucky to be involved in organisations that I am genuinely passionate about, such as the LEP, and to be able to advocate for Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland. 

Greater Lincolnshire has so much potential with its diversity of countryside, coast and industry and it would be great if this could all come together to make us an even bigger player in the economy.  

I also want to make it a place where people want to fight to come and live, realise their ambitions here and set up a business here. But most importantly I want to make it a place where people want to stay, particularly those who were raised here; it would be great if more people felt lucky to be in Greater Lincolnshire and not want to move away. 

I have lived in Lincolnshire for 35 years; I started my business here and most importantly I believe in the area. I look forward to being able to support more SMEs and the future of Greater Lincolnshire during my time on the board.