The new Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire LEP has been announced.

Pat Doody has been appointed as the new Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership.

Pat is Director of Business and Commercial Banking at NatWest in Lincoln and has been a Director on the board of the LEP since 2015.

He has been Interim Chair of the LEP Board since the previous incumbent Ursula Lidbetter OBE stepped down in December 2019 and will serve as Chair for a term of three years. 

“It is with a mixture of excitement and trepidation that I follow Ursula Lidbetter in chairing the Greater Lincolnshire LEP,” he commented.

“I feel pride too. Greater Lincolnshire is a place both I and the Board have a great deal of faith in and ambition for, and I’m delighted to represent an area of the country that I am proud to call home after 30 years of working with SMEs and the public sector.

“The LEP has achieved much under Ursula’s leadership and great opportunities remain to grow our contribution as the Government seeks to level up UK growth and prosperity.

“We invite further investment with a strong pipeline of projects which we believe will meet the strategic objectives of both Greater Lincolnshire and national Government. The Board, backed by a very capable CEO and team and in close collaboration with our local government partners and MPs, continues to explore and develop plans to maximise these economic and social opportunities.”

Ruth Carver, Chief Executive of the Greater Lincolnshire LEP, congratulated Pat on his appointment following a comprehensive, transparent and national search for the most suitable candidate.

“Pat was the strongest candidate and I’m confident that he will prove to be an outstanding Chair,” she said.

“He offers a wealth of knowledge of both the public and the private sector, he’s a safe pair of hands and he brings continuity after his five years on the Board.

“His experience, sensitivity, passion and dedication to improving opportunities across Greater Lincolnshire and growing the local economy make him the ideal Chair to take the LEP forward into a new decade.”

Pat has worked in a number of roles at NatWest for 42 years and has been based in Lincolnshire since 1990.

He joined the LEP as Chair of the European Structural Investment Fund (ESIF) Committee and has also served on the Investment Board and the Employment and Skills Board.

He is an advisory board member at the University of Lincoln’s International Business School, a former Vice Chair of the Lincoln College Group (where he was a governor for nine years) and a former Chair of the Steering Group for Lincoln’s biannual digital arts festival Frequency.

The Greater Lincolnshire LEP has also appointed three new Board directors:

  • Yvonne Adam, Managing Director (Frozen) at Young’s Seafood
  • Alison Ballard, Director of UK Typhoon Support at BAE Systems Plc
  • Air Commodore Suraya Marshall, RAF College Cranwell