North West Business Leadership Team

Sir Howard Newby, KB, CBE, BA, PhD, AcSS, is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool. Sir Howard was previously Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol having previously spent five years as the Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton from 1994 to 2001 and was previously Chairman and Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). From 1999 to 2001, Sir Howard was President of Universities UK, the UK body which represents the university sector. He was also President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 2001-2002. He was made a CBE in 1995 for services to social science and a knighthood in 2000 for services to higher education. Sir Howard was formerly a Professor of Sociology in both the UK and USA and has published a large number of books and articles on social change in rural England.

Mark Newton-Jones is the Group Chief Executive of Shop Direct Group (formerly Littlewoods Shop Direct Group), the company formed from the merger of Littlewoods Home Shopping and GUS Home Shopping in 2005. Before joining Shop Direct, Mark spent 18 years at Next working in various senior management roles in its retail business, the last five years of which were spent as the Director responsible for the Next Directory. The Next Directory doubled in turnover and trebled its profits during Mark’s time in charge. Prior to taking on his current role, Mark was Chief Executive of Littlewoods Stores, where he spent two years modernising and repositioning the Littlewoods high street business; prior to divesting it from the Group. Shop Direct Group has been repositioned as a modern online and home shopping business by improving presentation, redesigning the websites and improving product quality and style. It is now the UK’s leading online and home shopping retailer and is ideally positioned to take advantage of the growth in home shopping, fuelled by the internet.

Michael Oglesby was born in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire and, after receiving a degree in building at Aston University, spent his early working years in the construction industry before moving to Manchester in 1970. He has been married to his wife Jean for over 40 years. They live in Bowdon and have two children, Chris and Kate, and five grandchildren. Chris is the Chief Executive of Bruntwood and Kate is the HR Director. In 1978 Michael founded the Bruntwood group of companies, which are privately held and owned by the Family. From these modest beginnings, 30 years ago, has grown a Company that is now one of the leading commercial property owners in the North of England owning 90 building in Central and South Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham, with a value in excess of £1 billion. At the beginning of 2000 Michael gave up the joint roles of CEO and Chairman and his son, Chris, took over the day-to-day running of the company. Currently Michael devotes approximately a third of the week to the Company as Executive Chairman, and the remainder of his time to an extensive variety of civic and charitable interests. He is Chairman of the Governors of the Royal Northern College of Music, the Steering Board for the Manchester Cancer Research Centre, MIDAS - the inward investment organisation for Greater Manchester, and the Oglesby Charitable Trust. In addition he sits on the board of the North West Business Leadership Team and the Manchester International Festival. He is also Vice President of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. On 19th April 2007 Michael Oglesby was installed as High Sheriff of Greater Manchester and in May 2008 he was made Vice Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester. In 2006 he was voted Businessman of the Year in the North West by the CBI and in May 2006 he received an honorary law doctorate from the University of Manchester. In June 2007 Aston University bestowed an honorary doctorate in Science upon him and in November 2007 the Royal Northern College of Music also conferred an honorary degree upon him. Personal interests are varied and include theatre, music, sailing, skiing and walking.

VP R&D and Director of Port Sunlight Laboratory Joined Unilever’s Port Sunlight Laboratory 21 years ago following an MA and PhD in Inorganic Chemistry Apart from a short spell in Head Office working on Unilever organisation design, my career has been in R&D including two expatriations to the USA Recently joined the Laundry Category following substantial time leading Deodorants R&D Married to Lynn and we have two daughters and a son. Interests: Everton Football Club, running and walking in the Lake District region of the UK

Geoffrey Piper is the Chief Executive of the North West Business Leadership Team. He joined NWBLT in May 1990 following a successful career as a Chartered Accountant with Deloittes in London, the Channel Islands and Liverpool. Geoffrey was President of the Chartered Accountants in both Jersey and Liverpool and has also served on the National Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. As Chief Executive of NWBLT, Geoffrey has played leading roles for numerous regional and sub-regional organisations. He was Chairman of Business Opportunities on Merseyside and became a Founder Director of The Mersey Partnership in 1993. He represented the private sector on both the Objective One and Objective Two European Structural Fund Monitoring Committees and, from 2003 until 2008, chaired the North West Review and Scrutiny Committee established under the Regional Development Agencies Act. He has been Deputy Chair of the Greater Merseyside Learning and Skills Council and is the current Chair of the North West’s 2012 Olympics Business Forum. He is also Non-Executive Chairman of Coral Products plc. Geoffrey and his wife Sue live at Parkgate, Cheshire, and have four adult children. In his spare time Geoffrey plays golf, watches cricket and football, attends a gym and tries to write poetry. He is Deputy-Lieutenant of the County of Merseyside and has been awarded an Honorary Degree by Liverpool John Moores University.

Maggie Porteous is the Managing Director of the 2 John Lewis shops in the Greater Manchester area at Cheadle and in the Trafford Centre. She is responsible for the 2 shops and the warehouse/Service Building at Stanley Green with staff (Partners) numbering 1800 and an annual turnover £170 million. Maggie has a Business Studies degree from the Middlesex Business School and on graduation started work at John Lewis Brent Cross on the Graduate Training Scheme. She progressed by working through a number of departments on the shop floor, moving to John Lewis Watford as the Assistant to the Managing Director in 1991. In 1992 she became Merchandise Manager at Peter Jones in Sloane Square. Maggie moved back North in 1995 to open the new John Lewis shop at Cheadle as the Merchandise Manager. She then continued to move around the country working at the John Lewis shops in Newcastle, Cambridge and Welwyn Garden City before being appointed as Managing Director at John Lewis Milton Keynes. She undertook this position for 3 years and during this period had maternity leave for her first child. Maggie moved permanently back North to take up the role of Managing Director at John Lewis Cheadle in 2001. In 2005 she became the first John Lewis Managing Director to manage 2 shops when the John Lewis opened at the Trafford Centre. Maggie is married to Adrian and has 2 young sons, Nathan and Daniel. In her spare time she is a Director of the Seashell Trust (formally the Royal School for the Deaf and Communication Disorders in Cheadle Hulme) and is also involved as a leader in the Scouting movement.

Mark Preston is Group Chief Executive. He joined Grosvenor in the UK in 1989. In 1995 he was seconded to Hong Kong, he then returned to lead Grosvenor’s fund management operations before moving to San Francisco where he was President USA. He returned to London in 2006 as Chief Executive of Grosvenor (UK & Ireland) and became Group Chief Executive in July 2008. Mark is a member of the North West Business Leadership Team (NWBLT), was Chairman of The Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate in 2007 and was a Non-Executive Director of the Royal & Sun Alliance London Board from 2006-2008.

Keith Rudd is a Director of Arup and the joint leader of the Arup business in the North West. Keith is a civil engineer with over 35 years experience in the management, design and site supervision of complex multidisciplinary, infrastructure and building projects for both private and public sector clients. These include projects in transportation, energy, education, healthcare, industrial, commercial and retail sectors for new build and refurbishment on green and brown field sites. He was a key member of the Arup technical advisor team seconded to the Government to establish Network Rail (formerly CLG) and subsequently bid to take Railtrack out of administration. In particular he advised and set up the approaches to carrying out enhancements and introducing new technology to the railway. He has experience of working in the UK, Europe, Africa and South East Asia.

In October 2008 Kevin was appointed the Managing Director of the Military Air Solutions business of BAE SYSTEMS which delivers military aircraft related through-life capability to the UK armed forces and a number of export customers. Prior to this Kevin was Managing Director for the Air Mission Support and Services Business within Military Air Solutions. He was responsible for ensuring the mission effectiveness of the UK’s fixed wing fleet and associated training (excluding Typhoon), the Military Air Solutions US programmes and the Integrated Services business. In December 2006 Kevin was appointed Managing Director of the Air Support business responsible for support to both BAE Systems and third party products in service and the manufacturing businesses of Hawk and Nimrod MRA4. Previous roles include Managing Director of the CS&S MASS business, the Hawk Programme and the Astute Submarine Programme.

Professor Paul Wellings moved to the UK in 2002 to become Vice Chancellor of Lancaster University. Between 1981 and 2002 he held positions as Deputy Chief Executive, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO); Head, Innovation & Science Division; Department of Industry, Science & Resources, Canberra; Chief of Division, CSIRO Entomology; Research scientist, CSIRO. In addition to his position at Lancaster University Paul is a Board Member of the UK Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) and Chairs the HEFCE Research and Innovation Advisory Committee. He is also a Board member of Universities UK (UUK) and Chairs the UUK International and European Policy Committee. He has had previous Board membership of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and the Cumbria Rural Regeneration Company.