The Board

Derek W. Harris - Chairman

Derek W. Harris, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, joined Birmingham Technology Limited, the development and management company for Aston Science Park, in 1983. Having served four years as President of the European Business Network, Derek received Ernst & Young's Central Region Supporter of Entrepreneurship Award and an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Aston University in 2000. Following appointment as Chief Executive of Stevenage Business Initiative, in 2003 Derek was appointed Director/Chief Executive of Hertfordshire Business Incubation Centre Limited, the first East of England enterprise hub. Derek is a director of UK Business Incubation Limited, a member of the Enterprise Panel and a non-executive director of several local companies.

Peter Shawyer - Vice Chair

Peter Shawyer has worked within the electronics industry for over 30 years, starting his career as an electronics design engineer, and later writing embedded software for real time control systems. Having joined Texcel Technology Plc as their technical Director, Peter then took on the position of Managing Director. Training and further education within industry are areas that Peter has worked to improve.

Cllr Teresa O'Neill moved to Bexley in 1997 and was first elected to the Council in 1998. She lives in Bexleyheath and represents Brampton Ward. Cllr O'Neill became Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Children's Services in May 2006 and Leader of the Council in May 2008.

Councillor Colin Campbell

Councillor Colin Campbell is an accountant by training and an elected councillor for the London Borough of Bexley. A self employed IT consultant specialising in business process reengineering, Colin is also Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust.

Councillor John Waters

Councillor John Waters is now semi-retired, having spent all his working life in IT, most recently as IT director for a city stockbroker. As well as being a councillor, John is a non-executive director of Bexley Care Trust, which is responsible for NHS Primary Care Services in Bexley. John is also a school governor.

Councillor Margaret O'Neill

Margaret O'Neill has been an Erith Councillor for 12 years. She was born and educated in the town. During the Labour administration she was Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Industry and Town Centres. She teaches Access to Higher Education students at Bexley College, Erith. Her main areas of expertise are environmental issues, sustainability and regeneration. She is chair of governors of Belvedere Junior and Belvedere Infant Schools and a board member of Belvedere Community Centre. A member of Erith Town Forum since its inception, she was a founder of Triforum Youth, a community forum initiative to combat anti-social behaviour and crime with diversionary activities.

Councillor Daniel Francis

Daniel Francis has lived in Belvedere since 1977 and has served as a Councillor representing Belvedere ward since September 2000. He remains committed to improving public transport provision, local facilities for young people and working with local community groups to improve conditions for residents and regularly attends meetings with residents across the ward.

He currently serves on the Management Committee of the Belvedere Community Forum and Tri-Forum (a group formed by the Belvedere, Erith & Slade Green Forums to provide activities for young people), is a governor at Lessness Heath Primary School (his former Primary School) and on the Management Committee at Belvedere Community Centre, which he chaired from 2002 until the elections in 2006.

More information about Councillor Daniel Fancis can be found here >>

More information about Councillor David Hurt can be found here >>

Professor Richard Brook OBE

Professor Richard Brook is a founding director and part owner of E-Synergy Ltd, which arranges and manages investment in early stage technology companies, including spin-outs. He is also a director of the National Physical Laboratory and President of the Association of Independent Research and Technology Organisations . He is a Visiting Professor at the City University and works closely with several of the Research Councils, the DTI and the MoD. He was awarded the OBE in 2004 for services to Higher Education and to the UK Space Industry.

Aman Dalvi OBE

Aman Dalvi was appointed Chief Executive of Gateway to London (GTL) in July 2002. Prior to joining GTL, Aman was Chief Executive of a major Housing Association in London, where he oversaw a growth programme of 5,000 homes and attracted public & private investment of £650m for the organisation. Before this, Aman was Assistant Director (Investment) at the Housing Corporation and was responsible for a programme of £400m. Aman also spent 11 years in the manufacturing industry and worked for Heinz and Unigate Dairies. Aman Dalvi received an OBE in the 2000 Honours List.

Martin Davies

Martin Davies is the Director of KnowledgeEast, a consortium of eight universities and colleges working in East London and the Thames Gateway. Prior to taking up this position in January 2005, he was Senior Innovation Manager at the London Development Agency (LDA) and lead on the LDA's knowledge transfer programme with London's higher education institutions. Martin has more than 12 years experience of working at the business-university interface, as a business development manager, an academic research scientist collaborating with UK and international business, and has been a founder of two university spin-out companies in the biomedical sciences sector.

Mike Ellsmore

Mike Ellsmore is a qualified accountant and member of CIPFA. Mike, who is an Assistant Director of Finance, has worked for Bexley for most of his career. Mike is also project director for two major partnership schemes, involving the renewal of the borough's three leisure centres and two largest secondary schools.

Graham Hammond

Graham Hammond has a career in economic development spanning 20 years including enterprise, business investment, area development, skills and marketing, including looking at spin-offs from the Channel Tunnel Link whilst at Ashford. As Chair of a Task Group of Thames Gateway London Boroughs, he has been involved in unlocking issues affecting the economic growth and development of the sub-region. Graham is also on the Executive of the London branch of the Institution of Economic Development.

Professor Mark Hepworth

Mark Hepworth is Chief Executive and Founding Director of Geoeconomics and a Visiting Professor in Economic Geography at Birkbeck College, University of London. 
Mark has a distinguished career spanning academia (Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies, Newcastle University, Public Policy Research Unit, Queen Mary, University of London), private consultancy (Henley Centre, Local Futures) and public policy (UK Government, OECD, European Commission). Mark's work on the UK knowledge economy has influenced policy at all levels, from the Government's innovation and skills policies to the economic strategies of regional development agencies, sub-regional partnerships and local authorities. His new analysis of the economics of interdependent development is already being used by regional development agencies and sub-regional economic partnerships. He has a first degree in economics from the University of Warwick and masters and doctoral degrees in planning and geography from the University of Toronto.

Sarika Patel

Sarika Patel heads the Enterprise, Innovation and Technology practise at Grant Thornton. She is a Chartered Accountant, a Chartered Marketer, has a law degree and a post graduate diploma in Managing E-Business. Sarika has over 10 years experience supporting SMEs in all aspects of business. Sarika joined Grant Thornton from the London Development Agency (LDA) where she was the Director of Innovation and Sector Development.