Business Leaders Named to Shape Wales’ New National Development Agency

Senior figures from banking, technology, energy, manufacturing, investment and industry have been appointed to help design Wales’ new national development agency.

Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy Adam Price has confirmed the full membership of the Expert Advisory Panel tasked with developing recommendations on the remit, structure and functions of the new organisation.

The 10 new members join chair Jonathan Lewis, whose appointment was announced in July. Mr Lewis is chair of Associated British Ports and a former chief executive of Capita and Amec Foster Wheeler.

The new agency is intended to become a central part of the Welsh Government’s economic development infrastructure, with a focus on attracting inward investment, helping Welsh businesses grow and scale and increasing the adoption of innovation.

Its development is also closely linked to the Welsh Government’s target of halving Wales’ productivity gap with the UK within 10 years.

Sarah Williams-Gardener OBE, a founding member of Starling Bank and chair of FinTech Wales, has been appointed vice-chair of the panel, bringing experience in innovation, investment attraction and developing business ecosystems.

She will be joined by John Evans, former CEO of Subsea7, bringing expertise in energy and major infrastructure, and economist Gerald Holtham, Visiting Professor of Regional Economy at Cardiff Metropolitan University and Managing Partner at Cadwyn Capital.

The panel also includes Deploy Tech co-founder and CTO Beren Kayali, whose experience includes engineering-led innovation and commercialising low-carbon technologies, and Halen Môn co-founder Alison Lea-Wilson MBE, bringing experience of starting, scaling and exporting a Welsh business and developing an international brand.

Former GE Aviation Wales Managing Director La-Chun Lindsay OBE will contribute experience of leading major international operations, while Capital One co-founder and QED Investors Managing Partner Nigel Morris brings extensive venture capital and technology investment experience.

Former Wind River Systems executive Gareth Noyes joins with a background in technology strategy, digital transformation and scaling high-growth businesses.

Oriel Petry, Senior Vice President at Airbus UK, will bring expertise in industrial strategy, international investment and advanced manufacturing, while TUC Cymru General Secretary Laura Doel will contribute perspectives around workforce development, skills, social partnership and fair work.

Announcing the appointments, Mr Price said the panel had been deliberately assembled to combine Welsh expertise with international business experience and a diversity of perspectives.

He said:

“Each will bring their own expertise to assist us in developing the detailed remit and functions of the agency, helping us design and establish an organisation that swiftly supports the growth of our nation’s economy and becomes a key driver for our national productivity mission; to halve Wales’s productivity gap with the UK within 10 years.”

The creation of the agency was announced as part of a proposed change in Wales’ approach to economic development.

When Jonathan Lewis was appointed in July, the Welsh Government said innovation would sit at the heart of the organisation, alongside attracting inward investment and providing greater support for Welsh companies seeking to grow and scale.

Mr Price has stressed that the intention is not to recreate previous development structures, but to establish an organisation capable of competing internationally while connecting businesses and communities across Wales.

The precise shape of that organisation is now one of the questions the new panel will consider.

Members will provide advice, recommendations and challenge to government on the agency’s eventual form and functions. All members are undertaking their roles on an unpaid basis.

The panel will also engage with businesses and other organisations rather than develop its recommendations in isolation.

The Welsh Government said it is working with the panel on a wider stakeholder engagement programme designed to bring voices from across Wales’ economic development landscape into the process.

Mr Price added:

“We have set out the headline vision. The Panel will help us deliver that vision, providing advice, recommendations and challenge about the form and functions of the agency.”

John Hurst, FSB Wales Chair, said:

“We welcome the appointment of the panel that will advise the Welsh Government on establishing a new development agency, and particularly the inclusion of SME owners who can bring first-hand experience of starting and growing a business to this important work.

 

“This is a significant opportunity to implement a simpler, more joined-up and more effective approach to economic development in Wales.

 

“The new agency must deliver measurable impact by making it easier for firms to access the practical help they need to survive and grow, with the agency’s success judged by clear outcomes: more small businesses starting, surviving and scaling.

 

“Small businesses are embedded in every community and are fundamental to Wales’s economic success. As the panel begins its work, it must ensure that the voices of small businesses shape its recommendations from the outset, so that the new agency is designed around the real needs and ambitions of firms across Wales.”

The panel is expected to produce an interim report, with the Welsh Government due to provide a further update early next year.