Tim Rix
Managing director of JR Rix & Sons
Tim joined Rix as the fifth generation in the well-established Hull family firm following a degree in engineering and business studies and a job working for a ship repair firm on Hull's fish docks. Rix businesses include petroleum distribution, ship owning, static caravan manufacture, property development and car retail employing more than 450 people in the Hull area.
Tim also holds board positions on the North Bank Partnership and Bridlington Harbour Commissioners as well as being a founder member of For Entrepreneurs Only.
Peter Aarosin
Director of Danbrit Holdings, Easttrans Holdings and chief executive of RMS Group Holdings Ltd
Peter is a director and shareholder in several companies that operate in the sea and road-based logistics, ports, storage and warehousing sectors in the Humber estuary and beyond.
Born in Denmark, Peter has been based in East Yorkshire for 34 years. His companies have strong links to the continent with offices in Copenhagen, the Danish port of Hundested and Rotterdam.
He is chairman of Hull & East Yorkshire Bondholders and a founding member of the Humber Port partnership
Dr Tony Banerjee
Chair of NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group
Born in Hull, Tony attended Hymers College, followed by Leicester University for his medical studies. He graduated in 2002 and then returned to Hull to work as a junior doctor at Hull Royal Infirmary in 2002. He completed his GP training in 2006 and has worked as a GP locally since then, now as a partner at Marfleet Group Practice.
Tony became chairman of NHS Hull aged 31 years old and is passionate about beneficially altering the health and social care landscape of Hull.
Councillor Stephen Brady
Leader of Hull City Council
Councillor Stephen Brady was elected to serve as the Labour councillor for Southcoates West Ward in Hull in 2000 and served as a back bench councillor for four years before taking on the role of chief whip for the Group in 2004. Councillor Brady was elected as Group Leader following the May 2006 election, when Labour lost control of the council. He set about rebuilding the Labour Group with other leading members, gaining seats in subsequent elections and securing overall control of the council in 2011.
Prior to becoming a Labour councillor, Stephen Brady owned and ran a newsagents shop for ten years in the ward he now represents in Hull. From leaving school, Councillor Brady worked in a number of industries, notably at Sculcoates Power Station, Imperial Typewriters and at BP Chemicals at Saltend where he was, for a long time, the elected full-time trade union convenor for the Transport and General Workers Union.
Experience of local politics, trade union negotiation and representation and of owning and running a small business have provided Councillor Brady with a unique and rich perspective, which he uses to guide his hand in his role as Leader of the Labour group, and since May 2011, as council leader.
Carolyn Burgess
Chief executive of Language Is Everything
Carolyn has headed translation and interpreting business Language Is Everything since 1995, leading it through incorporation in 1997, a move to Howden in 2001, and becoming a partner of the World Trade Centre Hull & Humber in 2008.
Bishop of Hull
The Right Reverend Richard Frith
Richard Frith is Bishop of Hull. A graduate in theology at Cambridge, after training for ordination in Nottingham, he worked in parishes in south west and south east London and near Bristol. Then, after six years as Archdeacon of Taunton, he became Bishop of Hull in 1999. In his current post, Richard is one of three bishops working under the Archbishop of York in the Diocese of York, having particular responsibility for the ministry of the church in Hull and the East Riding.
Neil Hodgkinson
Editor, Hull Daily Mail
Neil is the editor of the Hull & East Riding Daily Mail, Advertiser Series and The Journal magazine. He joined the company in 2011 from CN Media Limited where he was editorial director. He started in journalism in 1979 and has experience of national and regional media and has also been editor at the Lancashire Evening Post and the Yorkshire Evening Post. He has collected five UK newspaper of the year awards over the years.
He spent the first 21 years of his life in Fleetwood – another fishing port trying to reinvent itself – and was a founder member of the Leeds Initiative Board formed to revamp Leeds in the early 1990s. Married with a 13-year-old son, he lives locally and is also a qualified junior rugby union coach.
Matt Jukes
Port director, ABP (Associated British Ports) Hull, Goole and Humber Estuary Services
Starting his career as a quay foreman at the Port of Immingham, Matt first joined ABP's operational board in October 2005, when he became port director for ABP's Short Sea Ports business unit.
He took over as port director for Hull and Goole in 2008, and leads a multi-disciplined team of more than 500 staff. Since his return to the region, he has led on port investments totalling more than £20m, and is the ABP lead on the Green Port Hull scheme, a £200m investment project working with Siemens to deliver a port-based offshore wind turbine nacelle manufacturing and riverside distribution facility. Matt has worked at many of ABP's businesses at various locations around the UK and has nearly 20 years of experience in the sector.
He is a past president of the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, sits on the board of the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership and on the advisory board of Hull University Business School.
David Kilburn
CEO and co-founder of MKM Building Supplies
A start-up business in 1995, MKM has grown to become the UK's largest privately owned builders' merchant chain with 39 branches, and three set to open this year. David is a member of the Humber LEP Board and is a co-founder of For Entrepreneurs Only a community interest company dedicated to improving the local economy. He is also chairman of Young Enterprise in the Hull and Humber region. David was the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year in the North 2008.
Sarah Longthorn
Director of WedgeWelly
Sarah Longthorn is a Hull-born businesswoman and founding member of the company WedgeWelly. In the space of just four years, Sarah has grown a business, which now has multiple brands, exports to more than ten countries globally, and is stocked by the UK's largest retailers.
In 2010, Sarah appeared on the hit TV show Dragons' Den and successfully pitched for investment from Theo Paphitis, a serial entrepreneur who is actively involved in the business today.
Thomas Martin
Joint managing director at Arco
Thomas Martin is the Joint Managing Director of Arco, the UK's leading safety company and a fourth generation, family-owned business. After several years in London working in advertising and direct marketing, Thomas joined Arco in 1988 having applied for a role in the product marketing team. He gained experience in telesales, product management, purchasing and branch operations before being appointed supply chain director and then joint managing director. Headquartered in Hull with a 44-branch network across the UK and Ireland, Arco now leads the way in providing high quality, innovative products, consultancy and services that make work places safer.
Thomas established the B2B fundraising for the RNLI and contributes to the local business community through his involvement with the Yorkshire & Humber CBI Council.
Professor Calie Pistorius
Vice-chancellor of the University of Hull
Calie has been in post since September 2009 and is also a member of the Humber LEP, a director of Yorkshire Universities and The Deep, a Yorkshire Patron and serves on the CBI Council for Yorkshire and the Humber as well as the Hull and East Riding Bondholders.
Barbara Sharp
Site director, SGS
SGS International is a world leader in the production and management of packaging communications. SGS originally opened in Hull in 2005 following the acquisition of two local independent businesses and recently relocated one of its facilities to the home of the former Hull Brewery at The Maltings, Hull.
Barbara's career within the print and packaging industry commenced 27 years ago and in 2010 she was appointed site director. Barbara has played a pivotal role transitioning a new business award into SGS and has grown the business to a multiple of four from the original award, increasing staffing levels from 60 to 150.
Charlie Spencer
Chief executive and founder of the Spencer Group
Charlie established his business in Hull in 1989 and has developed the Spencer Group of companies into an industry leader in the renewable energy, engineering and transport sectors. The Spencer group currently employ more than 400 people nationally and operates from headquarters based in Hull.
Kevin Walsh
Executive director, KCOM
Kevin joined the KCOM Group in 2000 and the Group's Board in May 2004. He is responsible for the management of the Group's KC and Eclipse brands. Kevin is a member of Business in the Community's Yorkshire and Humber Advisory Board.
Under Kevin's leadership KC launched its community contribution programme, KC in the Community, in 2010. Since then the programme has seen KC provide financial support and business resources to hundreds of local charities, community organisations and events that contribute to the region's success.
