Business and Enterprise Board

David Meyerowitz is Chair of the Business and Enterprise Board and brings 40 years of high-level experience of the domestic appliance market to the role.  David is the former CEO of Haier Europe for UK and Ireland, a subsidiary of Haier Smart Home – a leading global household appliance manufacturer, which owns household brands such as Hoover and Candy.  Originally from London, David resides in Wirral, where he has lived for the last 30 years.

Ruth Hartnoll has been appointed Deputy Chair of the new board. A former member of the city region’s Digital and Creative sector board, Ruth is CEO of Matchstick Creative, which she co-founded in 2018.

Matchstick Creative is a Liverpool-based B Corp certified creative agency, which is the marketing partner of local organisations including Everyman and Playhouse Theatres, Hemsec, the University of Liverpool and Growth Platform.

Rachael Baker is Managing Director of JJ Smith & Co (Woodworking Machinery) Ltd, who supply woodworking machines to customers all over the world from their base in Knowsley.  Rachael has a scientific PhD and is passionate about education and apprenticeships.  Over the past few years she has built links with a number of schools within LCR to increase awareness around careers in engineering and manufacturing, ensuring that under-represented groups get access to high quality work experience and careers information.  Rachael is keen to ensure that Liverpool City Region is seen as a beacon of excellence for advanced manufacturing, and hopes to bring knowledge of a number of sectors to the Business & Enterprise Board.

Lynn Haime is CEO of Baltic Creative CIC, having joined the business in October 2022. She has a wealth of experience in commercial property with a career spanning almost 30 years, with specialisms in transactions, landlord and tenant advisory, marketing, delivery and asset management.

Previously, Lynn was Partner and head of the Liverpool office at Matthews & Goodman LLP (now Fisher German). Lynn also has a track record of supporting creative and digital businesses, having spent eight years at Media City in Salford.

Lynn oversees the management and development of Baltic Creative, driving forward the strategic vision of the Board. With her passion for sector growth, and knowledge of the North West property market, Lynn is responsible for delivering the expansion of the Baltic Creative portfolio and creating new opportunities for collaboration and connections that will benefit the creative and digital community in the Liverpool City Region.

Rachael joined Hugh Baird College in February 2020 as Principal and Chief Executive. Rachael has over 18 years of experience in the further education sector. She is no stranger to the Liverpool City Region, having grown up in Bootle and completing her A-levels at Hugh Baird College.

Rachael has overall responsibility for the strategic direction of the College. She is passionate about addressing the skills gaps within the Liverpool City Region and ensuring students develop relevant knowledge and skills that will enable them to progress and secure better jobs.

Professor Tim Jones took up post as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool on 1 January 2023. He moved from the University of Birmingham, where he was Provost and Vice-Principal from 2016. Previously, he held several senior leadership positions at the University of Warwick, including Interim Provost, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Science, Engineering and Medicine, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, Knowledge Transfer and Business Engagement.

Tim is proud to be an alumnus of the University, having gained both his undergraduate degree and PhD at Liverpool. After spending nearly 17 years at Imperial College London, during which he took on several academic leadership roles, he moved to the Chemistry Department at Warwick as part of the University’s strategic investment in advanced materials research. Tim’s research interests are focused on the surface and thin film properties of a wide variety of advanced electronic materials, with applications in areas such as photovoltaics.

Tim has undertaken several external roles connected with the research and innovation agenda, including being a Board member of organisations such as the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), the Welsh Science and Innovation Advisory Council, and the Alan Turing Institute. He has also been involved in several international reviews of research, including as Chair for the Academy of Finland’s Research Profiling funding scheme.

Trevor took on the role of Operations Director at Jaguar Land Rover’s Halewood and Brazil manufacturing plants in September 2019. Halewood is home to the acclaimed and award winning Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport models and is now transitioning to be JLR’s first fully electric car plant.  He moved to Halewood from the £1 billion Engine Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton where he was Operations Director from 2013 leading a cross functional team to develop the state of the art, world class facility, delivering Jaguar Land Rover’s commitment to build its first in-house engine for a generation.

He has worked at Jaguar Land Rover since July 2012, joining as Director of Powertrain Lean Manufacturing. In this role Trevor was responsible for leading the ‘Operational Excellence’ strategy for Powertrain Operations, which included the development of the lean systems and tools globally from conception through training and finally to deployment.

Before joining Jaguar Land Rover Trevor spent two and a half years as Head of Manufacturing Operations at BAE Systems, Lancashire. Prior to this he spent much of his career working for Ford Motor Company, holding various senior manufacturing roles in Engineering, Maintenance, Lean Manufacturing and as an Area Manager responsible for engine manufacturing.

He is an Alumni of the University of East London with a 2:1 (Hons) in Manufacturing Systems Engineering and an Alumni of the University of Wolverhampton after receiving an Honorary Fellowship in 2016 for his work in the City. Trevor is also an award-winning manufacturing business leader – being named the “Manufacturing Champion” at the Wolverhampton Express & Star Business Awards and was a team finalist in the RaENG MacRobert Award for Innovation.

Trevor is passionate about building strong business and community partnerships. Married to Helen with two children, Trevor lives in Liverpool and enjoys playing golf. He is a keen social and community philanthropist, committed to inspiring the next generation of young engineers.

Trevor is the chair of the Advanced Manufacturing Cluster Board.

Melanie joined Shakespeare North Playhouse in September 2021. As Chief Executive she leads this new ground-breaking cultural attraction along with her incredible team. Throughout her career she has worked in iconic venues and on a wide array of projects and initiatives. Her passion lies with shaping and enriching the whole visitor experience and bringing lifelong learning to the people we serve, be that in our local community, our city, from across the UK and around the world.

Melanie worked at National Museums Liverpool for nine years, with seven years as an Executive Director on the Leadership Team. During that time, she has been responsible for all commercial outputs, visitor experience, and strategy and planning. She has taken a lead role in transformational change projects and been instrumental in many major initiatives. Prior to her work at National Museums Liverpool she held senior roles with Everton Football Club and Blackburn Rovers Football Club with a keen focus on creating excellent visitor experiences.

Rachel McLean is Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Arts, Professional and Social Studies and Director of both Liverpool Screen School and Liverpool School of Art and Design at Liverpool John Moores University. Having had both links to and work in the LCR for over twenty-seven years Rachel is passionate about the success of the city and the regional economy. Rachel is proud to be part of the fabric of the region which has a unique pioneering spirit and creativity in its DNA.

Rachel has worked on projects with a range of LCR organisations in the Digital and Creative Sector. The energy and vibrancy of this sector in the region is ripe for development and I very much welcome the opportunity to work with the cluster board to facilitate this growth.

Rachel is the chair of the Digital and Creative Board.

A long-time advocate for the social economy, Jen ran a large socially-trading organisation (STO) in Liverpool for 8 years, before joining CIC Kindred as its director in September 2021. An expert in social investment, social value and community development, Jen brings a wealth of international experience, having worked in the UK, USA and South Africa.

A champion of businesses that trade commercially and create social value in the communities in which they operate, Jen’s work includes increasing the impact of STOs and supporting investment into them. Kindred has pioneered a progressive finance model driven by a grassroots approach that’s designed to create fairer access to finance and reduce inequality.

Professor Katherine Royse is the director of the Hartree centre part of the UK Science and Technology facilities council (STFC) National laboratories. The Centres mission is to accelerate the adoption of technologies such as HPC, HPDA, AL and quantum computing by UK businesses and organisations leading to economic and productivity gains.  Backed by a £172m of government money in partnership with IBM it runs the Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation. Prior to joining the Hartree centre in 2022, Katherine was the Chief Digital Officer at the British Geological Survey. Katherine has extensive experience in digital innovation, product development and data analytics and modelling.

Lindsay has a strong track record in supporting innovation in health and care and securing funding to introduce innovations to the NHS from around the world.

Prior to joining Health Innovation North West Coast, she worked for many years in Higher Education, developing successful R&D collaborations and securing funding from a diverse range of external sources. Many of these programmes had an emphasis on the translation of university research and innovation into economic growth and job creation.

Lindsay’s continued focus is to build successful partnerships with academia, research institutions, NHS providers, local authorities, charities and private sector partners.

Her aim is to maximise opportunities which lead to improved patient and population outcomes and translate into commercial success for the innovative businesses she supports.

Lindsay has a long history with the Liverpool City Region, having studied at LJMU and subsequently working there for 24 years. She represented Higher Education at various ERDF committees and Boards and has experience as an appraiser and as a Panel member in the selection of proposals for funding from UKRI, EIT Health, and the NHS Innovation Accelerator.

Lindsay is the chair of the Health and Life Science Cluster board.

Dr Elliot Street is the co-founder and CEO of Inovus Medical, a multi award winning designer and manufacturer of surgical training technology with its global headquarters located in St Helens and offices in the USA and London. Elliot holds a bachelor’s degree in Anatomical Science and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Manchester Medical School in 2013. Following graduation, he worked at the world-renowned Oxford University Hospitals for 5 years, with experience across general, pediatric and trauma surgery. He has received over 20 clinical excellence and innovation awards and currently works with NHS England as an alumnus and mentor on the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme where he advises clinical entrepreneurs on the commercialization of innovations across the NHS. Dr Street also holds a position on the Liverpool City Region Innovation Board and is a Strategic advisor to Liverpool Ventures and Lyva Labs.

The founder and CEO of Prime Atlantic Ltd. An astute Marine Engineer, and Digital Transformation Specialist. Collaboration is at the core of his approach and beyond implementing digital solutions, he is passionate about fostering a culture of innovation and inspiring organizations to re-imagine traditional business models by leveraging digital technologies to enjoy a lasting competitive advantage and more bottom-line profits.

Ruth Wood is currently the Interim CEO of Mersey Maritime, which is the UK’s leading regional maritime cluster, bringing together industry, government and academia to champion, grow and support the maritime sector across the Liverpool City Region and greater North West.

Ruth is a commercial and marketing professional with over 15 years’ experience in B2B marketing, specifically working in the maritime and logistics sector. Prior to joining Mersey Maritime, Ruth worked at Peel Ports Group and was part of a team that delivered the business case, commercial strategy, and marketing for the Port of Liverpool’s £400m deep-water container terminal; Liverpool2.