Norwich Town Deal Board

The role of the Town Deal Board is to help drive forward long term, inclusive economic and productivity growth in Norwich via the development of a Town Deals Investment Plan. Its role includes:

• Develop and agree an evidenced based Town Investment Plan, including initial concept projects and interventions
• Develop a detailed programme of projects and interventions, through the businesses cases for each project
• Identifying key measures of success for each intervention and ensuring that progress is communicated to and co-ordinated with the activities of other key economic stakeholders and groups in Norwich.

Terms of Reference for Norwich Town Deal Board

Board members' Register of declaration of interest

Norwich Town Deal Board meeting agendas and minutes

Phil Courtier is Director of Place for both Broadland and South Norfolk Councils.

In his role he is responsible for Planning, Building Control, Economic Growth, Licensing and Environmental Protection across the two districts.

He is also a Director for the Greater Norwich Partnership.

Andrew Dernie is head of IT Finance Operations at Aviva and chair of the Town Deal Board Norwich. Andrew is an advocate for businesses and colleagues making a positive contribution in their communities.

He is a founding director and former chair of the award-winning Norwich Business Improvement District. He also represents AVIVA at the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce and chairs the Business in the Community (BITC) Norwich Place Leadership Board. Andrew has chaired the Norwich Town Deal Board since 2020, collaborating to secure £26m of inward investment and delivering the first Town Deal project in the UK, the Digitech Factory at Norwich City College.

Stephen is Chief Executive and Creative Director, Norwich Theatre. He was born and spent his early life in South Wales. He began his career as a professional classical singer, having studied at both the Universities of London and Paris, before entering the cultural sector. Prior to his move to Norwich in 2016, he spent nine years at The Lowry, latterly as Deputy Chief Executive.

Stephen leads all aspects of Norwich Theatre’s work both artistic and commercial. Norwich Theatre encompasses three venues in Norwich, Theatre Royal, Playhouse and Stage Two, as well as a growing portfolio of own produced, national and international touring work through Norwich Theatre Beyond. During his tenure Stephen has pioneered its bold new ‘Creative Experiences’ strategy and several award-winning programmes and projects, including the organisation’s sector-leading response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He has undertaken a wide range of non-executive appointments and is currently co-chair of Dance Consortium and a board member of The Touring Partnership, Norfolk & Suffolk Culture Board and Norwich BID.

Nova has over 27 years' experience of working at board level. She spent a number of years overseas working for an oilfield services and general trading company and spent time working in commercial property development and the construction sector in West Yorkshire. 

Having joined Norfolk Chambers in 2010, Nova has helped shape policy engagement – her remit being to engage, influence and lobby on behalf of the Norfolk business community. She worked closely with the previous chief executive to develop and drive the first five years of a 10-year plan to transform and modernise the chambers. 

In 2022, she was appointed as chief executive of Norfolk Chambers to complete the 10-year plan, by developing and delivering five years of sustainable growth. Together with her customer-centric, amazing team, they have an ongoing mission to connect, support and give voice to every business in Norfolk.

Chris is the CEO of The Forum Trust, the independent charity that runs the East of England’s Millennium Commission landmark Forum building in the heart of Norwich. 
 
The Forum welcomes over 1.5m people a year through its doors, programmes and produces Norwich Science Festival, Norwich Games Festival, Norwich Book Festival and Norfolk and Norwich Heritage Open Days. It is a vital third space for the city, county and region and plays an important role in the economic, cultural and civic life of the region. It is also home to one of the country’s busiest public libraries and the regional HQ of the BBC in the East. 
 
He is also a Trustee of Norfolk and Waveney Mind, DanceEast and Carcanet Press. He is Chair of the Norwich Creative City Compact and sits on Norwich Business Improvement District’s Board. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Election Board Member of the International Cities of Refuge Network. 

Stefan Gurney is Executive Director of Norwich BID and VisitNorwich. Vice-Chair of the BID Foundation and Chair of the ATCM Advisory Council. Focused on providing leadership, strategic direction and accountability for BIDs, working in collaboration with local, national and international partners. A leading voice on BIDs, shaping and influencing the national city centre agenda; forging successful initiatives and projects nationally, winner of the Great British High Street of the Year and ATCM accolades BID of Year, Inspirational Leader of the Year and Campaign of the Year.

Prior to this role, he was the City Centre Manager with Norwich City Council, also working with Compass Group, Sainsbury’s, Virgin Cinemas and Rentokil Initial.

Kris is CEO of Techvelocity and the Founder of Magic Sauce. After a career spanning agency and client side marketing, financial services, IT security and subscription goods, he's helped regional tech start ups that have gone on to raise over £8m in the last 3 years. A regular contributor to various tech sites, blogs and events, he's a self-confessed "start up nerd".

He's also a member of Tech London Advocates/Global Tech Advocates and a Tech Corridor Ambassador.

Clive Lewis was elected the Labour MP for Norwich South in May 2015. Before entering Parliament Clive was Vice President of the National Union of Students, a BBC TV political reporter as well as Army reservist infantry officer, serving a combat tour of Afghanistan in 2009.

Clive Co-Chairs the APPG on the Green New and the APPG Future of Work, and he is the Chair of the APPG on Race and Community. He has been Shadow Minister for Climate & Energy Change, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and, mostly recently, Shadow Minister for the Treasury, with a focus on Environmental Economics and Sustainable Finance.

Julia has worked in the Civil Service since 1983 in various roles before being appointed District Manager for East Anglia in June 2012. Since then Julia has been keen to develop a number of partnerships to tackle Social Justice. This includes a valuable partnership that she has forged with the Police and Crime Commissioner, as Vice-Chair of the Norfolk Rehabilitation Board, working to reduce re-offending by providing rehabilitation of offenders. Julia has also supported Chloe Smith MP with Norwich for Jobs placing young people from all backgrounds into employment and has been a Princes Trust Ambassador for 20 years. 

She was very proud to be awarded an OBE in the Queens New Year’s Honour List 2017 for services to tackling youth unemployment in East Anglia and also to be awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of East Anglia in October 2019.

Chris is a disruptor with over 25 years’ experience within digital start-ups and consulting.
He was appointed Chief Executive of the Norfolk Chambers of Commerce in June 2017. His primary focus, to set in place a modernisation program based around culture, purpose and digital transformation, mindful of course that any change should respect the credibility of an organisation that has been trading for over 125 years.

Chris worked in the 1990s helping shape Norwich Union Insurance’s journey to deal ‘Direct’ rather than via brokers before leaving to set up and launch its4me plc, one of the UK’s most successful online car insurance brokers and a major Norwich employer. Chris also created House Revolution – one of the UK’s first fully online estate agencies, alongside running his own business consultancy practice which has helped many organisations of all sizes across the UK successfully create or deal with digital transformation.

Chris is current vice chair of the Town Deal Board.

Julie Schofield is Head of Business Partnerships at the University of East Anglia. In her role she is responsible for the strategic development of external relationships to maximise the impact of UEA’s research and innovation expertise. Julie also oversees the university’s student enterprise and graduate start-up service. She has 15+ years’ experience in HE includes former Head of Careers – Business Engagement. Previous positions include Director of Business Development at Business Link Norfolk. 

Julie is a member of the CBI’s East of England Council, Norwich Business Improvement District, the LEP Innovation Advisory Board and a co-founder of Sync the City, an annual 54-hour hackathon that takes place in the city. She is also a member of the Norwich University Technical College Board of Governors.   
 

Chris is director of Growth and Investment at Norfolk County Council and responsible for enabling sustainable growth in the county.

This includes responsibility for infrastructure development, skills and support for businesses as well as attracting new investment into the county.

Chris was previously the chief executive of the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, which supports economic growth across Norfolk and Suffolk.

Sarah Steed is Director of Innovation and Engagement at Norwich University of the Arts. Through her role she is engaged with the cultural and economic growth of Norwich and the region, particularly with regard to the development of digital creative industry. She chairs the Creative Industry Group of New Anglia LEP, sits on the Norfolk Museum Development Foundation Board, the LEP Innovation Board and Council for Digital Tech.

Sarah oversees the NUA Ideas Factory business incubation programme which has seen more than 80 new digital creative businesses start up in the City – one element of NUA’s strategy to retain highly skilled graduates in the region.

Mike Stonard is Leader of Norwich City Council and cabinet portfolio holder for inclusive and sustainable development. He has been a City Councillor since 2012 and previous cabinet portfolio responsibilities have included Finance, Economic Development, Environment, and Transport. Amongst a range of council responsibilities, he is Chair of the East Norwich Delivery Board.

His professional career was in the NHS, where he held several Chief Executive positions in health trusts in Norfolk and Suffolk. He is Chair of the Board of Trustees of local charity Future Projects, which provides services and support to some of the most vulnerable people in Norfolk. He is also a director of several local companies.

Jerry is Deputy Principal at City College Norwich. He began his professional career in Kent as a University Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science, specialising in Sport and Exercise Psychology and the Sociology of Sport.

Following a return to Norfolk in 2002 he held a number of roles within the Norfolk County Council Adult Education Service, culminating in serving as Deputy Head of Service. In 2009 Jerry joined City College Norwich where he has been Deputy Principal since 2012. In this role he has key responsibility for all aspects of the College’s provision, with a particular focus on Apprenticeships and Higher Education, the latter accounting for around 900 students. As a sector leader, Jerry chairs the Association of College’s national Policy Group for Teaching and Learning. He also chairs the New Anglia College’s Group Deputy Principals group and currently co-chairs the Post 16 SEN Strategy Group for Norfolk.