Helen Golightly OBE
Chair
Helen has been the Chief Executive Officer of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership since 2015 and leads the delivery of the North East Strategic Economic Plan, working with partners to grow the local economy by securing investment in the region and improving skills and business support for residents and businesses. Under Helen’s leadership, partner engagement with the North East LEP and the region’s Strategic Economic Plan has helped deliver over 76,000 jobs over the period 2014 - 2019 and the employment gap between the North East and England (excluding London) has reduced by 26%. She has been instrumental in securing over £2billion investment for the region, resulting in the delivery of over 200 projects securing 20,000 more jobs for the region.