Neil Rami

Chief Executive
West Midlands Growth Company

Neil oversees the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC), formerly Marketing Birmingham, which was established in April 2017 to create new jobs, expand existing businesses and attract new investment and visitors to the region, aligned to the ambitions set out in the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Strategic Economic Plan.

Under Neil’s leadership of Marketing Birmingham, the city secured the highest number of foreign direct investment projects on record, attracting significant new investments from companies such as HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Jaguar Land Rover and ASOS. The city’s visitor economy has also grown significantly in recent years, with Birmingham enjoying the largest growth in international visitors of any UK city outside London and the tourism sector now contributing £6.5 billion to the local economy, a 22% increase (£1.16bn) since 2013.

Previously, Neil held similar roles in Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne. He is a member of the British Tourism Industry Group; Chair of the Midlands Trade and Investment Group and is a former Governor and Board Member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Neil is also a Board member of Creative England

Pete Gladwell

Group Social Impact & Investment Director
Legal & General

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Lucy Homer

Executive General Manager Design + Technical, Managing Director Scape Principal Works
Lendlease Europe

Lucy Homer is Executive General Manager Design + Technical, Managing Director Scape Principal Works – Lendlease Europe. A member of the Lendlease Construction Board, she has a wide remit across the region with projects ranging in value from £20million up to £1.6billion. These include Lendlease's integrated development projects such as International Quarter London and Elephant Park, as well as projects for external clients such as Google’s Headquarters, currently under construction at Kings Cross. Lucy was the executive lead for the successful bid to secure Google.

Lucy has a proven track record in leading large complex projects, both as a practicing architect and a design team leader. Before joining Lendlease in 2014, Lucy played a pivotal role in the delivery of BBC Broadcasting House, first for MacCormac Jamieson Prichard, then Sheppard Robson – the only person to stay on the project from start to finish.

A keen advocate of ‘designing it once’, Lucy looks at design holistically. Her premise is simple - to add value in the early design stages by interrogating design decisions to identify real opportunity. Her approach is to reduce design waste through collaboration between consultants and subcontractors as early as possible, rather than redesigning or reviewing details for value engineering opportunities at a later date.

Lucy runs the Scape Principal Works Framework for a £2bn pipeline of public sector projects above £50m. Her aim is to bring private sector thinking into the public sector, particularly in the early stages of design. She has already secured the largest scale project on the framework and is currently working on some exciting strategic opportunities.

Lucy is an active spokesperson for the construction industry, particularly when it comes to young recruits and female staff. A driving force in Lendlease’s work on gender equity, she has helped implement a new 50/50 recruitment shortlist process; attract 36% female entry-level employees; 80% female graduates; and 19% female representation at senior executive level positions.

Perry Wardle

Assistant Director for Growth & Development
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council

Perry has an MSc in Real Estate and Property Management and a PhD in regional economic development.

Rob Flavell

Head of Major Projects, Midlands & North
St. Modwen Properties PLC

Rob joined St. Modwen in 2018 to lead the Major Projects business across the Midlands and North region. Rob’s remit includes the regeneration of Longbridge, a £1bn project that is transforming 468 acres of former MG Rover land in south Birmingham. Previously a director of global consultancy, Turner & Townsend, Rob led the Birmingham office, building a successful award-winning business.

Rob has been involved in a number of major regeneration schemes across the region, including the £1bn Birmingham New Street & Grand Central development, £700m Paradise Circus development, Birmingham Airport Runway Extension and most recently the £500m Axis Square development.

Rob’s focus is to realise St. Modwen’s core purpose, to change places and create better futures.

Monique Royle

Director
Christie & Co

Monique operates on a National basis and is principally involved in the valuation of licensed and leisure properties for pub company portfolios, individual operators and all major lenders for secured lending purposes. Monique joined Christie & Co in 2018 having spent 8 years with GVA working in both the Valuation team and in Retail, Hotels and Leisure and a further 3 years with Colliers International in the Licensed and Leisure team. In 2004 she moved into property consultancy concentrating on commercial property and residential development before specialising in licensed and leisure. In 2013 she had the opportunity to take up a secondment working in the Global Restructuring Group at RBS in Birmingham where she provided the Bank with property advice on their secured assets in terms of maximising value and exit strategies.

She is currently a member of the RICS Governing Council having been Chairman of the RICS West Midlands Regional Board (2015-2017) and a founder member of the RICS Valuation Local Professional Group organising regular CPD events for local members. A former National Chairman of the Association of Women in Property she also takes an active role in promoting the property and construction industry to schools and universities.

Erin Amon

Market Analyst
CoStar

Erin earned her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Psychology from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. She has been with CoStar Group for five years, first as a researcher in Washington, DC. She moved to the Columbia, Maryland office in 2015 as a Market Analyst for Texas and then North Carolina markets before joining the London office in the autumn of 2017.  

Richard Cowell

Assistant Director Development
Birmingham City Council

As a Built Environment professional Richard has over 15 years experience in urban planning, regeneration, property and economic development. Working at the largest local authority in the UK Richard has, since 2010, held key positions leading the formulation and subsequent delivery of the City’s ambitious growth agenda including one of the UK’s most significant city transformation projects, Birmingham’s Big City Plan.

Richard’s senior leadership, strategic decision making and technical expertise have underpinned accelerated development and investment activity across Birmingham. As a senior Director, Richard leads multidisciplinary teams of 75 professional staff and manages an annual capital budget of £50 million and £5 million revenue. His day to day responsibilities include acting as the deputy Chief Planning Officer overseeing the development planning process; developing and implementing financial models to support infrastructure investment in the City such as the Enterprise Zone and in maximising growth associated with HS2; supporting SMEs to grow and accelerate with financial instruments such as grant and Ioan finance and setting the framework for design and conservation across the City.

His work includes leading complex development projects, including the £1.5bn Birmingham Smithfield redevelopment scheme; and working with the private sector and other public agencies to create effective partnerships and enduring collaborative working relationships. He is active in advancing knowledge and understanding of urban planning, regeneration and infrastructure delivery through guest lectures at Universities, regular presentations at regional, national and international events and as a mentor to a number of graduates.