The Suffolk Business Board was established in May 2024 following the integration of New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership functions into Suffolk County Council. It comprises representatives from business, education, the voluntary sector and local government.
Business Board members:
Chair: Mark Pendlington
Deputy Chair: Cllr Matthew Hicks, Suffolk County Council
Doug Field, East of England Co-Op
Oliver Paul, Suffolk Food Hall
Lisa Perkins, Tech East
Peter Brady, Orbital Global
Kelly Boosey, Oxford Innovation
Leanne Gittins, LME Recruitment
John Dugmore, Suffolk Chamber of Commerce
Tom Ball, Ipswich Town Football Club
Hannah Bloom, Suffolk Community Foundation
Paul Ager, Associated British Ports
Marek Hornak, University of Suffolk
Nikos Savvas, Eastern Education Group
Cllr Richard Smith MVO, Suffolk County Council
Cllr Andy Mellen, Mid Suffolk District Council
Cllr Neil MacDonald, Ipswich Borough Council
Genevieve Christie joined the Suffolk Business Board in Spring 2026 and is already making an impact on our work around culture, placemaking and the creative industries. We asked her to share more about her experience, and her ambitions for Suffolk.
How would you sum up your work in a couple of sentences?
Placemaking cultural work in Lowestoft is at the heart of what I do – using culture to shine a light on the town, work with and develop its creative skills and talents and bring people to explore and enjoy this most easterly part of the country.
First Light Festival just took place – what does a weekend like that mean for Lowestoft, and the wider Suffolk economy?
First Light brings tens of thousands of people to Lowestoft, who spend money with the festival’s local traders and producers and within the town more widely. It brings visitors to the town for the festival – last year 85% of first-time visitors said they would return and also explore Suffolk more widely.
What motivated you to join the Suffolk Business Board?
I’m very excited to join a board of forward-thinking businesspeople and entrepreneurs from across our region’s key sectors, who care about Suffolk as much as I do, to be able to advocate and champion the vital role that culture and creative industries play in our region.
Where do you think culture and the creative industries can make the biggest difference to Suffolk’s growth?
Culture and the creative industries is a vibrant sector across Suffolk. With the focus in the modern industrial strategy on this sector, and Skills England’s prediction that more than 416,000 additional workers will be needed in it by 2035, Suffolk and the Eastern region has great potential to develop a distinctive offer.
What excites you most about Suffolk’s future?
More and more people are waking up to the wealth of riches in Suffolk and the East of England. Suffolk is a county that doesn’t always shout about its treasures – its heritage, natural resources and home-grown talent in arts and culture – but that is changing and Suffolk is being recognised as a place where innovation and cross sector working, including between our creative industries and other sectors, can thrive – and as a place to live that is second to none. And that does excite me!
What is one thing you’d like to see more of across the county?
Creative skills development opportunities for young people across Suffolk growing, with a pipeline for training and jobs, into a high growth sector that offers rewarding careers.
What was your favourite moment from this year’s First Light Festival?
This year our Dawn programme coincided with the Summer Solstice and for me, it was my favourite part of the festival. To be with thousands of people on the shoreline, in quiet contemplation of the most easterly midsummer sunrise, with an evocative soundscape created by exceptional musicians for electronic music and choral voices – was completely magical!
Find out more about all our board members here.
WHERE BIG
IDEAS HAPPEN.
