Birmingham Economic Review 2024

Henrietta Brealey

CEO, Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce

The GBCC exists to Connect, Support & Grow local businesses. It is a mid-sized not for profit business membership and support organisation that has been in business, for business, since 1813. It delivers support and services aimed at helping local firms go global. Henrietta became CEO in 2021 at age 30, making her the youngest CEO in the organisation’s 210 year history. She is a vocal advocate for Greater Birmingham’s businesses, representing Chamber members’ interests through a range of regional and local stakeholder boards and groups.

Prior to becoming CEO, she was Director of Policy & Strategic Relationships leading the GBCC’s research, campaigns and support activity, including on preparing for, and the impact of, the end of the Brexit transition period. She is a governor and honorary fellow of University College Birmingham. She was named Birmingham Live’s Young Business Leader of the Year at their 2022 Business Awards and Young Leader of the Year at Business Desk’s West Midlands Leadership Awards 2023. 

Joanne Roney

Managing Director, Birmingham City Council

Joanne joined Birmingham City Council in September 2024.

Before her move to Birmingham, Joanne was the first female Chief Executive of Manchester City Council between April 2017 and August 2024.

During her seven and a half year tenure in Manchester, Joanne dealt with several unprecedented events and led the council’s response to two major crises – the 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack and the Covid-19 pandemic.

In September 2021, Joanne was named the Local Authority Chief Executive of the Year at the annual MJ (Municipal Journal) Awards. She then oversaw Manchester City Council attain ‘Council of the Year’ status in July 2022.

Born in Shard End Birmingham, Joanne’s career started in local government as an apprentice with Birmingham City Council when she was 16.

Throughout her career to date, she has built a strong track record in transforming public services and delivering major regeneration initiatives across many cities in the UK. Joanne has extensive experience in local government having previously worked as Director of Housing at Kirklees Council and Executive Director with responsibility for housing, communities and adult care services at Sheffield City Council.

Joanne also served as the President of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE) between 2020 and 2022.

In the 2024 New Years Honours list, Joanne was awarded a CBE for services to Local Government.

Joanne is a proud brummy, with a proven wealth of experience, whilst being a committed public servant to the region. 

Gurjit Jagpal

Managing Director, Goldman Sachs Birmingham

Gurjit Jagpal is a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and is Global Head of Investment Banking Engineering and Head of their Birmingham office.

Anne Green

Professor of Regional Economic Development, City-REDI, University of Birmingham

Anne Green is Professor of Regional Economic Development at City-REDI, University of Birmingham. She has a background of working in multi-disciplinary research centres in universities and has substantial experience of leading, and working on, applied research projects on regional economic development issues, with a particular emphasis on the labour market. She is a mixed methods researcher with degrees in geography and a strong record of engagement with regional, national and international policy. Anne has worked on government funded projects and contributed in an invited expert capacity to a range of government departments and agencies, as well as OECD and the European Commission. Current research focuses on alternative approaches to economic development, governance issues, employment and skills, migration, commuting, megatrends, changing economic geographies and public policy issues at, and across, a range of geographical scales.

Professor Rebecca Riley

Co-Director, City-REDI, University of Birmingham

Professor Rebecca (Bec) Riley is Co-Director of City-REDI, Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Regional Engagement, Director of the Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Hub, and Professor of Enterprise, Engagement, and Impact at the University of Birmingham’s Business School.

Bec joined the University of Birmingham nine years ago to set up City-REDI, with an aim to build a distinctive local, regional, national and international research platform through the development of a Birmingham approach to understanding and facilitating growth in city regions. This systemic approach in identifying and conceptualising the inter-dependencies within and between regional economies has provided new opportunities for understanding, conceptualising, modelling, evaluating and comparing economic activity and business trends at the city-region level.

As the newly announced Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Regional Engagement, Bec will lead on setting the civic and regional vision for the University, while building on the work she has been doing with the University’s Regional Engagement Group. Alongside her new role, Bec remains the Principal Investigator (PI) and Director of the (LPIP) Hub, addressing nationwide issues through local partnership and place.

Bec’s research interests focus on regional economic development, including research to develop policy and regional strategies, monitoring frameworks, economic forecasting, skills and labour market analysis, and strategic business cases and project evaluation. She applies a mixed methods approach in her research, with a strong focus and record of impactful policy-relevant applied research and stakeholder engagement. She is an experienced lead on research projects, with over 200 research projects carried out across academia, policy, and consultancy roles.

Impact, evaluation and business cases are also key themes in Bec's research so she understands the requirements of research delivery: how research and evidence can make change in the world in which we live. Her research is multidisciplinary and has a broad-based policy focus, but at the core of all her work is understanding how research can make change happen. She has an applied, expert knowledge of the development of strategy, business cases, theory of change, impact pathways, evaluation and monitoring frameworks across university, public, private, and voluntary sector projects and programmes.

Bec is recognised within the sector, policy and business circles for delivering impactful work and having a professional team able to work across boundaries, establishing a successful hybrid professional services and academic team to deliver to stakeholders. This gives her the experience, knowledge, and expertise on the requirements of policy makers and businesses which Bec applies constantly to the work of the wider team.