BID welcomes its new Executive Director
Northampton town centre Business Improvement District (BID) has recruited a new Executive Director to support the BID Board in delivering its Business Plan.
Rob Purdie will work alongside pfbb UK, Chris Barker, the BID Project Manager for Northampton town centre, and the BID’s two town centre Hosts, Kimberley Herbert and Matthew Crawley-Alexander.
Northamptonshire born Rob, who joined the BID team at the start of December 2017, said: “I look forward to working closely with town centre businesses and the BID team to fully understand and tackle the challenges and issues faced not just here, but across all town centres in the UK.
“My job will be to build on the great things that are already happening. I passionately believe in the enormous potential our town centre has to become not only the biggest, but the best in the country and I look forward to combining my commercial and public sector experience with my knowledge of the local area to develop projects that will help our town centre grow and thrive.”
Rob has a 30-year career in corporate sales and marketing strategy and has previously held senior positions at Granada, Pirelli and Carlson Marketing. He is managing partner of business and marketing management consultancy, Alchemetrix Ltd, and has held several non-executive directorships – at Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership, Northamptonshire Chamber, River Nene Regional Park and EMB Group. He has also been involved in the Northamptonshire Library Plus Trust, Federation of Small Businesses and ‘Made in Corby’, a project funded by the Arts Council.
Brendan Bruder, BID Director and Managing Director of AbbeyRoss Ltd, was part of the BID team that led on Rob’s recruitment. He said: “Rob is very inclusive, a good communicator, and is well known and liked. His commercial know-how and public sector background will bring a fresh pair of eyes to the challenges the BID faces,” said Brendan. “His role will be to build on the platform that is already in place, and work closely with businesses and key partners to raise the profile of the BID and identify investment opportunities to leverage funding into the town centre. Rob is from Northamptonshire, shares our passion for the town centre and will play a pivotal role in its future. We are confident that his influence will be seen both within and beyond the town’s boundaries, right across the business spectrum, and we wish him a warm welcome as he hits the ground running.”
Town centre businesses are invited to meet Rob and the team on Wednesday, 31st January, at either 9.30am or 5pm. Both meetings will be held at the BID offices which are on the second floor of Northampton Town Centre House, 78 Mercers Row, Northampton, NN1 2QL.
If you would like to meet Rob before then please email the BID office: info@northamptonbid.co.uk.
