New faces at helm of networking body
BUSINESS networking body BPS Birmingham Future has appointed its new chairman and deputy chairman for the coming year.
Tara Tomes, founder of PR agency East Village, takes over the chair, while Kathryn Small, business development manager at law firm Gowling WLG, steps into the deputy role.
Ms Tomes succeeds Rebecca Simkiss, co-founder of recruitment agency SimkissGuy.
The appointments were announced at a dinner in Birmingham this week along with the news of a new initiative to be run in partnership with Aston Business School called Birmingham Future Leadership Development Programme.
It aims to offer members of BPS Birmingham Future the chance to develop leadership skills with applications opening in September.
During its first year, the initiative is looking to recruit up to 30 young professionals to take part in the nine-month programme.
Ms Tomes said: “Being a member of Birmingham Future has played an integral part in my career progression during the past eight years so I know, first hand, how important membership is to young professionals, their employers and the sector as a whole.
“I have a wide-ranging set of objectives to achieve during my year, not least ensuring that our newly launched Leadership Development Programme is a great success. I will add to Birmingham Future’s existing offering with new opportunities for our more experienced members, in addition to building upon our activity in schools.”