Name:

Biography: Prior to becoming a Member of Parliament, Gillian held a number of senior executive positions in the Technology, Banking and Automotive sectors. Gillian was Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Travelport, a technology company owned by Blackstone, prior to this she spent eight years based in Madrid as Group Vice President for Amadeus IT Group, which transacted the largest IPO in Europe in 2010. In her earlier career she was involved in the development of digital payment services in the 1990’s.

Gillian was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Chichester in the 2017 General Election. Prior to this, Gillian was Director of Women2Win, an organisation founded by The Rt. Hon Theresa May MP and Baroness Anne Jenkin to increase the number of Conservative women in public office. In addition to her work with Women2Win, Gillian has co-chaired a review of women in local Government with Dame Margaret Hodge, MP, led by the Fawcett Society.

In Parliament, Gillian is on the Public Accounts Committee and All Party Parliamentary Groups such as Women and Work, as well as the Parliamentary Women’s Football team.

Name:

Biography: Lord Leigh graduated in Economics from Southampton University, and subsequently joined Deloitte Haskins & Sells where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He transferred to the corporate tax department where he further qualified with the Chartered Institute of Taxation.

In early 1986 Lord Leigh established Deloitte’s Mergers and Acquisitions Group and developed an expertise in company sales. In May 1988 he left to set up Cavendish Corporate Finance LLP and is currently the Senior Partner.

He was a member of the DTI’s Deregulation Task Force – Tax Committee (1994-1997), and served on the Board of the Bolton Building Society from 1984 to 1991.

In 2000 Lord Leigh was appointed as the Chairman of the Faculty of Corporate Finance of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. In 2008 he was awarded the Faculty’s Outstanding Achievement in Corporate Finance award.

Lord Leigh also served for ten years as Vice-President of M&A International (now Oaklins Inc), the world’s oldest and largest international alliance of SME corporate finance advisers.

In September 2013 he was elevated to the Peerage as Lord Leigh of Hurley and has spoken many times in the Lords on business, the economy, tax, and

trade, and led the debate on international trade post-Brexit. He served on the Finance Bill Sub-Committee.

Lord Leigh has been a Treasurer of the Conservative Party since 2000, and Senior Treasurer since 2010.

He sits on the Advisory Board of Metro Bank plc.

Name:

Biography: Craig Tracey is the MP for North Warwickshire and Bedfordshire, first elected in 2015.

Craig’s background in business started in insurance brokerage, where he ran his own company for 20 years.

In Parliament, Craig chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Insurance and Financial Services, the APPG for Women and Enterprise and Co-Chairs the APPG for Breast Cancer. He has previously been a member of the influential Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, drawing on his experience of running a small business and the insurance industry.

In January 2018 Craig was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Department for International Development and more recently PPS for Women and Equalities.

Name:

Business Founded: Liz Felix Millinery

Bio: 

Business Founded: Dirty Little Serifs and MAYKHER

Biography: Having carved out a career in both fashion and design, Heidi has proceeded to co-found both Dirty Little Serifs and MAYKHER.

Founded in 2013, brand and design agency Dirty Little Serifs has grown from a kitchen table business to a small team and studio in the heart of Cardiff Bay. The company work with a range of diverse and exciting clients, nationally and internationally, including Olympic Athlete, Christian Malcolm and International Footwear Brand Sledgers, delivering projects covering Brand Design, Web Design and Development, Film and Photography Art Direction.

In 2016, Heidi co-founded MAYKHER with an agenda to address inequality issues she felt passionate about. MAYKHER is a slow and sustainable fashion company with a focus on education and promoting equal opportunities for women. Production of MAYKHER accessories support the fair wages and ethical work opportunities for artisans currently in Haiti, India and Guatemala, helping to raise each artisan above the poverty line. Whilst at least 10% of the companies’ end of year profits are invested into the education of young girls and women. In February 2018, MAYKHER won FSB Wales’ Ethical and Green Business on the Year and is proceeding to the national final in London in May 2018.

In January 2017, Heidi joined the Board of Directors at Full Circle Education, a Cardiff based social enterprise focusing on providing solutions to inspire and engage children and young people across Wales. She has also enjoyed speaking opportunities for the UN, UWTSD and the Education Wales Summit 2017.

Business Founded: Hadley Green Dental Practice

Biography: Mandy Kent is the principal dentist and owner of Hadley Green Dental Practice in High Barnet.
She took over an existing private practice in 2011 and has now modernised and developed the premises to provide two surgeries, offering a range of services, from general dentistry to implants and cosmetic dentistry. Mandy has a friendly and caring approach which helps nervous patients and children to relax.

More information about the practice can be found at www.hadleygreendentalpractice.co.uk

Business Founded: Love Barnet

Biography: I began my working life whilst at thirteen as a Saturday girl in a local hairdressing salon where I earned £1.50 for a long hard day. Then I joined M & S who wanted me to join their management training scheme but my parents insisted I stay at school to take my exams…..really!

I left school at sixteen and started writing copy for a small marketing company and from there joined a well known fashion company where I was fortunate to quickly ride up the ranks.

After marrying and having two children I did many things including working for the company that sold the first online retail shopping site to Toys r Us.

I moved to Chipping Barnet in 1999. Back then I loved the High Street and its shops, the prospect of almost village life so close to central London, the visual delights of a pond opposite my home, the green and the trees. Having school age children, the excellent schools provided in the area added to the appeal.

Due to commitments I stopped working but when life settled down I decided to train as a psychotherapist but didn’t give up trying to build a better high street and local economy. I joined The Barnet Society, a local organisation that held views and wishes similar to mine. I became more and more active. Sadly the High Street, like so many, began to decline. In 2012, the year of the UK Olympics, I was part of a local team that won a bid by the then Mayor, Boris Johnson, to fund High Street improvements and community engagement.

I set up the Love Barnet Facebook, Twitter and Website pages as a way of continuing communicating with the local community, residents and businesses and celebrating everything we love about the area and to create a community forum.

Through Love Barnet we want everybody in our community to have a say and become involved in creating a town we are proud to call home, a place of peace and beauty, with a happening buzz and the best of food, culture and shopping right on our own doorstep.

I have in the last few years and with a lot of local help, and with thanks to local charity The Eleanor Palmer Trust and The Spires opened three pop up shops, 89, Billy & Betty & Tea Station, with mostly local women and now one of the shops, Room 89, has become a successful home and fashion boutique owned and run by one of those women with and her new business partner.

I have also been privileged to run several pop up craft fayres with thanks to the management team in Bentley Hertfordshire, again on our High Street.

I am currently Vice Chair of the Barnet Society and our local Town Team. I have two adorable grandsons’ ages four and seven and another grandchild due this summer.

How lucky am I !

So far we have managed to de-clutter much of the pavement furniture along the High Street, update the church garden in the town centre, improve some local shop-fronts and champion new businesses and the new market. But there’s much more to do.

Visit The Love Barnet facebook page.