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People & Culture

Here for Oxfordshire’s businesses

At OxLEP Business, our values represent who we are – trustworthy and accountable, collaborative, focused and mindful.

We will always be committed to building and maintaining an inclusive company culture; the diverse perspectives of our staff are what makes us so adaptable to the needs of our clients, of which there are now many!

Just like many of the innovative and inspiring companies we work with, we have a never-ending thirst for bringing in new ideas into
the organisation.

We’re constantly looking at how things are done differently in order to improve our process every day, and endeavor to create an
environment that enables people to grow and develop, partake and challenge, and feel comfortable and confident.

Our team comes with vast experience from a range of sectors, public and private, and who all share an ambition to deliver the best possible support we can to SMEs across Oxfordshire.

Meet the team

Read more about the team’s experience and background.

Richard Byard
Richard Byard

Director of Business Development

Richard Byard

Richard has over 30 years experience leading businesses to succeed.

Commercially-focussed he has a strong track record in service delivery, strategic development and operational management spanning the public and private sectors. He is an experienced relationship builder at senior level locally, regionally and nationally to deliver shared ambitions. He has responsibility for the OxLEP Business and OxLEP Skills functions including Inward Investment & Internationalisation, Business Support and our Skills priorities.

Director of Business Development

Helen Brind
Helen Brind

Growth Hub Manager

 

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Helen Brind

Helen joined us in January 2018 and heads-up our Growth Hub – part of our OxLEP Business team – supporting businesses who are pre-start-up, start-ups or growing through a variety of different grant applications, workshops and other high-class support programmes.

Growth Hub Manager

Katherine Shepherd
Katherine Shepherd

Growth Hub Administrator

 

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Katherine Shepherd

Katherine joined OxLEP Business in November 2019, as Programme Assistant to the Innovation Support for Business (ISfB) programme, working alongside the Programme Coordinator and Executive.

ISfB Programme Assistant

Sarah Beal
Sarah Beal

Growth Hub Programme Executive

 

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Sarah Beal

Sarah Beal is the European Programme Executive for the eScalate programme, having previously worked on the OxLEP Growth Hub Elevate programme.

eScalate Programme Executive

Catherine Warren
Catherine Warren

Growth Hub Assistant

 

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Catherine Warren

Catherine joined OxLEP in March 2021 and works in a job share as the eScalate Programme Assistant and the Growth Hub Programme Assistant.

Over the past 20 years, Catherine has had various supporting roles at large corporations including working in Australia and New Zealand.

eScalate Programme Assistant

Charlotte Bright
Charlotte Bright

Senior Operations Coordinator

 

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Charlotte Bright

Charlotte joined the OxLEP Business team (Growth Hub) as Senior Operations Coordinator in May 2022.

Senior Operations Coordinator

Leona Weston
Leona Weston

Marketing Campaigns Executive

 

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Leona Weston

Leona is our Marketing Campaigns Executive, working within our in-house Communications Team across all areas of OxLEP’s work, after joining in 2018 and completing a PRCA Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship in PR.

Marketing Campaigns Executive

Natalie Egan
Natalie Egan

Inward Investment Executive

 

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Natalie Egan

Natalie has around 15 years’ experience working within both the private and public sector.

Inward Investment Executive

Emma-mae Webb
Emma-mae Webb

Marketing Campaigns Executive

 

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James Ruel
James Ruel

Compliance Manager

 

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James Ruel

James is a consultant providing part-time compliance support for OxLEP’s European-funded projects.

Compliance Manager

Jordan Whitefoot
Jordan Whitefoot

Digital Strategy Lead

 

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Jordan Whitefoot

Jordan joined OxLEP in April 2021 as the team’s Digital Marketing Executive, having most recently played a key role at Abingdon and Witney College.

Digital Strategy Lead

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