Humber Business Week chair Kath Lavery is to step down.
Her 14 years at the helm, and near two-decade service to staging the region’s annual festival of business, will come to an end after this June’s event. It comes as she deals with increasing work demands as chair of Rotherham, Doncaster & South Humber NHS Foundation Trust.
Mrs Lavery has been involved since the inception of the week, having been Hull City Council cabinet member for business and the economy in 2004 when it first began.
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She joined the steering group for what was the brainchild of founder Paul Sewell OBE, who had previously helped bring the Yorkshire International Business Convention - and its world-leading figures as speakers - to Hull for one day in 2003.
‘Biz Week’ as it has become known, now regularly hosts between 40 and 50 events, building to The Business Day finale.
Mrs Lavery says the idea of stepping back had first crossed her mind when she reached the milestone of a decade as chair in 2019, however, she felt the need to ensure the event remained a key part of the local business calendar after the pandemic.
“I didn’t want to walk away when Business Week faced its biggest ever period of uncertainty,” she said. “I wanted to ensure we kept the steering group together, who have been so important, and that we were back on the calendar as soon as possible. We had the year in 2021 where we were mainly online, and then last year we were back to normal and that was fantastic.”
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Mrs Lavery succeeded Dr Sewell, who she describes as really influential in the business community, with passionate support and continued input through his chat-show style events that have brought Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Alastair Campbell and Steph McGovern to the week. She said: “When I’m asked what is special about Humber Business Week I always say it’s how it all comes together and happens. By that I mean that it only happens because there are so many people who want to make it happen, and work so hard to ensure it does.
“I’ve led it as chair for 14 years, but over those years we’ve had so many people from the local business community give up their time as part of a steering group to pull the week together, supported of course by the businesses themselves which plan and stage events throughout the week.
“Other cities and regions have tried to follow the model and it hasn’t worked like it has here. I’ve been asked how we do it, and I’ve always said it is because the businesses and people here want it, and they make it work.
“When I took over from Paul in 2009, I wondered if it had perhaps peaked and whether I’d be able to continue its momentum, but it has just become stronger and stronger.
“That is because there has always been a great team of volunteers on the steering group around me, and people like Paul offering advice and help. Paul established something special and I am proud to have built on what he started.”
She is also grateful to the support from the University of Hull, the various guises of local enterprise partnership, Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, Marketing Humber and Business Hive, as well as businesses such as Rollits, Sewell Group, Streets Accountants and Arrival Design who are part of the week every year.
Highlights for Mrs Lavery include hearing influential civil rights campaigner Reverend Jesse Jackson in 2007, and in 2013 FW de Klerk, who lifted the ban on the African National Congress in one of his first acts after assuming leadership of the National Party in South Africa, releasing Nelson Mandela, before going on to serve as his deputy president.
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“Those two speakers certainly standout in my memory, but whilst Humber Business Week was born out of an event which was all about big name speakers, I am proud that it has become an event which really is focussed on the SMEs across the region, which are the heartbeat of a local economy,” she said.
“Alongside the memories of hearing from world-leading figures, I treasure the memories of the buzz of the week, the hectic nature of going from event to event, and making some really good, lifelong friends.”
The Humber Business Week 2023 programme , at the Lexington Rooftop Bar & Terrace in the Doubletree by Hilton, Hull, with the week starting on Monday, June 5. Full details will be on the .
“We’re shaping up for another great year this year, so I feel I can step back and just come and enjoy the events in future years, without all the worry as to whether it will prove a success,” she added.
Details of her successor have yet to be announced.
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