Sheffield Chamber completes new-look all women leadership team

For more than 150 years, Sheffield Chamber of Commerce has supported, connected and represented businesses of all sizes in Sheffield’s vibrant and creative city.

Its vision has always been to make this great city one of the very best places in the UK to start, grow and run a successful and sustainable business.

The team takes its responsibility to be a strong and thoughtful voice of the business community seriously – this means building a strong team of shared values, one with the confidence to provide leadership in the city and lobby for continued progress.

The Chamber recently welcomed a new permanent chief executive, Louisa Harrison-Walker, with her appointment seen as the final piece of the jigsaw in its leadership team.

The Chamber is made up of a community of board members, council members, patrons, and champions. Being a part of this community is where the action is and it’s where businesspeople from around the region can share their expertise and insight to shape what the Chamber has to say on prominent issues.

Decades ago, to be part of a Chamber of Commerce you had to be comfortable with a grey suit and tie, but over the years Sheffield Chamber has drawn together a more diverse range of business leaders and is now far more representative of the wider business community.

Following its recent AGM, members took the opportunity to give thanks to James Needham who has completed his term as chair of board and Antony Davis who has completed his term as chair of council.

Going forward, alongside Louisa, the Chamber has welcomed Rachel Storey as chair of council and Emma Marshall as chair of the board with Grace Brierley as chair of the nominees committee and Karen Mosley continues as Chamber president.

Leadership in the city has grown and changed further afield too, as Kate Josephs sits as chief executive at Sheffield City Council, Victoria Brown continues in her role as South Yorkshire chair of the Institute of Directors and recently, Dame Julie Kenny DBE DL was installed as The Master Cutler for 2022 – 2023 - only the second woman to be installed in almost 400 years.

What a way to end the year – but there’s still plenty going on for the Chamber as the organisation heads into 2023.

New additions include strategic cabinets to bring together expert voices to discuss vital topics such as transport, health and wellbeing, investment, and innovation to encourage real change in the region.

Chamber bosses insist these cabinets will not stand still. They will proactively strive not just to be a place to talk about what’s going on in the region but be a place for action too, driving real change to support business.

There are more than 30,000 businesses in the city. Sheffield Chamber of Commerce wants to ensure every business sees a reason to join its community of members.

Being a member of Sheffield Chamber ensures your voice is heard and that your views are accurately represented.

“The Chamber is rapidly becoming the place where business leaders gather to shape the voice of Sheffield’s business community and this isn’t going to stop as we enter the new year,” added Chief Executive Louisa Harrison-Walker.