OBE for LEP Chair

LEP Chair, Roger Marsh, has been made an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to business and the economy.

Roger has led the LEP through a period of significant transformation over the past two years, including bringing over £1 billion government investment into the region by securing the largest Local Growth Deal settlement of any LEP in the country.

Born and raised in Stockton-on-Tees, Roger was Senior Partner of PwC Leeds before becoming LEP Chair in 2013. During his near 40-year career at PwC he instigated the influential Smith Institute report Rebalancing the Economy: Prospects for the North, which played an important role in shaping current government policy on regional economic growth and the Northern Powerhouse.

He also spent two years on secondment to the Cabinet Office as Director-General of Strategic Finance and Operations from 2007-2009, managing change at the highest levels of government.

Roger commented: “Unusually, for those who know me, I was truly lost for words when I found out about this surprise award. This kind of recognition is overwhelming, humbling and somewhat surreal for a lad from Teesside who now calls Yorkshire his home!

“Having had the privilege and responsibility of leading the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) through such a momentous phase of its development, I see this unexpected honour not simply as a personal achievement but as a reflection of just how much progress the whole LEP family has made in a relatively short space of time. Thank you to my family, my board colleagues and everyone who’s supported me through all that we’ve achieved so far.

“Having lived and worked in the Leeds City Region for several decades now, I believe passionately that our region has the potential to drive forward both the North’s and the nation’s success. This recognition spurs me on to ensure that our ambition for good growth becomes reality, not just aspiration, and that all of our citizens, communities and businesses can share in the prosperity we are delivering now and in the future.”

As well as leading the LEP’s work to transform the Leeds City Region into an economic powerhouse, Roger is a member of the HS2 Growth Task Force and a board member of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, playing a key role in shaping the future of major transport infrastructure in the region. A member of the Council of the University of Leeds, of which he is an alumnus, he has also recently become a trustee of the Iraq/ Afghanistan Memorial Project to create a national monument for service men and women and civilians involved in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.