Director of Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Isobel Brown is to leave her role at the end of December when her current consultancy agreement comes to an end.
As director of partnership and programmes, Isobel, pictured, has co-led the LEP since June 2013. During that time it has secured £141m of central Government capital funding through the Local Growth Fund as well as a further €70m (£49m) from the European Structural Investment Fund to support local business development. 
Isobel has also been central to the team which won the City Deal for Swindon and Wiltshire, allowing the area to offer a new innovative approach to skills development, aimed at service leavers and civilian employees.
She has also worked to build stronger relationships with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and Cabinet Office.
As the LEP, which was formed in 2011, moves in to its next phase of development and implementation of the 2016 Strategic Economic Plan (SEP), Isobel said she felt this was the right time to move onto her next career challenge and allow a new director to bring a fresh perspective to the continued economic development challenges in Swindon and Wiltshire.
She is also a trustee of Forces in Mind Trust, which supports the successful transition of military personnel into the world of work to lead fulfilling and independent lives.
Prior to joining the LEP she was director of new business at Shaw Trust, the Bristol-based not-for-profit organisation helping disabled people or those at disadvantage to find and sustain employment or enjoy more independent living.
The LEP is one of 39 across the country tasked with driving economic growth, creating jobs and new business opportunities and working with central Government to attract public and private investment into the area.
