Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has appointed Vanessa Joseph as its first full-time communications manager.
Vanessa, pictured, joins the LEP from the corporate sector having previously worked with Swindon-based building society Nationwide in the UK and Verizon Communications in India. 
She is responsible for managing the organisation’s marketing and communication strategy with a focus on supporting its mission for economic growth as well as raising awareness of the LEP.
Her immediate focus will be to deliver the LEP brand messages through various media including a reinvigorated website, marketing materials and appropriate participation in events.
The LEP, a partnership between the two local authorities - Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire Council - and businesses, was formed in 2011 and has an ambitious plan to drive economic growth and transform Swindon and Wiltshire into one of the UK’s leading hubs for innovation.
It has developed a Strategic Economic Plan with five strategic objectives – skills and talent; transport infrastructure; digital capability; place shaping; and business development – based on its vision for what Swindon and Wiltshire will look like by 2026.
As well as the area being recognised as an innovation centre, it also wants it to be home to even more world-class businesses and entrepreneurs with a digital infrastructure second to none and a thriving network of higher education centres. It has set targets to create a minimum of 47,000 jobs and build 64,000 homes by 2026.
The LEP is currently recruiting a new chair following the departure this month of Barry Dennington, who had been in the post since June 2014.
