CUMBRIA Local Enterprise Partnership (CLEP) is looking to recruit young leaders aged 18-35 to join its Futures Forum.

Membership provides a great opportunity to help shape Cumbria’s economic future and move forward the LEP’s ambitious plans identified in their economic growth strategies.

CLEP is particularly interested in younger leaders aged 18-24 to balance current membership, which is mainly aged 25-35 year olds. The Futures Forum is responsible for influencing CLEP’s Board and its wider governance structure on the issues that matter to younger people. The new members of the Futures Forum will receive developmental support, including mentoring, to equip them to operate at Board level.

CLEP is committed to equality of opportunity and would particularly welcome applications from those with protected characteristics.

Cumbria LEP Chief Executive, Jo Lappin said: “The CLEP Futures Forum continues to evolve and we are now looking for younger business leaders. It is essential that we reflect the communities and businesses that we serve, geographically, sectorally and size-wise and we are therefore very interested to hear from young leaders, who feel that they can add something to the Futures Forum.”

“It is vitally important that those with the longest-term stake in Cumbria are influencing the LEP’s decisions and taking forward those issues most important to younger people. The Futures Forum really brings the views of Cumbria’s younger leaders forward and provides an opportunity to play an active role in shaping Cumbria’s economy.”

The roles are likely to require a time commitment of 6 or 7 hours per month with an appointment period of two years.

All Futures Forum members sign up to a Code of Conduct and Conflict of Interest Policy to demonstrate their commitment to the highest standards of governance and propriety.

The Futures Forum recently hosted a major summit – Have your Say Event with the highlights of this available at:  https://vimeo.com/797703237/ca024463cf

Applicants wishing to put themselves forward as a Futures Forum member should provide a current CV with a covering letter setting out what they see as the key challenges and opportunities for Cumbria’s economy, the skills and qualities that they can bring to the LEP and why they are interested in joining the Futures Forum. Applicants need to live or work in Cumbria.

Applications should be marked ‘Confidential – Futures Forum Appointments’ and emailed to Shelley Wilkinson at info@thecumbrialep.co.uk

The closing date for applications is 5.00pm on Friday, 21 July 2023.