A LIVERPOOL-BORN “international business heavyweight” has been appointed as chairman of the city’s new business superquango.
Michael Parker, currently chief executive of BNFL, will take up the key role at Liverpool’s new business support, inward investment and regeneration agency, expected to be launched next spring. Mr Parker was previously chief executive of America’s Dow Chemical group.
And the 61-year-old business veteran, who is also well known in the corridors of Whitehall, has agreed to take on the role for nothing, waiving the £50,000 salary he was offered.
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce chief executive Jack Stopforth said: “I’m delighted. It’s a coup for the city. He’s a local man who has run some of the biggest companies in the world. He is very credible and the sort of figurehead with outstanding connections that we need.”
One of his first tasks will be to oversee the appointment of a chief executive for the organisation, which is being formed by merging three existing agencies, Liverpool Vision, BusinessLiverpool and Liverpool Land Development Company.
Around 20 people are believed to have applied for the chief executive post that will carry a salary of £150,000 plus bonuses. An appointment should be made in the next few weeks with the successful applicant being in place months ahead of the April 2008 launch.
It is hoped the new organisation will streamline investment into the city and some observers believe it could take the main inward investment remit for the city away from The Mersey Partnership.
Liverpool-born Mr Parker has overseen operations at BNFL, based in Daresbury near Warrington, since July 2003, following his role as global chief executive officer of the Dow Chemical Corp in Michigan in the United States.
Mr Parker said: “I’ve lived and worked all round the world but Liverpool is where I’m from. This is a great opportunity to give something back to this important city and its people and help put it back where it belongs, as an international centre for business.
“This is an exciting and important time in Liverpool’s history and I want to do all I can to ensure we compete effectively for investment with other European city regions.”
Mr Parker was born in Waterloo and was educated at Waterloo Grammar School before reading chemical engineering at the University of Manchester and later gaining an MBA from the Manchester Business School.
He began his career with Dow Chemical in 1968.
Cllr Warren Bradley, leader of Liverpool City Council, said: “Mike is a highly respected business leader in both the UK and US and has a reputation for getting things done.
“He is a senior international heavyweight and is exactly the type of high-calibre, high-profile person we said we would recruit.”
