Veteran marketer Richard Gregory has become the new Director of government-funded agency Tech North.
Gregory will start his role on Monday July 11th and replaces Claire Braithwaite, who stepped down just months after the agency was launched.
Gregory brings private-sector expertise
Tech North is tasked with boosting the tech sector in the North of England and receives £2million in taxpayers’ money every year.
Gregory joins after 12 years at Latitude Digital Marketing, where he served as COO for 10 years and as MD for two years.
He is also a council member of the Manchester Digital organisation and founder of SASCon Ventures, which holds an annual tech conference on search, analytics and social.
Tech North met Gregory nine times before making the job offer because it “really wanted to get this appointment right,” according to chairman Herb Kim.
”After searching far and wide, I’m extremely happy to announce that Richard Gregory has been appointed as the new Director of Tech North,” said Kim, who has been acting as interim director since Braithwaite stepped down.
Gregory added: “Tech North is an organisation with a vital mission and I look forward to using my private-sector experience to build on the team’s great work.
“With the events of the past week, the need for Tech North to support the Northern tech community has never been greater.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge.
“I’ll be sharing more about our plans for the future of Tech North at a series of events across the region in mid-July. More details about these will be announced shortly.”
Tech North came about as part of former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg’s Northern Powerhouse initiative.
