Productivity

career in sales, marketing and senior management at Johnson & Johnson, both in the UK and overseas. He has served on the ECB Executive Committee as a representative of Non-Test Grounds, and led Derby’s successful bid to be an ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup host city in 2017. Under his stewardship, Kent Cricket has seen success on and off the playing field including the recent Men’s T20 Vitality Blast success in 2021. A believer that sport can be a powerful force for good in the community, Simon has championed the development of partnerships with Visit Kent, Canterbury 4 Business, Canterbury BID and Canterbury City Council.

Emma Wilcox, Director, Creative Estuary Emma has over 20 years’ experience working across the creative industries. Since 2008 she has worked in cultural policy and arts management, developing national and regional strategy and policy for the creative economy, place-making and sustainable growth. Prior to 2008, Emma worked in the commercial design sector as an account director for clients including Mars, Hasbro and Buena Vista Entertainment. She is a trustee of People United, a Kent-based charity using creativity to encourage empathy and kindness and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.

Peter Hawkes, Turner Contemporary Trustee Peter was Senior Partner of the regional law firm Furley Page until his retirement last year. Peter’s professional practice focused around commercial dispute resolution, advising a wide range of clients in both the private and public sector, including many not-for-profit organisations. Peter has been closely involved in helping support business growth and development in the south east through membership of various advisory boards including KCC’s Business Advisory Board, Canterbury For Business and Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce.

Peter has had a long-standing involvement in supporting the Arts; he sees the vital role which the Arts play in creating a vibrant place to live and work, and he has encouraged business engagement with this sector. Peter is a Vice President of the Canterbury Festival and a Patron of Turner Contemporary.

Dr Zita Stone, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Postgraduate Student Experience (Taught), Senior Lecturer in Management, Kent Business School Zita is a passionate educator with leadership experience in the management of undergraduate and postgraduate courses portfolio, with direct responsibilty for quaility assurance and quality enhancement. Zita has a proven track record of excelling in combining theoretical and business best practices, implementing innovative solutions to facilitate student learning, staff development and business solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Zita is an engaged partner with enterprise and KBS Alumni and successfully manages consultancy projects for SMEs. Currently, Zita is leading a Kent County Council (KCC) Research project on The Internationalisation of SMEs in Kent post Covid-19. This is a second phase of a 2016 project in which Zita participated and focused on The Internationalisation of SMEs in Kent post Brexit. Further, Zita maintains strong industry relationships via her Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and Institute of Directors (IoD) membership.