Please find latest news release from Bristol City Council Press Office, Friday July 2 2010
Appointment of new city investment and promotion director
Mike Bennett has been appointed as Bristol’s new Place Making Director. The new post will have a specific role to promote the city to attract new investment, jobs, visitors and residents to enable Bristol to compete on a national and international level.
Mike is currently chief executive of Bristol Media, one of the biggest creative networks in the UK.
The post - for two years in the first instance - will work through the Bristol Partnership's Prosperous and Ambitious Board, and be funded by public and private partners including Bristol City Council, University of Bristol and Destination Bristol.
Mike Bennett said: “Bristol is a great city with some fantastic assets and we need to package these up and promote them on an international stage. We have some of the most exciting digital and green companies emerging across the city but we need to really raise our levels of ambition and aspiration if we're going to capitalise on these industries in years to come.
"This new role gives me the ability to work with a whole host of business and public sector partners to ensure the "Bristol brand" is out across the world, competing with the best of them and is consistent and clear across everything we do."
Council Leader Barbara Janke said: “Mike has the passion and expertise to drive forward this project to give the city a more competitive edge. In the current economic climate it is more important than ever that Bristol is able to attract investment and continue to maintain a strong economic profile. Bristol needs to compete in the same way as other cities both nationally and internationally, and Mike’s role will help us deliver this.”
Bristol Partnership Chair Dick Penny said: “In times of difficulty it is ever more important to be competitive. Bristol has multiple distinct strengths, but to be successful in the 21st century we have to stand out internationally. I am delighted that the partners share this imperative and have come together to fund this initiative.”
Bethan Evans, Chair of the Prosperous and Ambitious Board of the Bristol Partnership and Partner at Bevan Brittan added: “I am delighted that Mike has been appointed to this important post. It is exactly the time for the city to keep its profile high on the national and international stage and ensure that everything we have to offer is recognised.”
Notes to Editors
Biog details for Mike Bennett:
Mike has been part of Bristol Media for 6 years. Helping to drive the network forward, originally as Chair in 2006-08. He was appointed as their first CEO in 2008.
Mike is the co-founder, of digital agency E3 which employs over 50 people working out of Bristol and London studios on a variety of digital marketing and web projects. Mike is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Bristol (where he was once a student) and at UWE, on business-related subjects, including entrepreneurship, risk management and start- up. Mike is a non executive director of several media and creative companies. He was named Bristol Business Person of the Year 2007.
2 - The post has been created following on the report commissioned by Destination Bristol in early 2008 from Yellow Railroad. The Partnership recognised that although other large UK cities had created a city-marketing organisation, Bristol lacked the capacity to promote the city at this level. The position of Place Making Director has been created to fill this gap.
For further details please contact Bristol City Council Press Office on 0117 922 3332