The Plymouth and South Devon Freeport core team is now complete with the announcement that Eifion Jones will join as Business Growth and Investment Director next month.
Eifion comes to the Freeport with fifteen years of leadership roles in local economic development including most recently as COO for the Heart of the South West LEP.
Prior to his time with the LEP, Eifion worked for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) where he worked across governmental departments to design the 2014-20 European programmes and develop a continuous improvement approach for DCLG’s teams working on EU funding. Eifion also ran the previous two South West European funding programmes having joined DCLG from the South West Regional Development Agency (RDA) in 2011. He joined the RDA in 2008 after ten years in sales and marketing at Toyota where he headed up the product marketing and sales planning functions.
Richard May, CEO of the Plymouth and South Devon Freeport says:
“Having Eifion join the Freeport underscores the importance of this priority government policy and how it is central to regional growth. Eifion will lead business development and the investment pipeline for our Freeport; this will include proposition development and the marketing of its core benefits and property offer, its hotbeds of innovation, skills programme and Net Zero initiative.”
Eifion Jones, incoming Business Growth and Investment Director adds:
“I’m delighted to be joining the Plymouth and South Devon Freeport team at such an exciting time. The Freeport is an amazing opportunity for the area and less than twelve months since being given the green light by government, it’s mobilising incredibly quickly with new tenants already announced, innovative partnerships and collaborations being formed and investment opportunities being actively pursued.
My previous role with the Heart of the South West LEP, itself a key stakeholder in the initial Freeport bid and business case process, has allowed me to gain a deep understanding of the Freeport as a strategic opportunity and I’m really looking forward to helping turn that potential into new jobs and new businesses for this fantastic area.”
Eifion officially takes up his position on 1 November 2023; for the last six months the role has been held on an interim basis by Simon Ryan.
Eifion’s appointment is made by Plymouth and South Devon Freeport Limited, a private company limited by guarantee without share capital.
Image courtesy of Heart of the South West (HotSW) LEP