Mayoral Tech Hustings: West Midlands

Siobhan Harper-Nunes

The Green Party,

Siobhan Harper-Nunes (pronouns she/her) lives in Birmingham.

For over 20 years Siobhan has worked with charities and community organisations to support people in our most left-behind communities.

She has worked both in the public and third sector raising money and working with a raft of organisations, such as ISE (Institute of Social Enterprise) and NCVO (National Council of Voluntary Organisations), to support and improve communities.

In 2007 she founded Shakti Women, an organisation that supports women in both personal and professional development through coaching and training.

She is also currently vice-chair of Birmingham Race Impact Group, a group working for many years to promote racial justice in Birmingham. Siobhan knows the challenges our communities face and what support they need to thrive.

Lee Dargue

Liberal Democrats

No bio provided

Paul Hopkins BSc (Hons)

Reform UK

Paul is standing in the next general election as the prospective parliamentary candidate for North Warwickshire & Bedworth on behalf of Reform UK the political party. 

Since graduating quite a few years ago, Paul has run a number of businesses both tech and non-technical, currently running a packaging business Storage & Removal Boxes Ltd., and developing a completely new charitable concept Boxes for Soldiers, where no donations are required, nor payment by users (all income is from advertising and sponsorship), military personnel can add their needs and want online, share them with friend and relatives, who then choose what they send, the big difference is that everything is stock controlled so the military person only gets what they need, sounds simple, but it’s not.  Supporting the military is just the seed, this project will develop to help those on low income, disabled, the elderly and military veterans; plus the application can now be easily developed to support international aid projects and much more.

: https://paulhopkins.co.uk/

Tracy Pound

Managing Director, Maximity Limited

Tracy was voted PCR’S Woman of the Year 2016 and one of the top 50 women in technology in 2014 and 2015. She was awarded CompTIA’s Member of the Year in March 2017, and voted in as Chairwoman of the Board of CompTIA in May 2021. She is passionate about diversity and raising the bar in professionalism and skills with tech professionals.

Tracy has over 39 years’ experience working in tech and has successfully implemented business systems and training programmes across many different industries from service and professional sectors through to retail, education and manufacturing.

She has taken part in several Chamber of Commerce initiatives to deliver free IT advice to SME’s, has been a part of the Staffordshire Online Fraud Forum, and was one of the authors of a business standard for IT companies called Accredit UK that was run by Advantage West Midlands under ERDF funding.

An active member of the global tech trade association CompTIA, Tracy is a member of the Education Faculty delivering training, webinars and talks for CompTIA members around the world.  In 2015 Tracy joined the CompTIA Board of Directors, after previously being part of the UK Executive Council. CompTIA is a global not for profit trade association with annual revenues in excess of $180 million. Her duties as a Board director have included chairing the Governance Committee and the Audit, Finance and Investment Committee before taking over as Chairwoman of the Board. Tracy is also a member of the Executive Committee, overseeing the composition and structure of the Board.

She founded Maximity, an IT consulting and training business specializing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Microsoft 365, in 2000 and co-founded Prizm Solutions, an insurance brokerage, with her husband in 2006.Tracy also serves on the Advisory Board for Channel Futures, a US based media and events platform providing information, perspective and community for the global tech channel ecosystem.

In November 2023, Tracy joined the Digital Leadership Board for the Centre for the New Midlands whose mission is to develop and disseminate new ideas to enrich the lives of the region’s citizens and to enhance political discourse across the area. Through collaboration with industry and academia, the CNM will discover new solutions to some of the region’s biggest social and economic challenges and help to shape a New Midlands.

Tracy is a member of the Chartered Management Institute, a Fellow of the Institute of Consulting, a PRINCE 2 practitioner and a member of the FSB and Chamber of Commerce.

Her LinkedIn Profile can be found here. https://www.linkedin.com/in/maximity/

Andy Street

Conservative,

Andy Street was elected as the first Mayor of the West Midlands in May 2017. Andy was re-elected to serve a second term as Mayor in May 2021. The primary function of the role is to chair the West Midlands Combined Authority and brings with it significant powers over transport, housing, skills and jobs.

Before becoming Mayor, Andy combined a career with John Lewis, Britain’s most successful workers’ co-operative, with a host of high-profile economic development roles, working with local and national government.

Starting on the John Lewis graduate scheme, Andy rose through the ranks to become Managing Director, overseeing one of the most successful periods in the company’s history.

He was the Chair of the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership between 2011 and 2016, helping to build the relationships that have underpinned the economic growth of the region. Additionally, he has been lead non-executive director for the Department for Communities and Local Government as well as a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group.

Outside of work, Andy is passionate about the arts, particularly in the West Midlands, having previously served as Vice Chairman of Performances Birmingham Limited, which is responsible for running the City’s Symphony and Town Halls.

In June 2015, Andy was awarded the CBE for services to the national economy. He was named the ‘Most Admired Leader’ of the year by business magazine, Management Today in 2014. He received the ‘President’s award’ from the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce in for his work in the region. He holds three honorary degrees, from Birmingham City University, Aston University and the University of Birmingham.