Finance Yorkshire appoint new acting chief executive

Alex McWhirter — Acting Chief Executive

The Board of Finance Yorkshire is pleased to announce the appointment of Alex McWhirter as Acting Chief Executive of Finance Yorkshire with effect from 1 November 2010.

Alex is currently Assistant Director of Business at Yorkshire Forward and is being seconded by Yorkshire Forward to Finance Yorkshire for three days a week. He will continue to work for Yorkshire Forward in his present capacity.

The Board also announces the appointment of Simon Hill, Director of Business at Yorkshire Forward, to the Board as a Non Executive Director.

James Newman, Chairman of Finance Yorkshire said: "We are delighted that Alex has accepted the role and the Board, the staff and the Fund Managers working for Finance Yorkshire look forward to working with him to provide much needed investment to SME’s in the Yorkshire and Humber region, as well as develop further access to finance and business support services for our customers.

"We also pleased to welcome Simon Hill to the Board to replace Alex. Both Simon and Alex have significant experience of venture capital finance and business support in the Region, which will benefit the Board. "

Simon Hill, said "Yorkshire Forward is pleased to be able to assist Finance Yorkshire by allowing Alex to spend time as Acting Chief Executive where his depth of experience in these types of funds will be invaluable."

Helping a range of small and medium sized businesses to meet their funding requirements for growth and development, Finance Yorkshire provides seedcorn, loan and equity linked investments, ranging from £15,000 to £2m.

The project is supported financially by the European Union. It has attracted £30million investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of Europe’s support for the region’s economic development through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme, £15million from Yorkshire Forward’s Single Programme, and £45million match funding from the European Investment Bank.

For more information about Finance Yorkshire, please visit www.finance-yorkshire.com or ring 0845 649 0000.

Note: this news article is from Finance Yorkshire’s previous fund. Read more about Finance Yorkshire