Meet the Somerset Economic Growth Board

Meet the board

Harry Singer

Emma Warren

Becky Bevins

Dr Harry Singer is Managing Director of Singer Instruments, dedicated to developing laboratory automation to accelerate research for biological scientists who want to make the world a cleaner, greener, healthier place.

With a background in physics, Harry completed a PhD at University College London in Quantum Chaos in 2004, building lasers to induce and study chaos within arrays of super-cooled atoms.

In 2008, Harry transitioned to mechatronics for life sciences by taking on third generation ownership of Singer Instruments. He now supports over 60 staff, supporting and collaborating with customers in over 60 counties, from premises and applications laboratories in Exmoor, California, Singapore and Germany.

Harry surfs, kitesurfs and plays the ukulele – badly!

Emma Warren is the Managing Director of Elite Staffing Solutions in Taunton which has established in 2015 and Chair of Somerset Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors. She has been a member of the Chamber Board since 2019 and was appointed as Chair in 2023.

Elite Staffing Solutions was launched to bring a fresh approach to recruiting in specialist sectors. The company has been an active Chamber member since its inception and Emma has been a judge, sponsor and winner of the Somerset Business Awards.

Business is Emma’s passion and she actively develops her knowledge through reading and belonging to a Mastery Consultancy Group for recruitment business owners. She uses this knowledge to work with companies, small and large, in developing their hiring proposition and overcoming the challenges that the current recruitment market presents.

Emma has two young children and has successfully launched and grown a business while juggling life as a working mum. As a business and family, Emma supports Taunton Deane Cricket Club and enjoys walking in the Somerset countryside and spending time in the gym.

Becky Bevins. I have lived in Somerset since the age of four, educated locally and raised my two children with my husband of 27 years.

Currently the Human Resources Director of Numatic international based in Chard, home of the Henry and Hetty Vacuum cleaner. Prior to this I ran my own Human Resources consultancy for over 18 years, providing services across the Southwest and beyond.

Away from work I enjoy renovating our home, cooking, and walking our 3 cockapoos – Henry, Hetty (I know!) and Milo.

Mark Bolton

Jake Elsmore

David Evans

Mark joined Yeovil College as Director of Employer Engagement in November 2015. Prior to this, he studied at De Montfort University where he graduated with an Honours Degree in Graphic Design and Illustration in 1993, Mark then worked as a freelance Illustrator and Graphic Designer until 2007. Mark began teaching Graphic Design in 1995 in the North East of England and continued to develop his work in the sector over the following years until he was promoted to Head of Creative Industries in 2003. Mark joined the senior team at Northumberland College in the North East with a focus on teaching and learning and working with the business community over the next few years until he joined the Principalship team as Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning and then subsequently for Apprenticeships and Business Development.

Mark continued with the same focus at Yeovil College, from 2015, where he led the strategic direction of our curriculum and engagement with our business community. Mark has been Vice Principal for Curriculum and Quality at Yeovil College since March 2018 and leads on all teaching related responsibilities. He took on the role of CEO and Principal in October 2019. Mark believes passionately in the life-changing opportunities provided by the Further Education sector and is committed to developing the workforce of the community Yeovil College serves for the prosperity of the whole of South Somerset and Dorset.

David Evans, Policy Director Thales Underwater Systems. David Evans joined Thales in September 2016, working in both Crawley and Templecombe with Underwater Systems. He has been the Policy Director since March 21. Before joining Thales, David enjoyed a career in the Royal Marines where he served for 30 years as a Commando. With operational tours in Ireland, Sierra Leone, Lebanon and Afghanistan, he left the service as the Royal Navy’s Chief Information Officer following a series of roles in Battlestaff, Navy Headquarters and the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall. Married with three children, home is on Dartmoor with an ever growing collection of animals.

Bev Milner Simonds

John Revill

David Tomaney

Bev is the co-founder of eat:Festivals, the award winning food and drink festivals. Bev leads on licensing, stakeholder relations and operations for this nimble social enterprise. The festivals happen in town centres from Wiltshire to Cornwall, working with 500+ micro and small producers annually, offering over 2500 trading opportunities per year and generating in excess of £10 million of local economic impact annually.

John is currently Principal and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Strode College and has over 32 years’ experience of working within both the Further and Higher Education sector.

Over the course of 32 years John has held responsibility for and led significant areas including, Science, Engineering and Technology (STEM), Foundation Learning, Higher Education, Adult, Community Learning, Apprenticeships, and the majority of Business Support Services.

John is a Chemistry graduate, obtaining a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in this field at the University of Central Lancashire in 1992, gaining significant experience within the chemical engineering sector. He also has extensive teaching experience in both Further Education and Higher Education and is a qualified assessor.

John is the proud father of three children, one who completed a degree in Chemistry and is now working as a cyber security consultant for Lloyds Bank, another who is finding life challenging but is determined to succeed, and his youngest son who is autistic, with severe learning difficulties, who has taught him so much.

Born in Wegberg, West Germany to service parents, Dave Tomaney grew up in Plymouth. He joined the Royal Air Force in September 1983 as an Air Traffic Control officer. He served at a number of Royal Air Force units including a detachment to Dharhan, Saudi Arabia where he served for the duration of the first Gulf War. Promoted to Squadron Leader in March 1997 he was posted to RAF Bruggen in Germany assuming the post of Senior Air Traffic Control Officer in June 1998.

On his return to the United Kingdom, he worked in the Permanent Joint Headquarters, with responsibility for contingency and crisis planning for an area from North Africa through the Levant and the Middle East to the trans-caucus. In June 2001 he was posted to the Joint Doctrine and Concepts Centre, where he was involved in the response to the 11 September attacks, and UK Strategic Trends.

In July 2002, as a wing commander, he attended the UK Advanced Command and Staff Course, following which he was posted to HQ Supreme Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia. His final Royal Air Force appointment was as Officer Commanding London Air Traffic Control Centre (Military) responsible for military area Army Training Centre in England and Wales.

On leaving the Royal Air Force, he fulfilled an interim role with the UK National Air Traffic Services before taking up employment with the UK Hydrographic Office in April 2009. A period as the Quality Manager was followed by 17 months as the Defence Navigation Manager responsible for a number of dived navigation products.

He became Head of Defence in June 2011 responsible for delivering defence requirements for maritime geospatial information, service and products. In April 2015 he took additional responsibility for primary charting, continuous improvement and safety management across operations.

In July 2016 he took up the role of Director of Operations responsible for the production of all the UK Hydrographic Office products and services. In this time, he has brought modern safety management into the UK Hydrographic Office, created a Data function and started the process of moving the UK Hydrographic Office from a product-oriented organisation to one that manages data to generate customer value. To recognise the change of emphasis his role was redesignated as Collateralized Debt Obligation in 2022.

Matt Tudor

Councillor Bill Revans

Councillor Mike Rigby

Matt is currently the Vice Principal of Strategy and Partnerships at Bridgwater and Taunton College (BTC). As a highly credible leader, Matt has exceptional experience and understanding of managing high-performing teams, building and nurturing multi-level stakeholder partnerships, delivering transformational change and delivering innovative, exciting and hugely efficient technological solutions to identified regional and national skills training needs.

It is a crucial part of Matt’s role to ensure that the business community understands the many ways in which local colleges can support them in up-skilling or re-training their workforce in response to emerging opportunities, with particular focus on the hugely exciting challenge of bringing an entire community to ‘nuclear readiness.’

Matt is also a founder Board member of the National College for Nuclear (NCfN) and was instrumental in the award of the Southwest Institute of Technology to Bridgwater and Taunton College as part of a two university, five Further education College partnership focused on the regional priorities of digital learning and advanced manufacturing.