A BANK of America manager acted as a troubleshooter to refocus the energies of a key business organisation.
Mike Jones has performed a variety of roles at the Chester Business Park finance house over the last 10 years.
But he jumped at the chance when the bank’s chief marketing officer Greg Reed asked him to become interim chief executive of the West Cheshire and North Wales Chamber of Commerce for six months.
Mr Reed, who sits on the board of the Chamber, wanted to offer support as part of the bank’s commitment to the community.
Mike, 35, who has just completed his secondment, said the Chamber’s pursuit of revenue-generating activities had taken it away from the core objective of supporting its 500 members employing 90,000 people.
He said: “It’s not unique to the Chamber for West Cheshire and North Wales. Lots of Chambers were asking the same questions: ‘What are we all about? What do we do? What is our vision and goals?’”
The Sealand Road-based Chamber, whose members range from sole traders to giants like Bank of America, is a networking group as well as offering training, human resources support and specialist advice.
A major role is to lobby the public sector to help meet the needs of the private sector.
“It’s important we work hard at improving the quality of service we deliver to our members,” added Mike, who lives in Hawarden with wife Libby, a teacher, and sons Archie, four and Oliver, three.
Now back at the bank as head of UK sport, the Manchester City fan looks after the relationship with Premiership clubs and rugby teams whose names feature on affinity credit cards used by fans.
But he is committed to maintaining an ongoing involvement with the Chamber.
