Editor's Note: : 1. Ministers introduced a rolling programme of appointments to the Regional Development Agency boards in 2001 to bring new talent and fresh ideas to the boards. This year, a total of 23 new board members are being appointed to the Boards of the eight English RDAs (excluding London). 2. The RDAs are business-led organisations, and provide strategic leadership to promote economic development, enterprise and regeneration in their regions, tackling economic differences within their regions as well as driving up the performance of the regions as a whole. 3. The Regional Development Agencies have grown since they were established, with increased responsibilities and funding. They received substantial additional funding and responsibilities in the 2007 Sub National Review and in CSR2007 to maintain and extend their functions. They received £1.8 billion in 2004-05 rising to £2.3 billion in 2007-08. The steady increase in funding and the new freedoms and flexibilities have made the RDAs more effective as strategic agencies. 4. Biographies for Graham Thrower, Ian Dormer, Gill Hale, Christopher Higgins, and Alex Cunningham are attached below. BIOGRAPHIES Ian Dormer Following an education at Essex University and Georgetown University (Washington D.C.) in Government, work started as a journalist on the weekly technical / business journal Flight International in London. For nearly four years he covered all aspects of commercial, operational, & technical aspects of the world's aviation industry, rising to Deputy News Editor before leaving in 1989. Since that time he has run, and now owns, Rosh Engineering Ltd which is a specialist contractor to the electrical supply industry, repairing and refurbishing high voltage electrical plant throughout UK, Ireland & the Benelux with occasional forays farther a field. Since the early 1990s he has been active in the Institute of Directors (IoD) on the North East Regional Committee, serving as Chairman for three years from 1998. From 1995 to 1997 he chaired the National Steering Group of Younger Members and joined the IoD's Main Board in 1999, being appointed Vice Chairman in 2004. Other duties with the IoD include Chairing the Membership Committee and sitting on the Nominations Committee. He has also been active on a number of other regional business and education focused voluntary organisations including time as a Director of the Northern Business Forum, Newcastle University AIESEC Local Advisory Board, Small Business Service Regional Assessment Panel, ONE North East's Review of Business Support Steering, the Further Education Funding Council Member and The Engineering Diploma Development Partnership Strategy Group. He joined the Board of the newly formed Business Link Tyne & Wear in 2000 and was Chairman from 2002 to 2004. In 2004 he established, with a small group of like minded business people, The North East Says No Campaign Group. This was established, and designated by the Electoral Commission as the official body against an Elected Regional Assembly in the regional referendum. The electorate of the North East agreed with the campaign with nearly 80% voting No. He is long standing supporting of Mencap North East, and various Liver charities fund raising appeals. Married to Julia Newton, Consultant Physician at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary and Senior Lecturer at Newcastle University. They have one daughter, Emily, born October 1998 and one son Mark, born September 2002. He collects books and loves skiing. Ian is not politically active and does not hold any other ministerial appointments. Gill Hale Gill Hale is Regional Secretary for the public service trade union, UNISON. The Northern Region of UNISON is a geographical area covering Northumberland, Durham, Cumbria, Tyne & Wear and Tees Valley. UNISON has more than 94,000 members across the Region working in Local Government, the Health Service, Further and Higher Education, the Police Service, Public Transport, the Utilities and the community & voluntary sector. Prior to the creation of UNISON in 1993 Gill served for six years as regional secretary for COHSE the health service union, which together with NUPE and NALGO merged to form the new union. In addition to her work for UNISON Gill is the Chair of the Northern Regional TUC - the first woman elected to that office - which brings together almost 60 trade unions covering more than 450,000 of the Region's workforce. Gill was a member of the Tyne & Wear Learning and Skills Council. Prior to moving to the North East, she worked for COHSE in Sheffield, and before that was employed in the Health Service. Gill was brought up and education in Kent and has a degree in Fine Art. She lives in Clara Vale in Ryton and is a keen gardener. Gill is the chair her local Labour Party branch and does not hold any other ministerial appointments. Professor Christopher Higgins Christopher Francis Higgins was born in Cambridge in 1955, where his father was Fellow of Trinity College. He was schooled in London at Raynes Park Comprehensive, and studied violin for three years as a Junior Exhibitioner at the Royal College of Music where he was awarded the Hugh Bean prize and led the First Orchestra. Recognising that he was rather less musically talented than his three younger brothers, he opted for an academic career. Christopher graduated from Durham (Grey College) with a first class degree in Botany in 1976 and a PhD in 1979. While at Durham he led the University Orchestra for four years, gave innumerable concerts with other groups and probably spent more time in the music department than he did on the science site. After graduating Chris did not lose touch with Durham - his father, Philip, moved to Durham in 1979 as Head of the Department of Mathematics, retiring in 1991, and Chris's daughter, Julia, graduated from Durham (Collingwood College) in Politics in 2005. After leaving Durham he won a Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship to become immersed in the emerging field of molecular biology at the University of California, Berkeley. After two years he returned to the UK to a lectureship at the University of Dundee where he became Reader and then ad hominum Professor at the age of 33. In 1989 he moved to Oxford to lead the establishment of new research laboratories for ICRF (now Cancer Research UK) at the Institute of Molecular Medicine and in 1994 was appointed Nuffield Professor and Head of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry. In 1998 Chris was recruited by the Medical Research Council as Director and appointed Head of Division at Imperial College. Christopher has published over 200 research papers in leading journals such as Nature, Cell and Science and has received many awards for his research including the CIBA medal of the Biochemical Society, the Fleming Award of the Society for General Microbiology and a Howard Hughes International Research Scholarship. His work focused on many fundamental aspects of the genetics and cell biology of microorganisms and mammalian cells, he discovered, characterised (and even named) the ABC family of membrane transporters responsible for transporting small molecules (nutrients, hormones etc) into and out of all cells. The ABC protein family includes many proteins of medical importance including the cystic fibrosis protein and the protein which causes resistance of cancers to chemotherapy. Christopher has always endeavored to ensure that his fundamental discoveries are exploited and, for example, his team carried out the first clinical trials for cystic fibrosis gene therapy in the UK. Christopher has served on the Councils of BBSRC and The Academy of Medical Sciences and the Executive Board of the Association of Medical Charities. He was scientific advisor to the 2001-02 House of Lords Select Committee on stem cells. He is currently a member of the Human Genetics Commission and Chairs SEAC - the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee which advises The Government on BSE and vCJD. He has also been very active at the Science-Arts interface and in promoting public appreciation of science at all levels from schools lectures with the Royal Institution to speaking out on the importance of animal and embryo research for medical advances. Professor Higgins is not politically active and does not hold any other ministerial appointments. Alex Cunningham Alex Cunningham started his career in journalism, moved into public and corporate relations work and now manages his own Communications, Public Relations and Web Design business alongside public service roles. Alex is a Labour Councillor at Stockton on Tees and lead member for Children and Young People. He is the founding Chair of the Children's Trust responsible for local authority and health services to young people in his Borough. He is also a member of the Arts Council England North East, the Museums, Libraries and Archives National Council and chairs the MLA North East. Cllr Cunningham's political activities are detailed above. He holds no other Ministerial appointments. Graham Thrower Graham is a Director and founder of the North East based music business alt.vinyl; an online and physical retailer of music, as well as an increasingly successful record label. He is a major contributor to the region's creative and cultural activities through alt.vinyl, his founder membership of North East Recordings Organisation (concerned with retention of musical intellectual property in the region) and his work promoting live music and festivals with No-Fi and INPUT. Graham's background is in Corporate Finance, primarily the Telecom, Media and Technology "TMT" sectors where he played a leading role raising debt and equity for new ventures and transactions in over 30 countries between 1988 and 2002. Having worked earlier in his career with LloydsTSB and Societe Generale, he was from 1998 at the global investment bank Citigroup where latterly he was a Managing Director. Through a wide reaching business and personal life (Graham is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society) Graham has become a firm advocate of the value of networks and promotes the increasingly outward looking nature of the North East region. Through his diverse business experience with some of the world's largest companies and forming his own start up company, Graham brings a wealth of commercial experience to the Board, as he has been doing since mid 2007 as a member of One North East's Business Development Committee. Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENTERPRISE AND REGULATORY REFORM News Release
(2007/118) issued by The Government News Network on 4 December 2007
Stephen Timms, Minister of State for Competitiveness, today announced five
new appointments to the management board of the Regional Development Agency
One NorthEast.

Councillor Alex Cunningham, lead member for Children and Young People at
Stockton Borough Council; Gill Hale, Regional Secretary UNISON; Professor
Christopher Higgins, Vice-Chancellor of Durham University; Graham Thrower,
Managing Director of music business alt.vinyl; and Ian Dormer Managing
Director, Rosh Engineering Ltd will take up their three-year appointments
on 14 December 2007.

Stephen Timms said:

"The RDAs have a crucial role to play as drivers of economic development in
their region, working to reduce imbalances within and between regions. One
NorthEast will be able to use the knowledge and expertise these appointments
bring to help the region deliver its Regional Economic Strategy to reach its
full economic potential, boost productivity and create jobs and prosperity."

Margaret Fay, Chairman of One NorthEast said:

"I'm delighted to welcome Graham, Ian, Alex, Gill and Christopher to the
board. They bring a wealth of experience and knowledge from their varied
careers which will be invaluable in our continuing work to grow the region's
economy and promoting North East England as a great place to live, work,
visit and do business. I look forward to working with all of them.

"At the same time, I'd like to thank our outgoing board members for their
commitment and contribution over the last thee years, a period which has
seen the launch of the new Regional Economic Strategy and some huge successes
for the region in terms of regeneration, attracting investment and creating
new jobs."

These posts attract a remuneration of £8,371 per year for a time commitment
of 2 days per month.

One NorthEast was established in 1999. It is leading sustainable economic
growth in North East England through a targeted programme of investment of
around £280m per year to get 70,000 more people into work and create 22,000
new businesses by 2016.

In the last financial year (2006-07), One NorthEast:

* Created 17,110 new jobs in the region

* Created or attracted 3,432 new businesses

* Helped 15,851 businesses to improve their performance

* Attracted £246.8m worth of investment to regenerate deprived areas, more
than half of this investment secured from the private sector

* Regenerated 62.3 hectares of brownfield land

* Helped 70,242 people to develop their skills.

These appointments were made following open competition in accordance with
the requirements set down in the Commissioner for Public Appointments Code of
Practice. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no
part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan
recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees' political activity
(if any declared) to be made public.