The British Chambers of
Commerce (BCC) has appointed Kate Shoesmith as its new Director
of Policy and Insights. She will take up the position at the
start of December and lead a 10-strong team of policy and
research experts.
Kate is joining the BCC from the
Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC). It is the
professional membership body for the UK recruitment industry,
where she has been the Deputy CEO for five
years.
She started with the organisation in
March 2013 and has worked in a variety of roles, including Head
of Policy & Public Affairs, Head of Member Engagement and
Director of Sales & Marketing.
Before joining REC, she worked at City
& Guilds and the Federation of Awarding Bodies. She was also
a Vice President of the World Employment Confederation (Europe)
and a non-executive board member for the Recruitment Industry
Disability Initiative.
Her career means she has spent more
than a decade representing the views of business to government,
and over 20 years campaigning on key issues holding back the UK
economy and society.
She replaces Alex Veitch who left the
BCC in August to become CEO of the Confederation of Paper
Industries.
Commenting on her appointment,
Kate said:
“Businesses are the engine of growth
in the UK economy, but they cannot fire on all cylinders if
costs, regulations and bureaucracy rob them of
impetus.
“Supporting firms should be
fundamental to the government's mission, and I'm really looking
forward to getting stuck in and carrying firms' views and
insights into the heart of
government.
“We need to work in partnership to
deliver workable solutions to current economic blockers which
stifle our joint quest for strong and sustained
growth.
“That starts at the Budget, where we
need to see support on exports, infrastructure and skills -
alongside no further taxes on
business.”
Shevaun Haviland, Director
General of the British Chambers of Commerce,
said:
"After two decades of championing the
views of businesses and organisations on skills, training and
recruitment, Kate brings to the BCC an impressive campaigning
record. Her long-term commitment to these causes, means she
has a deep understanding of what's broken and how to fix
it.
“I look forward working with her as
she helps build the BCC's national policy, based on our renowned
research programme, for the benefit of all businesses and our
economy."
ENDS
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Notes to
editors:
A photo of
Kate can be found here.
Kate Shoesmith
biography:
Kate is joining the
BCC after 12 years at the Recruitment and
Employment Confederation, where she is Deputy
Chief Executive. She has spent more than five
years in role, leading
on external engagement
for REC's membership community of over 3,000
compliance-checked recruitment businesses in the
UK.
Prior to this she
spent two years as Director of Sales and
Marketing. She was responsible for the marketing,
digital, sales and customer engagement teams, and
tasked with achieving REC's revenue
goals.
She had first become a
member of the organisation's senior leadership
team in May 2017 when she took on the role of
Head of Membership Engagement. She served just
under two years in this role with responsibility
for business development, account management,
marketing and digital comms, and the link between
the external policy environment and its impact on
businesses and the jobs
market.
Prior to that, Kate
worked at City & Guilds, latterly as Head of
Policy and Corporate Affairs and, at one point,
as a founding member of its Centre for Skills
Development, with a focus on vocational education
and training internationally.
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