{"id":585714,"date":"2025-11-22T00:19:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T00:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/585714\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T00:19:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T00:19:22","slug":"new-ceo-for-business-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/585714\/","title":{"rendered":"New CEO for Business West"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0<strong>Barrie Hudson<\/strong>\u00a0&#8211; 21 November 2025<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tBusiness<\/p>\n<ul class=\"slides\">\n<li><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/screenshot-2025-11-21-at-15.19.45.png\" alt=\"New Business West CEO Douglas Ure\"\/>\n<p class=\"caption-text\">New Business West CEO Douglas Ure<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\t\t\t\tBusiness West has announced that Douglas Ure will become its Chief Executive Officer from January. <\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nHe joins from Marsh McLennan, a global professional services firm, where he held various leadership positions in the UK and Asia.<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nMr Ure will take up the role following Phil Smith\u2019s retirement after more than 30 years of exceptional leadership and service.\u00a0<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nMr Smith will work closely with Douglas to ensure continuity and a successful transition, he will then retire in the spring.<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nMr Ure said: \u201cI am excited to lead Business West. I see this role as an opportunity to bring my skills, passion and experience to help South West businesses and the region to prosper.\u00a0<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n&#8220;I will put all my energy into helping Business West thrive and build on its successful foundations.<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n&#8220;The organisation\u2019s work to support businesses, infrastructure and skills development is central to the region\u2019s future and deeply aligned with my own commitment to purposeful, responsible and sustainable growth.\u201d<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nThe new CEO&#8217;s experience includes leading high-performance teams and developing strategic partnerships across both the private and public sectors. He has advised clients on risk, strategy and transformation.<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nHis leadership experience, commercial insight and passion for business will guide Business West through its next phase of growth and transformation.<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nColin Skellett, Chair of Business West, said: \u201cWe were extremely impressed with Douglas\u2019s commercial expertise, which includes his track record of driving transformation, attracting and retaining talent, and forging strategic partnerships.\u00a0<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n&#8220;His experience and vision will help Business West grow and evolve, while staying true to its commitment to driving prosperity for businesses and our region.<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n&#8220;We thank Phil again, for his outstanding contribution over three decades, shaping Business West into the trusted business leadership and support organisation it is today and for continuing to provide his support through the handover and transition.\u201d<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nBusiness West MD Phil Smith said: \u201cLeading Business West for more than 30 years has been the highlight of a varied career from oil rigs to the City.\u00a0<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n&#8220;Business West has offered a unique combination of commercial enterprise, public service and opportunities to make a difference to a place I love. I will be a keen observer of where Douglas can take it next.&#8221;<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By\u00a0Barrie Hudson\u00a0&#8211; 21 November 2025 Business New Business West CEO Douglas Ure Business West has announced that Douglas&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-585714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115590488681137713","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}