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Lesley Hawke joined us in 2022 and wasted no time getting stuck in, you’ll often find Lesley at our events, out and about visiting our member companies across the North East and signposting businesses to opportunities to help their company grow.

A familiar face in the region, many of our member companies will already have existing relationships with Lesley from her time as an international trade executive at the Department for Business and Trade and a business consultant at Tees Valley Combined Authority, where she developed an excellent reputation for helping SMEs grow their businesses.

One of the many reasons NEPIC exists is to support its members on their journey to growth. Lesley is dedicated to supporting businesses on this journey by listening to their growth strategies and identifying areas where NEPIC can help. She is your first point of contact when you join and will show you how to maximise your membership with us and the opportunities for you to get involved in our upcoming events.

In terms of projects, Lesley leads on our monthly networking event, Cluster Connect, which includes sourcing speakers, venues and key topics each month and has worked closely with our innovation executive, Abigail Bell on our Special Interest Groups.

As a social butterfly, Lesley is often the face on our stands at events such as CHEMUK and has also been helping on our very own upcoming exhibition, Meet the Members 2023.

With a history of running her own company, Lesley understands exactly what it’s like to be an SME: “I’m incredibly passionate about SMEs and helping them thrive in the process industry. It’s important to me that members understand how they can best use our membership to grow their business and connections throughout the North East.

“As much as I reach out to members, it’s equally important they reach out to me, I always welcome any conversations with regards to general membership advice, future events and even new products and services members hope to bring market, so we can identify opportunities for collaboration.”

If you have any questions on your membership or you’re not already a member and would like to join NEPIC, you can email Lesley via: lesley.hawke@nepic.co.uk. Lesley is also working on our 2024 calendar for Cluster Connect, if you are interested in hosting or speaking, please get in touch.