Boston's Pride of Place, Mayflower 2020

Event Information

Sign up here

Boston's Pride of Place, Mayflower 2020 – Vision and Design for Aspirational Learning, Business and Enterprise

This free webinar highlights how the Town Deal Platform has brought together key partners to create a concept of a multi-functional learning, business and leisure environment. By bringing skills-building and business closer together, we can break down barriers and unlock the potential to stimulate growth and prosperity.

Join us to find out more about how this exciting new proposal might benefit you and your business.

About the Presenters

Michelle Sacks 

Michelle is the Deputy Chief Executive for Place for both Boston Borough Council and East Lindsey District Council, with responsibility for place shaping an area of 822 square miles – working with strategic partners to deliver a diverse range of solutions to create an attractive and prosperous place for our communities and businesses and visitor economy.

Claire Foster MA, PGCE,  

Claire has devoted a 25-year career to working in further and higher education. She is passionate about improving people’s life chances through the transformational power of education, skills and training. Claire has worked in several colleges initially as a teacher in the creative arts, as a senior leader and proudly now as the Principal and CEO of Boston College. Although she started her current role in the midst of the pandemic (yes,… that was interesting…), Claire has worked quickly to build strong, purposeful partnerships with Boston and its businesses to secure mutually beneficial opportunities that arise from effective collaboration.   

The drive to ‘bring home’ the Mayflower, an iconic, exciting and forward-thinking building as part of the Town Deal for Boston, is borne out of her commitment to break down barriers, unlocking the potential of connectivity in all forms. The space will link communities, businesses and enterprise with learning and leisure in a way that towns rarely achieve. 

James Mitchell

James Mitchell founded Sportsbikeshop, one of Boston’s most successful and fastest growing businesses. His background in engineering and design enabled him to see and understand the potential for web design as a business tool and he continues to fully realise that potential. In just 17 years, the business has grown from a back-bedroom start-up to a multimillion-pound market leader in motorcycle accessories.  James understands how to deliver a fantastic buying experience for his customers and has built a team able to support this from web developers to procurement and logistics specialists. The company continues to grow and has already had to extend its new distribution centre in Hereward Close on the outskirts of Boston but James has no intention of stopping here and has an eye to new opportunities many of which involve other Boston enterprises.

Kate Folling

Kate is the Director of Human Resources for Metsä Group UK, a Boston based timber manufacturing business employing over 300 people locally. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development with over 20 years’ experience in manufacturing and distribution.

Kate is a self-confessed change-maker, with a passion for helping individuals to flourish and organisations to achieve competitive advantage through people capability.

"Metsä Wood provides premium-quality wood products for construction, industrial, distribution, merchant and retail customers. The company has a large site in Boston and is part of Metsä Group, which uses the best available production technologies and covers the whole wood value chain from sapling to product. From raw materials through to applications, supply chain through to its people, the emphasis on sustainability and wellbeing is core to their company ethos. 

Sustainable timber. Grown in the Nordics. Made in the UK." 

George Wallis

As Commercial Director at Boston Seeds, I have taken an increasingly prominent role in the development of the business. I have successfully built on the business’s strong foundations as both a traditional wholesaler and industry-leading e-commerce retailer to deliver impressive and consistent growth, even through the challenges presented during 2020.

I joined the family business, Boston Seeds seven years ago after a successful career in FMCG and am currently studying for an MBA at the University of Nottingham alongside my role at Boston Seeds.

Sign up here