This week, Clive Relf steps down as Chair of the Canterbury Business Improvement District though will remain on the Board for the rest of the current term, until September 2024.
Clive’s time as Chair has been incredibly successful, leading the Board through two ballots, in 2014 and 2019, growing the BID’s engagement and influence resulting in the Canterbury BID being recognised as one of the best in the country. Over the last seven years, the BID has won 15 awards, raising Canterbury’s profile in Kent and beyond; helped deliver city-wide Wi-Fi, animated the city with floral displays, Christmas lights, bunting, window vinyls and pavement decorations; and expanded customer reach with award-winning events and campaigns, helping to increase footfall and spend in the city. Clive led the Board through the challenging past 18 months of COVID as we adapted our activities to meet the needs of the city’s business community, and more recently welcomed eleven new Board directors in a competitive election process.
The BID team and Board would like to say a huge thank you to Clive for his contribution over the last seven years.
We are delighted to announce that Clare Millett is taking over as the new Chair of the BID Board of Directors. Clare is CEO of Westgate Community Trust and Westgate Hall (Canterbury’s vibrant city centre community venue) and has been a BID Director and Chair of the BID’s Marketing and Events committee since 2017:
“I’m honoured and excited to have been appointed Chair. It is a privilege to be taking on this post from Clive Relf who is so passionate about Canterbury and what we have to offer as a city. I will continue in that vein. We are so lucky to have on our Board an inspiring, kind, knowledgeable and passionate group of business owners and leaders. Our role is to represent all the businesses and organisations in Canterbury and we take our position very seriously. We are here to support our inspiring and hard-working BID team in delivering the Business Plan for the next three years and beyond. It’s an exciting time!”
Paul Turner, Head of Finance at The Marlowe and Chair of the BID’s Finance committee, is taking on the role of Vice Chair. Clare and Paul will lead the BID Board over the next three years as we continue the recovery from the pandemic, focussing on creating a vibrant, exciting, well connected and successful business community, and an attractive, clean, green, safe, enjoyable destination for everyone.
Find out more about the BID Board of Directors here.
