Croydon's  new economic development company is made up of board members from the private, public, voluntary and community sectors in the borough.  There is a private sector majority.

The chair is Barry Rourke, an independent member of the Board and Chairman of the Audit Committee for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

He has significant boardroom experience, with leadership and team working skills as well as broad business and industry knowledge, particularly in the construction, engineering and natural resource sectors, in the UK and internationally. Barry is also a board member for Columbus Corp, a New York based acquisitions company, and is also a non  exec director of Surrey and Borders Partnership Foundation Trust. Until 2007 Barry was Chair of Threshold Housing Association, and from 1984-2001 he was a Partner at PwC.

The non  executive board members are:

Piers  White
Piers is an  experienced Non-Executive Director with extensive board and business  experience. Until the recent sale to BNP Paribas, Piers was UK Chief Executive  and a member of the Group Management Board of Bank Insinger de Beaufort NV. For  the past 10 years Piers has run, grown and sold a variety of complex financial  services businesses including some overseas. Prior to that he spent 15 years at  Barclays where his last role was to run all the UK branches with 20,000 staff.

Philip  Alexander
Philip is  the Chief Executive of Crystal Palace Football Club, having first joined the  Club as Sales Director almost 13 years ago, and has a track record of working  in all areas of commercial directorship in the Premier League and Football  League. He has spent his career in football as a player, marketing executive  and business manager with a particular emphasis on negotiating and managing  commercial contracts, creating sponsorship properties and business development.  Phil is currently a member of the Croydon Business board.

Mariane  Cavalli
Mariane  held several senior positions in further education in the south west and London  before becoming Croydon College's Principal and Chief Executive in 2001. Under  her leadership the College's provision has significantly improved and is now  amongst the top 25% of Colleges in the country. The College is the lead  provider in South London of the regional Skills for Jobs contract, and is the  largest provider of apprenticeships in the sub-region. Mariane is currently  leading the implementation of a £65 million capital project for the College in  the heart of Croydon. She is a member of the Mayor's London Skills and  Employment Board and various national bodies and currently sits on the Croydon  Business board.

Karen  Jones
Karen  has extensive expertise in marketing, sales, business development roles in  multi-nationals across financial services, telecom/media, FMCG, public and  private sectors and has held senior positions with AVIVA (Norwich Union),  National Savings & Investment, BBC, BT, ABBEY, and HSBC. Karen has a record  of invigorating business to deliver bottom line impact and high performing  teams for profitable growth in recessionary and buoyant market conditions. She  is currently an independent strategic marketing and business development  consultant and board director, and a Croydon resident.

Robin  Phipps
Robin has  been a FTSE 50 main board director for over 10 years with a track record of  delivering profitable market share growth in a highly competitive financial  services sector as well as having unusually broad management experience. He  currently holds non-executive director board positions with Friends Provident  PLC, Santander, and Partnership Assurance. He is also a senior financial  services advisor for Ernst & Young. He was a group executive director for  Legal & General during which time he had responsibility for a diverse range  of services including customer services, IT, sales and marketing.

Steve  O'Connell
Steve was  first elected to Croydon Council in 2002 as a representative for Kenley ward.  During his four years as an opposition member he was deputy leader of the  Conservative Group and spokesman for crime reduction. A former cabinet member  for safety and cohesion, he is currently the Public Sector Co-Chair of the  Economic Development Partnership and is the Cabinet member for Regeneration and  Economic Development. In 2008 he became a member of the Metropolitan Police  Authority. He is a member of both Kenley and Hartley residents associations and  a governor of Wattenden Primary School. In 2006 he gave up his job as a bank  manager to devote more time to public service, and has an ex-officio seat on  the board

Joseph  Rowe
Joe has  been Chair of Croydon Town Centre Business Improvement District Ltd. since the  company's formation in 2007, having led the preceding campaign to establish a  BID in Croydon. He was previously a founder member of Croydon's Standards  Committee. Most of Joe's business career has been in retailing with Marks and  Spencer where he held senior positions in both Clothing and Food, including  seven years as a Director of the Company. Joe and his family have lived in  various parts of Croydon for over 40 years. The BID board is guaranteed a seat  on the EDC board under the terms of the constitution, to reflect the importance  of the BID within the EDC.

Emma Peters
Emma was appointed Executive Director of Planning, Regeneration and Conservation at Croydon Council in December 2008, joining the executive management team responsible for pulling physical regeneration, economic development and land use planning together into a streamlined department aimed at making Croydon’s ‘3rd City’ Vision a reality. 

She was previously Corporate Director of Development and Renewal in Tower Hamlets, where major achievements included work on Wood Wharf, Crossrail, and housing led regeneration of the Blackwall Reach area.  She was part of the top team that steered Tower Hamlets to a four stars rating in its Comprehensive Performance Assessment for spring 2008. 

Shuaib  Yusaf
Shuaib has  lived in Croydon for over 30 years. He is currently Chairman of the Independent  Advisory Group (IAG) to the Metropolitan Police in Croydon, and also chairs the  Muslim Advisory Group to Croydon Council on youth issues. He is a Trustee of  Croydon Mosque & Islamic Centre, and a founding member of Faiths Together  in Croydon. Shuaib is a nominated representative on the Local Strategic  Partnership and has been active in community based work and fundraising  locally. His business career has been in life assurance where he has held  various senior roles in compliance, fund management, overseas operations and  business process outsourcing - currently he is working for an international  insurance BPO based in Croydon.