The Government has announced that all Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), including SEEDA, will close by 31 March 2012.
Responsibility for economic development and regeneration in England is being passed onto successor bodies, including Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and central Government departments
Our objective is to ensure a professional and cost effective closure by this date. We have pledged to work closely with our partners, contractors and stakeholders to ensure that the past and future economic benefits of key programmes and assets continue to deliver the greatest economic value for the South East and value for money for the taxpayer.
Please click here for more details about our closure plan, transition arrangements and successor organisations.
Rob Douglas CBE
Rob is a business consultant with wide experience in both the public and private sectors.
Prior to his consultancy, Rob was a senior executive with Royal Dutch Shell where he held a number of senior general management positions, including Area Co-ordinator, China and East Asia; Chief Executive, Shell Belgium; Chief Executive, Shell Italy; and Vice President for Mergers and Acquisitions in the Global Exploration and Development Business. Rob had initially joined Shell from the Inland Revenue and had held a number of senior tax posts, including Shell UK Tax Manager, and Head of International Taxation, based in the Hague.
Rob has combined his consultancy activities with a number of non-executive roles in both the public and private sectors. He is currently a Board Member of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, and a Governor of CILT, the National Centre for Languages. He was Chair of the Surrey Learning and Skills Council from 2000 to 2007 and remains a member of the LSC South East Regional Council. He was non-executive Director of SEEDA from 2001 to 2007, becoming a Deputy Chair in 2003. Since 2004 he has been on various advisory boards at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and its predecessor bodies, DTI and BERR.
Rob comes from Newcastle upon Tyne and was educated at Churchill College, Cambridge.
He is married to Hilary and they have two adult sons. He is a Fellow of the RSA and was made a CBE in the 2005 Birthday Honours.
