Mike Blackburn OBE

Mike lives in the North West and spent his 36 year executive career in the private sector, working for technology companies. He spent 25 years working for BT.  When he left in January 2018, he was both Chair of BT’s NW Regional Board, and Head of Digital Government in the UK. 

Mike has held a number of non-exec roles since 2000, including: 

In 2011 Mike was selected as Chair of the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for Greater Manchester (GM), and led it until 2020.  Mike was also a board member of the Lancashire LEP 2011-2019 where he led on the formation and implementation of Boost, the business growth hub for Lancashire. 

Mike is currently: 

Chair of Dixons Academy Trust – 17 schools in the North of England. 

Chair of the Growth Company – social enterprise delivering insight, business. employment and skills support, and including Midas and Marketing Manchester. 

Trustee at the Lowry Theatre – Chair of nominations committee. 

Non-exec at TfGM – Chair of customer, growth and technology committee.