Sophie Conboy, COO of Connect Yorkshire promoted to CEO to drive growth and diversity within Yorkshire’s leading not-for-profit business membership group.
Connect Yorkshire, Yorkshire’s leading not-for-profit business membership organisation has announced key changes within the organisation which sees Sophie Conboy promoted from COO to CEO.
Established in 2002 by Nick Butler, Connect Yorkshire (CY) is a not-for-profit business support group which helps ambitious Yorkshire business owners grow their businesses through direct access to some of Yorkshire’s leading entrepreneurs for support and advice through a range of programmes including masterclasses, peer board groups and 121 mentoring.
Sophie’s promotion will see former CEO and founder, Nick step back to focus on supporting and adding to its 98 Entrepreneurs in Residence who provide 121 mentoring for Connect Yorkshire’s 310 members. Craig Batham has also joined the organisation as Operations Manager to ensure it continues to offer outstanding service levels to its growing membership.
Sophie, who joined Connect Yorkshire in 2013 as an Account Manager, has played a pivotal role in the growth of the organisation which has involved re-developing CY’s marketing strategy to enable it to attract a diverse range of businesses, in particular, those in the start-up and scale-up phase. Upon her promotion to Operations Director in 2016, Sophie led the rebrand from its previous moniker of Connect Gazelles to Connect Yorkshire to articulate what the organisation does.
Commenting on her promotion, Sophie Conboy, CEO Connect Yorkshire said: “I’m excited for the future of Connect Yorkshire and how we will continue to provide our members with the opportunities to enable them to grow their businesses and in turn create jobs and wealth in Yorkshire. I am also committed to driving diversity within the organisation and encourage women and ethnic minorities to discover what Connect Yorkshire has to offer and what they could potentially offer to other businesses within Yorkshire”.
Connect Yorkshire’s, Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) programme provides direct access to some of Yorkshire’s leading entrepreneurs. These are people that CY deems as having grown a successful business and qualify to help smaller business owners thrive. Entrepreneurs in Residence include Jacqui Hall of CNG, David Grey MBE of OSL Group, Jonathan Turner of Bayford Oil and Adam Beaumont of aql.
Connect Yorkshire Entrepreneur in residence, Martin Port of Big Change Apps Ltd said of the organisation; “I have had one million pounds worth of business through Connect Yorkshire which has added to my companies growth year on year. Being a member of Connect Yorkshire gives members time with successful Yorkshire entrepreneurs who give their time free of charge and provide fantastic value for the members”.
