Phil Chapman

Biography

I have a first degree in Biology and Geography from The University of Manchester, and an MBA, and I spent the first 11 years of my working life in a food manufacturing company, where I started out in the Microbiology Department and ended up as factory Production Control Manager. Since then my work has taken me in many directions including 17 years of running my own project consultancy business and eight years in higher education. It has involved working with private, public and voluntary sector organisations, training and assisting business starts and existing businesses to become established and to grow sustainably, and has included the management and facilitation of Learning and Skills Council, ERDF and Interreg programmes resulting in the provision of support to more than 250 businesses in the UK, Europe and worldwide. I have also worked on the Young Enterprise Scheme, assisting a team of 20 exceptional young people to win two awards with their creative company ‘Sublime’ and have been a Chamber of Commerce business mentor. Overseas work has included teaching Business English in Portugal and setting up an international development company aimed at capacity building women’s business support organisations in Africa and Asia.

Over the last five years I have run knowledge transfer partnerships and managed a university Institute for Leadership and Sustainability. In 2016 I set up an alumni network for the graduates of these programmes and in 2014 I was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Innovation and Enterprise.

I am a member of the International Leadership Association and the British Academy of Management.