Howard Burr
Chamber President
Howard runs 2 companies based in Love Lane: South Western Specialised Tape Ltd and Cotswold Labels Ltd. Both businesses have many local customers and he is keen to keep business as local as possible. He has a passion for business in Cirencester and wants to engage the more industrial elements of the town’s economy with the Chamber to push forward Cirencester as a great place to work and start a business. Howard was elected as President in September 2024.
Sarah Somers
Chamber Secretary
Sarah is a Cirencester resident who has lived in the Cotswolds for over thirty years and is now a local business owner, having opened #now_vintage, a vintage collective selling goods for homes and gardens, in late 2017 in the town centre. An existing member of the Chamber and an active supporter of all local business initiatives, Sarah was appointed as Secretary in March 2020 and enjoys promoting the Chamber and looking for ways of increasing the number of retail members.
Fran Coulter
Vice-President
Fran has worked in the Financial Services industry for nearly 10 years, beginning at St. James’s Place Wealth Management in Cirencester, before becoming a financial planner aligned to them in October 2017. JPA Financial Planning has an office in Fairford where Fran works closely with fellow financial planner Chris and the JPA admin and paraplanning support team. Fran focuses on retirement and investment planning but also loves mortgage planning, assisting clients with remortgaging or buying a new home.
Fran grew up and lived in Cirencester for over 25 years and joined the Committee to give something back to other established businesses and start ups in the local area. She was elected Vice-President in August 2021.
Hannah Hockley
Vice-President
Hannah has lived in Cirencester for most of her life. She is the managing director of The Apprenticeship Partner which provides tailored support to businesses looking to hire apprentices.
Hannah is passionate about developing opportunities for young people in the town.
“Young people have so much to offer and it’s important that we encourage them to seek opportunities in Cirencester rather than feeling they have to move away to find fulfilling careers. Cirencester has a huge range of businesses across a broad spectrum of industries. By developing links between businesses, education providers and young people we can foster relationships that benefit all sides.”
Hannah was elected Joint Vice-President in August 2021.
Howard Smith
Treasurer
Howard lives and works in Cirencester running a growing accountancy and business consulting practice the numbercrunchers on London Road. He specialises in paperless accounts, cloud technology and systems automation for small businesses using Xero and Dext. He enjoys the Chamber social and networking events with like-minded people and it seemed natural for him to take on the role of Treasurer. In his spare time, you’ll find him creating another feature in his house or garden.
Marc Begg
Committee Member
Marc, Managing Director of Cirencester Fabrication Services (CFS), originally hails from New Zealand where he was educated and completed a mechanical engineering apprenticeship. He was also 7x National Snowboarding Champion. Moving to the UK to take his Masters Degree, he has since held a variety of senior roles across both multi-national and start-up businesses until transforming his own future and taking ownership of CFS. He creates an enthusiastic collaborative culture, leading by driving the operational and commercial sides of the business and is not afraid to still get his hands dirty and put his welding mask on.
Nick Hunt
Committee Member
Nick is the Founding Director and Chief Beer Officer of Cotswold Lakes Brew Co. – a sustainably-rooted award-winning craft brewing business based in Somerford Keynes, established in 2021.
An experienced investment professional, with over 15 years spent in the Wealth Management industry, Nick was formerly the Director of Strategy & Proposition at St. James’s Place (SJP) and now utilises his strategy, governance and ESG expertise as Chief Strategy & Impact Officer for Elephants Child – a leading SME business advisory firm serving a diverse range of business clients across the UK. He is a passionate advocate as business as a force for good.
Nick is also a Trustee Director/Chair for a local charity and in his spare time enjoys hiking around the Cotswolds and playing keyboards in his band across local music venues.
Kate Lloyd-Evans
Committee Member
Kate has almost 20 years’ experience in marketing,
communications, and PR, across many sectors. After
facing redundancy at the beginning of the pandemic, Kate
launched her own boutique marketing consultancy in April 2020.
Over the past four years, Kate has worked with many start-up
businesses and established organisations to help them make
sense of and take control of their marketing.
Kate lives in North Swindon with her husband Trevor and runs her marketing consultancy business, KopyKat, from Watermoor Point in Cirencester.
Dan Stubbins
Committee Member
Meet Dan, a Content Creator based in Cirencester. Since leaving the RAF as a Bomb Disposal Operator in 2015, Dan has been photographing, videoing and working with drones to capture businesses, events, real estate and many other things to help people tell their story, capture special memories and promote their business, no matter how big or small.
Dan has a young son and a little camper van, so when he’s not busy with work, he’s either hanging out with Alfie or exploring new places!
Adam Vines
Committee Member
As the managing owner of Lounge Design based in Trent Lodge, Adam Vines has really embraced Cirencester since moving the business here in 2017. ‘It’s a great place to work and the welcome from the community has been amazing. I really look forward to giving something back to the area’. President of the Chamber from August 2021 to September 2024, Adam launched Together Gloucestershire in March 2022.
Derek Wetter
Committee Member
Derek has been in the Executive Search business since 1994 following a successful career in Finance and Operations.
He has recruited in many countries and is keen to help local businesses with their recruitment strategy and to help them with their growth plans.
Now enjoying living in Cirencester he is keen to develop local business relationships.
In addition to recruiting, he is a qualified clay shooting coach and is still learning to play the guitar!
Kevin Young
Committee Member
Kevin has worked in many different industries across the world,
had his own business improvement consultancy in London
and finished his career in Cirencester when he retired in
December 2019. He became Chairman of the Cirencester & Stroud branch of Parkinson’s UK in 2022 and has already raised over £37,000 through fundraising activities.
He brings to the Committee many years of business /
industry experience and a desire to help raise funds, grow the membership and increase participation.