The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise partnership has appointed five new non-executive directors to its board following a recruitment process started in December.

The five appointees will formally take up their unpaid roles in May and will replace a number of current LEP directors who are due to step down during the course of 2018.

The new directors are:

Frances Brennan, strategic stakeholder lead for Pluss Ltd, an award-winning social enterprise that supports thousands of people with disabilities and other disadvantages to move towards and into employment each year.

Simon Caklais is managing director of Gilbert & Goode Construction, one of the largest Cornish construction companies in the region. He sits on the LEP’s construction strategy steering group, and chairs the Cornwall Constructing Excellence Club.

Commodore Steven Jermy is a former naval officer and chartered marine technologist, with over 35 years’ offshore experience. He is an offshore renewables consultant, and research and development lead for Falmouth-based James Fisher Marine Services Ltd, and managing director of Tide Mills Ltd, an offshore renewables consultancy.

Gordon Seabright is chief executive of the Eden Project, leading over 550 staff and 170 volunteers at the educational and environmental charity and visitor attraction. Since his arrival in 2014 he has presided over a significant increase in visitor numbers, turnover and earnings, and turned Eden into a campus for degree level students.

David Walrond has been principal of Truro and Penwith College since 2010, having joined as director of quality and planning in 2003. Under his leadership the college has been awarded the National Beacon Award for Leadership and Governance and was the first further education college to be ranked ‘Outstanding’ under Ofsted’s new inspection framework.

Commenting on the new appointments, Mark Duddridge, chair of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP, said: “We had an outstanding field of candidates from which to choose and I am delighted to be able to confirm these appointments to the LEP board.

"Between them they bring a wealth of diverse experience that will be crucial to help shape the economy of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly now and in the future. I very much look forward to welcoming them in May.”

Mark also paid tribute to those LEP board members stepping down, having reached the end of their terms. Chris Loughlin stepped down in January; Gavin Poole will finish in May, and Andrew Williams and Roland Tiplady will both step down in November.