Amanda Porter, a Senior Solicitor at Birmingham law firm Mills & Reeve, took up the role as Chairman of Birmingham Future on 30th July at the organisation’s Annual General Meeting, which took place at Eleven Brindleyplace. Amanda takes over from Headline Communication’s Account Director, Matt Taylor.
In her inaugural speech, Amanda, who has served as Deputy to Matt through his year in office, thanked him for his inspired leadership of the organisation during what has been one of the most challenging periods in Future’s history, with most young professionals experiencing an economic downturn for the first time in their careers.
Amanda went on to pay tribute to Matt’s achievements during his year, notably the establishment of the Future Foundation, created in association with the Birmingham Community Foundation, which will be the conduit for funds raised from Birmingham Future’s charitable work. Within the first year, the Future Foundation has raised seven thousand pounds, which will be used to support community-based projects that focus on providing education, employment and training services. Birmingham Future’s initiative to ‘adopt’ Moseley School as part of its aim to widen its reach and influence in the community and to push its skills agenda was also highlighted. This initiative follows on from Future’s already successful work with graduates, which this year saw the fourth Graduate Apprentice appointed and the second “Welcome to Birmingham” graduate event held at the Council House in October last year. In addition, BYPY, the third Power 50 list, and the extension of Future’s mentoring schemes all demonstrated how Future was making a positive contribution to the city’s professional life and its role in developing the city’s business leaders of the future.
Expanding on her own themes for the year ahead, Amanda said that, given Future’s successful record of developing successful and sustainable skills based initiatives, education and skills would be one of her two major themes for the year.
“The recent re-brand of the ‘Graduate Retention’ committee into ‘Talent Retention and Development’ underlines the commitment Birmingham Future has in attracting, retaining and developing the talent in our city through initiatives for both graduates and Future members,” she said.
“We had a record number of high quality applications for this year’s Graduate Apprentice and I hope that, through this and by working with organisations such as Graduate Advantage and Grad Central, we can encourage more people to think about the wide range of careers with top employers on offer in Birmingham.”
Talking about her second theme, Diversity, Amanda commented;
“I am keen to raise awareness of the importance of diversity within the business sector and many of our events, including training sessions and debates, will therefore focus on this issue. We will continue to work closely with Birmingham Professional DiverCity as well as building links with other organisations such as the Institute of Asian Businesses.”
In her speech Amanda reflected on the challenging times for the professional and financial services sector and how Future would support members through this tough time.
She said: “There’s no doubt that Birmingham’s business community has had a challenging year. Since we launched in 1993, Future members have seen nothing but growth in the economy, particularly in the professional sector. But during the past few months, it’s been something of a unique experience for many of us to sadly see colleagues lose their jobs and anxiety replace excitement”.
“Over the next 12 months, along with our colleagues at Birmingham Forward, we will do everything possible to support members, both past and present, to bring them back into the professional sector.”
Amanda concluded her speech with the announcement that her Deputy Chair for the year will be Darren Walker, an Associate at Cobbetts and the Chair of the BYPY Committee.
In his final speech as Chairman Matt Taylor reflected on his time in the chair during this tumultuous period for young professionals and the sector and how Future had risen to the challenge. He said: “We have spent time on reviewing what our members want from the organisation and how to effectively deliver that – and this work must and will continue. If organisations like Birmingham Future are to have a relevance and a place in the business community we must be adaptable to change and reflective of our times.
“As I hand over the baton to Amanda I know that despite the on-going challenges facing the business sector, Birmingham Future is in a good place. It has been an immensely rewarding 12 months in office and I wish Amanda the best of luck in her new role."
The Birmingham Future AGM was, once again, integrated with the third year of the Power50 list. This collaboration between Birmingham Future and The Birmingham Post charts the city’s most powerful and influential individuals.
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