About the Chairman
An election took place on 20 May 2010, when Thelma Sorensen stood down after 6 years of chairing the Economic Forum. Peter Hardaker, a member of the Cornwall Business Partnership was elected as her successor.
PETER HARDAKER
Peter Hardaker has worked in Land Based Industries for all his working life and in the Agricultural Supply Sector for the last 34 years of employment, in Cornwall. He retired in 2003 from the position of CEO of Cornwall Farmers Ltd, the South West Agricultural Supply Co-operative. He served as a non-executive Director of The Eden Project for 10 years until April 09.
Peter still has significant involvement with the Land Based Sector. He serves on the Regional Implementation Group for the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) and Chairs the RDPE Implementation Group for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly; he is a Director of the Cornwall Agri-food Council; a Director of the Cornwall College Corporation, Vice Chair of the Council of Duchy College and Chair of Newquay College Council. He is also a Director of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company and Kernow Grain Ltd, is a Member of the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association Council, a Vice President of the Cornwall Federation of Young Farmers.
Peter is committed to working in all sectors of Cornwall, public, private and voluntary. He has been involved in a number of ways in all these sectors since he moved to Cornwall in 1974 with his wife and has brought up both his children in Grampound where he was Chair of the Parish Council for 15 years.
Peter has been committed with others to deliver a strategy for positive change and has been involved in trying to build new confidence and make a real difference to the rural economy of Cornwall. Throughout all his involvement, he has worked with people at the grassroots level and Peter has seen Cornwall’s challenges and successes at first hand.
Philip Hygate
Philip Hygate is Chief Executive of the Council of the Isles of Scilly, a Unitary Authority which runs all Council functions for the Islands and also provides many utilities as trading operations. He has a long commitment to, and track record of, effective private sector partnership. In addition to being Chief Executive of the Isles, he also is involved in many economic and community activities in Cornwall and the Isles including being Chairman of the Isles of Scilly AONB and a member of the Convergence Programme Monitoring Committee. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was granted the Freedom of the City of London in 2008.