TVCA Cabinet

Tees Valley Combined Authority Cabinet is chaired by the Mayor of the Tees Valley and is made up of representatives from the five Tees Valley Local Authorities and has strong engagement with the business community through the chair of Tees Valley Business Board.

Mayor Ben Houchen

Mayor Ben Houchen

Tees Valley Mayor

Ben Houchen was elected the first Tees Valley Mayor in May 2017 and represents 670,000 people. Before that, he was the Conservative opposition leader on Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council where he represented the Yarm Ward. He was re-elected as Mayor in 2021 and 2024.

Ben qualified as a solicitor in 2009 and practised corporate law, commercial law and commercial litigation for six years before running his own business. He was UK & European CEO of an international sportswear company. He was also leader of the Conservative Group on Stockton Borough Council from 2014 to 2017.

He was elected as the first Mayor of the Tees Valley in 2017 and was re-elected in 2021 with 73% of the vote. He was then elected for a third term in 2024 and currently continues to serve as the elected Mayor.

In his first term, Ben successfully delivered his manifesto pledge to save Teesside Airport from closure and is continuing to deliver the 10-year Rescue Plan for the airport.

He is responsible for establishing the first Mayoral Development Corporation (South Tees Development Corporation - Teesworks) outside of London, second only to the Olympic Park – which was set up for the 2012 Olympics. The Development Corporation is responsible for the regeneration of the largest brownfield site in western Europe, which has attracted billions of pounds in foreign direct investment and is creating thousands of manufacturing jobs in industries like offshore wind, hydrogen and carbon, capture and storage. He has also created two more Mayoral Development Corporations to help regenerate Middlesbrough and Hartlepool town centres.

He has also helped to deliver national policies to help level up the country, including being one of the architects of the UK’s Freeport policy. As a result, he was able to establish the UK’s first and largest freeport – the Teesside Freeport. He also worked closely with Government to bring the newly established Treasury Economic Campus to Darlington, which is the premier home for the Treasury outside of London.

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Councillor Steve Harker

Councillor Steve Harker

Leader of Darlington Borough Council

Councillor Steve Harker was elected as Leader of Darlington Borough Council in May 2023. He is a Labour Councillor representing Pierremont ward and was first elected in 1995.

He has held a number of Cabinet portfolios on Darlington Borough Council, including the Resources portfolio. Councillor Harker strongly believes that the Combined Authority, working together with the 5 Tees Valley Councils, can bring beneficial change to people across the Tees Valley.

Councillor Harker grew up in Stokesley and moved to Darlington in 1990. He worked in the software industry for over 30 years, supporting the day-to-day operations of the UK rail industry.

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Councillor Brenda Harrison

Councillor Brenda Harrison

Leader of Hartlepool Borough Council and Deputy Mayor

Councillor Brenda Harrison was elected as the first female Leader of Hartlepool Borough Council in May 2024.

She is a Labour Councillor and has represented the De Bruce Ward since May 2016. She served as Chair of the Council’s Children’s Services Committee from 2018/19.

Prior to entering politics, Councillor Harrison’s career was in education, spending 33 years of her career teaching music and English in a Hartlepool secondary school.

Councillor Harrison is the portfolio holder for culture on the TVCA Cabinet and is passionate about delivering a brighter future for Hartlepool and the wider Tees Valley and ensuring young people have a voice to be heard.

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Mayor Chris Cooke

Mayor Chris Cooke

Mayor of Middlesbrough

Chris Cooke was elected Mayor of Middlesbrough in May 2023. He had previously served as ward councillor for Newport.

During his four years as a councillor, Chris also worked as a community cohesion coordinator.

Chris is committed to raising the life chances of the most vulnerable people in society.

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Councillor Alec Brown

Councillor Alec Brown

Leader of Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council

Councillor Alec Brown is the Leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council. He took on the role in May 2023 and remains the Leader of the Labour Group on the Council.

Councillor Brown, who serves in the Kirkleatham ward in Redcar, was first elected to the Council in 2015. He served as the Cabinet member for Neighbourhoods in the Council’s administration between 2015 and 2019.

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Councillor Bob Cook

Councillor Bob Cook

Leader of Stockton Borough Council

Bob Cook has been Leader of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council since 2011 and was first elected as a councillor in 1987. He currently represents the Norton South ward. Prior to becoming Council Leader, he was Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Transport.

Councillor Cook represents the Borough on a range of bodies including the Association of North East Councils, Local Government Association General Assembly, North East Purchasing Organisation and North East Regional Employers’ Organisation. He worked in the chemical industry for 31 years before taking up his current post of Agent/Office Manager for Stockton North MP, Alex Cunningham, in 2010.

Email: [email protected]

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Siobhan McArdle

Siobhan McArdle

Chair of the Tees Valley Business Board

Siobhan McArdle is the Chair of the Tees Valley Business Board, playing a defining role in representing the voice of local business. The Board feeds into the work of the Tees Valley Mayor, Combined Authority and Local Authorities, to advise on, establish and help lead projects, schemes and programmes that deliver real change to our local economy.

Siobhan is Founder of The Strategy House, a strategic planning and turnaround consultancy established in 2020. The Strategy House works in partnership with Corporates, SMEs and Investor backed businesses, both nationally and internationally, developing and delivering high growth, transformation and turnaround recovery plans, and the enabling organisation development and people management programmes.

Siobhan is also Group CEO of L3COS, a global, technology group, seeking to disrupt global supply chains, through the roll out of its proprietary blockchain based operating system, SMART contracting infrastructure, Global Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) payments system and client designed B2B Digital Applications.

Passionate about the Tees Valley, Siobhan grew up in Saltburn, before leaving to go to university, and has returned on more than one occasion to work in Teesside. First as a graduate trainee for Tees and Hartlepool Port Authority, now PD Ports, and more latterly as CEO of South Tees NHS Foundation Trust, delivering a £140 million Financial Recovery Programme over 4 years.

Having previously been a member of the TVCA Local Economic Partnership (LEP) Siobhan has spent the last 12 months working with the Tees Valley Mayor, Local Authority Leaders, and Central Government to reconfigure and replace the LEP, with the newly created Tees Valley Business Board.

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