Economic Research Advisory Panel

The Panel meets at least three times a year and reports to the Welsh Government on economic research at least twice a year.

The Panel's purpose is to:

• Advise the Welsh Government on a programme of economic research, monitoring and evaluation;
• Advise the Welsh Government and appropriate Assembly Committees on the outcomes of this programme;
• Promote collaboration on economic research and the sharing of intelligence between the Welsh Government, its main agencies and other partners;
• Advise on dissemination of research findings; and
• Advise on how best to develop the capacity and expertise of Wales based institutions to contribute to this research agenda.

Appointed members

There are six appointed members on the Panel:

Emeritus Professor Garel Rhys CBE (Chair)

Garel Rhys is Chairman of the Welsh Automotive Forum; Vice President of the Institute of the Motor Industry; member of the Welsh Assembly Government's Ministerial Advisory Group on the Economy and Transport; and Non-Executive Director of Orb Communications. Former roles include Director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research and Head of Economics at Cardiff University Business School; adviser and board member to the Welsh Development Agency; adviser to the Trade and Industry Select Committee at the House of Commons; member of Her Majesty's (HM) Treasury's Retail Price Index Advisory Committee; adviser to United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO); member of Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI's) Motor Industry Competitiveness Panel and member of the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) Round Table on Sustainable Development; .

Mr Simon Gibson OBE

Simon Gibson is Chief Executive of Wesley Clover Corporation, a private venture capital firm specialising in early stage equity funding. He has international experience in the high technology sector and has successfully developed companies and products with significant global market share. He is a member of the Ofcom Advisory Board for Wales and sits on the Boards of several public and private technology companies. He is the Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Wales, Newport.

Professor Andrew Henley

Andrew Henley is Director of the LEAD Wales Programme at Swansea University. He has served as Head of the School of Business and Economics at Swansea University from 2004-2010. He was previously Director of Research and Professor of Economics at the School of Management and Business,  Aberystwyth University. Professor Henley is a research fellow of The Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn (IZA). He is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Understanding Society, the new UK household longitudinal survey (formerly the British Household Panel Survey). From 2006 to 2009 he served as a council member of the Wales Management Council.

Mr Gerald Holtham

Gerald Holtham is Managing Partner of Cadwyn Capital LLP and former Chief Investment Officer of Morley Fund Management, the investment arm of Aviva PLC. The Aberdare-born economist has wide experience of conducting and applying economic research on a range of public policy issues. He is actively involved in Welsh public life, and is currently a Director of the Institute of Welsh Affairs and a visiting Professor at Cardiff University Business School. Mr Holtham's previous roles include Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research, London; Head of General Economics Division at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris; Fellow and Tutor at Magdalen College Oxford; and Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution, Washington DC. He recently Chaired the Independent Commission on Funding and Finance for Wales; the 'Holtham Commission'.

Mr Chris Johns

Chris Johns is Chief Investment Officer at State Street Global Advisors Ireland. His previous posts include Investment Strategist at Collins Stewart; Investment Banker for ABN AMRO; Director of Investment Strategy at Allied Irish Capital Management Ltd. (ICM), Dublin; Chief Economist for the Bank of Ireland; and Economist at HM Treasury and at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. He has also been Tutor and Lecturer in economics at Cambridge University and City University.

Professor Janet Wademan

Janet Wademan is Managing Director of Van Helsing Ltd, a small company involved in using information and communication technologies to improve corporate delivery. Her speciality is building operational resilience by the co-creation of new paradigms in business, organisational and regional development to build operational resilience. Moreover, her ideas and advice have been input into the development of Welsh Assembly Government policy and strategy via the Economy and Transport Ministerial Advisory Group. Mindful of the economic benefits of a healthy populace, she has been a member of a number of health boards in Wales since 1998 applying best practice management techniques and systems-thinking to the complexity of public service delivery. She is currently the specialist Information Communications Technology Independent Member at Aneurin Bevan Health Board where she chairs teh Information Governance Committee and serves on the pan-Wales NHS Information Requirements Board. She has a long history of advanced software development, has been active within the EC’s Information Society Technology’s Research and Development programme and is visiting professor at the School of Computing, University of Glamorgan. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA)

Ex officio members

The appointed members are supported in their work by ex officio members representing the main economic public sector bodies in Wales:

• Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW)
• Jobcentre Plus
• Welsh Government