Meet the Team

Sally Lynskey

Chief Executive Officer

Sally Lynskey has been Chief Executive of Business Solent and Business Southampton since it launched in 2006. She has established the Champion Programme uniting over 170 businesses and business leaders from the region to influence public policy and drive forward positive change. Sally has also been instrumental in uniting a number of business-led Action Groups and projects for the benefit of all who work, invest, study, live and enjoy in the Solent region.

Sally is recognised as a leading female entrepreneur and she was awarded Wessex Business Woman of the Year in 2002. Her 15 years in sales and marketing includes regional sales and national account management for FTSE 100 firms throughout the Solent region. She was responsible for increasing the company turnover from £140,000 to £1.3m in three years and secured all year round production with Sunseeker (Boats) Ltd. Her understanding of lean manufacturing attracted a number of business awards as well as being nominated as a UK case study by the Manufacturing Advisory Service. Sally previously represented the South East as an Ambassador for industry. In 2003, she had the initial vision for, then set up and coordinated the Cowes Marine Cluster - a supply chain group of close to 100 marine related firms who remain active in collaborating on various initiatives to compete efficiently in a global market. Sally was involved in the maritime / engineering strategy for the City Growth project in Portsmouth and also in initiating the development of a composites cluster for the Solent region. 

Leigh-Sara Timberlake

Champion Manager

Leigh-Sara Timberlake is Champion Manager responsible for promoting Business Solent to companies throughout the region. Leigh-Sara also has regular meetings with Champions to ensure they are getting maximum benefit from supporting Business Solent.

Leigh-Sara comes from a varied sales background gaining experience with many well known brands such as Fitness First and Scottish Courage Brewery where she won Sales Person of the Year before joining Business Southampton and now Business Solent.

Anna Hales

Project Manager

Anna Hales is the Project Manager at Business Solent ensuring successful development, delivery and retention of projects and activities, including Discover Southampton and Sea City. Anna also ensures the quarterly grant targets are met and has an analytical approach and detailed eye. Before joining the Business Southampton team three years ago, she worked with the Southampton Partnership and graduated from Southampton Solent University with a degree in Corporate Communications.

Nathan Bailey

Marketing & Communications Executive

Nathan Bailey is the Marketing and Communications Executive for Business Solent and joined the organisation in September 2007. Nathan is responsible for all internal and external communications and marketing to raise the profile of the organisation locally, regionally and nationally. He manages the content of the Business Solent and Discover Southampton websites and also produces the monthly e-Newsupdate and quarterly Newsletter.

Before joining the Business Solent team he worked within marketing at Red Funnel. He has an academic background in business and marketing.

Madeline Horn

Conference & Events Co-ordinator

Madeline joined Business Solent in September 2011. Madeline is on a 1 year internship from Bournemouth University where she is studying Events Management.

Shirley Pinn

Business Solent Events Team

Shirley Pinn has joined the team to manage the event portfolio for Business Solent. Shirley is the Event Director for the cities official conference bureau Destination Southampton Ltd.  Shirley is responsible to bringing conferences, exhibitions and conventions to the wide selection of venues our city and region has to offer, Shirley and her team regularly event manage major events including the Business Solent Annual Conference, Hospitality at the PSP Southampton Boat Show, The Annual Titanic Convention and much more. 

Shirley re-launched the services of Destination Southampton in 2003 after leaving her role as Sales Manager for Non Matchday Events at Southampton Football Club, the business has now been trading for ten years. Her venue and events career and experience spans over fifteen years.

Hannah Rowley

Business Solent Events Team

Hannah works for Destination Southampton Ltd. and supports Business Solent Events.