鈥淲hile network managers are relatively new, we have had regional policy managers for a while in some regions. Alex Stevens has held this role in the South West for a number of years and, more recently, Sarah Faulkner in the West and East Midlands, and Charles Hesketh in East Anglia.
鈥淲hat the coming weeks and months will bring, with a full team of network and policy managers, is the opportunity for this community of specialist leaders to share best practice and embed new ways of working.
The network manager role
鈥淭he network manager post is focused on membership performance and the functionality of our network of County Advisers and Group Secretaries. These roles focus on membership growth and retention and are vital for the commercial performance of the NFU.
鈥淥ur regular and professional interaction with members at a local level is key to farmers and growers understanding and valuing NFU policy work and wins.
Our network managers will be working to ensure each county and group has a robust and deliverable engagement and recruitment plan for the membership year ahead. They will make sure their team is promptly contacting members who need our help and will be working on strategies to promote the value of NFU membership to prospective new members.
鈥淥ur network managers are constantly thinking about how effectively their team of county advisers is getting in front of members, and prospective new members, to promote the NFU, and how effectively our sales force of Group Secretaries converts that exposure and profile into new membership signings.
The regional policy manager role
鈥淭he regional policy manager role is the most senior policy-specific role in the regions. They lead our campaigning, policy, lobbying and external engagement strategy and processes in each region.
鈥淚n addition to managing that strategy and its delivery, the regional policy managers will be identifying and prioritising the key policy issues for the region that require local specific lobbying activity - issues like HS2, rural crime, or maybe new infrastructure projects like the Lincolnshire Reservoir.
"This role works with our regional commodity boards, our regional board and the whole regional team. In addition, the regional policy mangers manage and lead the environment and land use advisers, the member communication and engagement advisers, and the future administrative teams.
鈥淭his new structure will allow regional directors like me to focus on the more strategic elements of regional delivery and senior external stakeholder engagement, as well as our role working with national and regional office holders and NFU department heads and directors.
鈥淲e have an exciting time ahead as we implement the next stages of the review and our new team structures put us in a strong place to do this.鈥�
More on the NFU 2023 review
