After nine successful years with pro-manchester, Dr John Ashcroft has announced he is set to step down as pro-manchester chief executive this September.

Since John’s appointment in 2008, the business development organisation, based in Spinningfields has gone from strength to strength, now boasting over 100 events a year and nearly 300 members.

Of his time in the organisation, John said:

“It has been an honour, a pleasure and always great fun to be involved with pro-manchester. We have made great progress as an organisation and I am now delighted to hand over to Sam Booth and the executive team to take the organisation on to the next exciting stage of development.

“I would like to thank all the stakeholders in pro-manchester for the opportunity to work in this great city of ours over the last nine years.

“I will now be taking the opportunity to develop my own business interests in economics, strategy and financial market analysis. This will also be a great opportunity to consider new roles and new challenges in many different markets.”

Of John’s resignation, deputy CEO, Sam Booth said:

“It has been a pleasure to work with John over the last nine years. I have learnt a lot from him and look forward to continuing our professional relationship as we now look ahead to the next chapter of pro-manchester.

“John’s drive and vision has been a fundamental part of making pro-manchester the excellent organisation that it is today. On behalf of the team, we would like to thank him for his contribution and wish him well in his future endeavours.”