Bath Business Improvement District (BID) has appointed former Cardiff city centre manager Louise Prynne as its new chief executive as it prepares to bring in new initiatives under its second term.
Louise, pictured, took up her duties on Monday, just over two months after city centre firms approved another five-year term in a ballot. 
A University of Bath graduate, Louise has held a number of high-profile roles in the Welsh capital including head of commercial operations at Cardiff and Co – the former organisation promoting the city as a visitor and business destination, and a member of the Millennium Stadium Trust.
As well as helping to establish Cardiff as a global events capital, Louise worked with Land Securities to develop its £650m St David’s shopping centre.
City centre management was later added to her portfolio and she was instrumental in building Cardiff’s reputation as a place to invest, work, live, study, shop and visit, helping it climb from 10th to sixth among the UK’s top retail destinations and increasing visitor numbers from 14m to 18m between 2009 and 2011.
She also helped set up the City of Cardiff Marketing Suite in Cardiff Bay and was a director of Cardiff Business Council.
Louise said: “This is a very exciting time to be joining the Bath BID. I have always had a great affection for Bath from my time as a student here, and it is wonderful to see how the city has prospered, yet still retained its inherent charm.
“A great deal of that ongoing success is the result of the efforts of the BID as a facilitator of collaboration between the business community and local authority.”
She said she was committed to building on the success of the BID’s first five years by delivering on its business plan and identifying areas in which it could give renewed focus.
“One of those areas is the office-based business community,” she said. “I believe Bath has the potential to further grow its reputation as a business centre within which new business can thrive. I will also be looking at how we can build on the already well established programme of events to attract footfall in the city, and at ways in which the BID can work closer with the city’s universities and colleges.
“I am delighted to join a BID that has not only achieved a great deal in its first five years, but which is clearly highly valued by the business community and people of Bath. I look forward to delivering the next phase of this exciting ongoing project, and playing a positive role in the future of a city that is close to my heart.”
Among initiatives being looked at by the BID for its second term are furthering develop Bath’s early evening economy and the introduction of Welcome Hosts in key areas such as the railway station.
These will complement successful initiatives introduced during its first term such as its BID Rangers and Night Marshals.
It will also seek to expand its pioneering trade waste management and recycling scheme, which has transformed the way city centre businesses dispose of their rubbish.
Louise, who graduated from University of Bath with a BSc Hons in Economics & Government, replaces Andrew Cooper as BID chief executive. Andrew had led the BID since its launch in 2011 before leaving last autumn to take up a similar role in Leeds. Since his departure the BID has been led by interim chief executive Jonathan O’Shea.
