Chamber Patrons Chamber Patrons Greater Birmingham Chambers’ leading supporters


Round-up McDonald’s franchisee and Chamber patron Douglas Wright has been reappointed as chairperson of the Ronald McDonald House Charities in Birmingham. Mr Wright has chaired the


charity’s board of governors since 2015 and will continue in the role for another three years. Four new governors have


also been appointed to the board. They are Future Faces


president Mark Hipwell, Updates Media’s CEO Oli Hills, external audit partner at RSM, Anna Spencer-Gray, and McDonald’s franchisee David Knight.


Mondelēz International set a Guinness World Record for the most people dunking cookies across multiple venues. The record attempt was


coordinated to celebrate the OREO cookie brand $3.1 billion in annual net revenues by end of 2019. Mondelēz employees across


the world were invited to twist, lick and dunk OREO cookies simultaneously as part of a live streaming event. Staff from 55 locations in 32


countries participated, with a record 5,066 people dunking cookies.


RSM’s corporate finance team has moved up the league table to become the most active financial adviser in the Midlands mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory market in 2019. The firm advised on 38 M&A


deals in the Midlands in 2019, moving it up from fourth to first place in the Experian league table. This was despite deal


volumes in the region falling from 1,037 in 2018 to 958 in 2019, a decline of eight per cent year-on-year. UK-wide, RSM advised on


166 deals in calendar year 2019, moving the firm up from third to second place in the national league table.


Major breakthrough: Dr Jonathan Cox 40 CHAMBERLINK March 2020 By Dan Harrison


A fast-growing and award-winning digital agency has become the newest patron of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce. Lightbox specialises in helping


firms grow their digital presence through new websites, SEO and social media support. The firm relocated to new offices


at the Counting House in Birmingham’s St Paul’s Square in 2019 after its workforce more than doubled in two years. Lightbox was founded by Rob


Pollard from a spare desk in a Lichfield kitchen fitting company just over 10 years ago and has enjoyed continued year-on-year growth since then. The agency moved to


Birmingham city centre in 2015. Clients the firm has worked with


include law firm Shakespeare Martineau, Elta Group, M6Toll, property developers Seven Capital and Birmingham charity LoveBrum. Rob Pollard said: “The decision to


become patrons of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce was an easy one for us. “Our 1813 membership has served us very well for the past two years,


Contact: Henrietta Brealey T: 0121 274 3266


Digital agency is new Chamber patron


Patron power: Lightbox director PJ Ellis and founder Rob Pollard


but in becoming patrons, we hope to play a real part in the growth of the Birmingham business community. “Whilst looking forward to


connecting with, and supporting, other businesses in the region, we see that the move to patronage will also help Lightbox consolidate itself as a leader in its field.” Paul Faulkner, chief executive of


Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, said: “Lightbox are one of the region’s great success stories


of recent years, having grown rapidly from humble beginnings to working with some high-profile companies from their impressive new Birmingham base. “We’ve enjoyed working with


them as members of our 1813 Club and we’re delighted to be developing even closer links now that they have joined the powerful collective of leading businesses and forward-thinking organisations that make up our patronage group.”


Researchers develop new treatment


A new treatment developed by researchers at Aston University and Birmingham Children’s Hospital has been found to completely kill a bacterial infection that can be deadly to cystic fibrosis patients. Scientists from Aston University


combined doses of three antibiotics – amoxicillin and imipenem- relebactam – and found it was 100 per cent effective in killing off mycobacterium abscessus. Mycobacterium abscessus is a


bacterial pathogen from the same family that causes tuberculosis, which leads to lung infections in people (particularly children) with lung disorders, most notably cystic fibrosis. It is highly drug resistant.


The researchers used samples of


the pathogen taken from 16 infected cystic fibrosis patients and tested the new drug combination to discover how much was required to kill the bacteria. They found the amounts of


amoxicillin-imipenem-relebactam required were low enough to be given safely to patients. Dr Jonathan Cox, lecturer in


Microbiology at Aston University and leader of the team that discovered this new treatment, said: “Our new drug combination is significantly less toxic than those make a huge difference to people whose treatment options are currently limited.”


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