Director

Rod Spires is a director and co-founder of PACEC, with some 30 years of experience in economic development, regeneration and planning. He is a specialist in the formulation of strategic policy and the evaluation and appraisal of programmes and initiatives. His clients have included the EU, central government departments and their agencies, regional development organisations, local authorities and their partners, and the private sector.

Rod’s policy evaluation work has focussed on innovation and knowledge transfer, business performance, inward investment, labour market development and skills, physical regeneration and community development. He has developed and applied advanced methodologies and techniques to measure the economic and social impacts of programmes, including both quantitative and qualitative impacts, cost effectiveness, cost-benefit analysis, and value for money assessments.

His strategy development expertise includes regional and local economic development and regeneration, sectors and clusters, skills strategies, and planning/land use reviews. Key themes include enterprise, business growth and innovation, labour markets, site development and infrastructure, and inward investment. He has developed and applied techniques to assess opportunities and the issues to be addressed by policies and initiatives. Key outputs are deliverable strategies and action plans for implementation drawing on the strengths and resources of partners in the public, community and corporate sectors.

He holds degrees in economics, business growth, and planning. He was Research Fellow at the Department of Land Economy at the University of Cambridge on high-tech business growth and innovation and UK adviser to the Committee for Regional Policy and Innovation at the OECD.

Rod's CV can be downloaded here (PDF).