WBS alum Paula Deas plans to pass on knowledge that earned her MBE

When she was a little girl Paula Deas dreamed of becoming a newsreader, but happily for the Coventry and Warwickshire business community she went on to champion and support the region’s companies.  

On leaving university she took a temporary job with Coventry City Council and 34 years on she is working to drive the local economy. 

After hearing that she had been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honour's List, she could not tell anyone, not even close family, for at least a month. On collecting the award for services to the West Midlands community in May this year, she discussed her work with the Princess Royal. 

“When you get your MBE, you go into the throne room – it’s very private – and we had a really good chat,” says Paula. “Princess Anne asked about supply chains and the challenges facing the region’s businesses.” 

A Coventry girl born and bred, Paula is an enthusiastic champion of the city “which feels like a town,” and adept at promoting the region’s automotive and digital expertise, and its other assets – from energy innovation hubs through to universities. Whenever she can, too, she will squeeze in a passing reference to that other native son, William Shakespeare.  

“We’re globally renowned,” she says. “We’re at the heart of the automotive and now electrification industry – the birth of the motor car was here.”  

Nearly a million people live within Coventry and Warwickshire, which hosts some 40,000 mostly small businesses. “Close to Birmingham and Wolverhampton, we’re a significant part of UK plc,” says Paula. 

In the 11 years she spent as Deputy Chief Executive at Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP), where she led industrial strategy, she secured more than £330 million of funding and cajoled leaders in the public and private sector to collaborate for growth. 

Back in 2006, a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Sector Leadership and Management at Warwick Business School seemed a natural choice as she reached a career fork in the road.  

“I had to decide whether I was going to fly or stay where I was,” says Paula. “The diploma motivated me to think I could probably push myself a little harder.”  

Warwick Business School felt like home. “My mother-in-law ran the creche at the University for more than 40 years, both my children had jobs there, it’s a big part of the city – it’s in my DNA.  

“But going there as a student, it felt like a personal turning point. It made me think differently about management style and leadership, particularly in public services.”    

Paula says the course supplied the academic building blocks to move beyond her marketing role towards wider responsibilities and executive duties. She credits her subsequent success in part to powerful mentoring from the business school. 

She says: “I had someone who could say ‘have you thought about this? How would you tackle that?’ It definitely helped me step back and reflect.” 

How an Executive Education course can boost a career

Afterwards, the CWLEP role to drive investment seemed a natural step. 

“It’s brilliant to experience the dynamism between different parties – industry, universities and colleges, the voluntary sector – and help influence and shape policy decisions,” she says.  

While she has had to knock heads together from time to time to reach compromises, ultimately private and public players want the same thing – regional equity and prosperity. Lobbying national Government with a single regional voice is powerful. 

“Politicians, businesses, educational institutions, voluntary groups won’t always agree,” says Paula. “What we try to do is the right thing, for the right reason, at the right time, for the right people – you’ve just got to hang on to that.” 

A career high came back in 2016 when she played a key part in creating the West Midlands Combined Authority. “We brought all the business and political leaders together, as a significant step towards wider devolution.” 

At the closure of the CWLEP, she responded with typical pragmatism, and now she brokers business partnerships at Coventry City and Warwickshire County Council.  

“You just have to take the best of what you know and apply it to the next thing that comes along,” says Paula. “The CWLEP brand has gone, but we’re still engaging with businesses, with universities and colleges.”  

Nor is she ready to take her foot off the pedal – work remains a key to her identity.  

She adds: “I’ve always been a full-time working person and I don’t want to stop. There is a saying ‘you earn, you learn, and you share’, and I’d love to be able to pass on my experience.” 

The Postgraduate Diploma in Public Sector Leadership and Management is no longer taught, so take a look at our many Executive Education courses instead.