New chair of Rochdale Place

Gohar Khan

Gohar Khan has been named as the new chair of the Rochdale Place board, a cross-sector initiative led by businesses, with support from public and voluntary sector partners.

Set up in 2021, Rochdale Place is part of Business in the Community, which is leading a movement to create a fair and sustainable world in which to live and work, in addition to delivering skills for local employability needs.

Mr Khan, a partner at the accountancy firm KPMG based in Manchester, takes over from Jenny Moten, who was chair since 2021.

Rochdale Place works to support communities across the borough by tackling local issues impacting residents and driving sustainable change through business leadership and support.

To date, the board has supported community groups with donations of laptops and clothing, and brokered speakers and programmes into schools to show how applicable learned skills can be in the workplace.

More recently, the board started a network designed to support small businesses in the borough, and established the Rochdale Asian Business Network.

Gohar Khan, chair of the Rochdale Place board, said: “I’m delighted to be leading the Rochdale Place board, and I’m looking forward to working with other board members to scale up our efforts to support communities across Rochdale.

“I believe we have the determination, passion and skills to really help make a difference in Rochdale, especially with the new plans for jobs in Atom Valley and the Northern Gateway.

“We want to drive collective action with all stakeholders in Rochdale to deliver real change for people that live and work in the borough.”