A multi-award-winning Coventry businesswoman has been appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands.
Fleur Sexton, who is the reigning UK Businesswoman of the Year 2017/18, is managing director and co-founder of PET-Xi Training, whose talented teams and innovative programmes upskill people in the workplace and students in schools across the UK.
She has been appointed by John Crabtree OBE, the Lord-Lieutenant of the West Midlands.
Deputy Lieutenants support the Lord-Lieutenant in representing Her Majesty The Queen and are also required to fulfil the role and a number of other duties in promoting voluntary, charitable and youth activities and supporting the region. The West Midlands Lieutenancy comprises of Coventry, Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton.
Fleur said she was honoured to be representing the West Midlands which is the second largest lieutenancy in the country.
“I am proud and humbled to have been chosen to be a Deputy Lieutenant and this will be a wonderful opportunity to support the fantastic civic, ceremonial, voluntary, charitable and social activities taking place throughout the region,” she said.
“The profile of the West Midlands keeps rising on a national and international scale following Coventry winning the bid to be UK City of Culture in 2021 and Birmingham hosting the Commonwealth Games a year later.
“When you add the diverse and high number of businesses ranging from SMEs to global companies that are based here and our location at the heart of the UK, the West Midlands is a great place to live and work.”
Fleur set-up PET-Xi Training in 1995 and the business, which has its headquarters at Westwood Business Park in Coventry, has now worked with 150,000 students in schools across the UK to help improve their GCSE results.
They have recently pioneered a UK-wide “Upskilling the Nation” scheme for unemployed and homeless adults, helping them to return to the workplace and society, and an apprenticeship scheme to help young people gain vital skills, experience and qualifications in the world of work while helping employers to raise standards and close the skills gap.
She added: “This 12 months just keeps on getting better and better after winning a number of awards including the UK Businesswoman of the Year title.
“Being a Deputy Lieutenant means I will have the opportunity to represent Her Majesty The Queen at events throughout the West Midlands and highlight the diverse communities we have throughout the region.
“I am really looking forward to starting my new role which fits in with PET-Xi Training’s vision of everyone having a place in our community, everyone having something to offer and everyone having a place in our society, we sometimes just need to find it.”
Fleur is dedicated to breaking barriers and improving chances, investing much of her time and 10 per cent of the company’s profits into activities, campaigning to Government and employers to invest in skills, motivating women to fulfil their potential and running the PET-Xi Foundation which raises money for young people nationwide.
The mum-of-three runs free childcare for staff children in the six-week school holidays and she is an active board member of Coventry & Warwickshire Champions, Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, Historic Coventry Trust and The NSPCC Business Group.
PET-Xi Training sponsors and actively supports Birmingham Hippodrome, is an Official Education Partner to the Wasps Netball Academy Hubs and is involved in the Wasps Netball team’s STEM project and Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey Community Foundation, and was active bid development sponsors of the successful Coventry City of Culture 2021 bid.