A former graduate of the University of East Anglia has been appointed chief executive of the East of England Development Agency, EEDA. David Marlow will join the agency in October and takes over from Bill Samuel who retires later this year after five years in the role.

A former graduate of the University of East Anglia has been appointed chief executive of the East of England Development Agency, EEDA.

David Marlow will join the agency in October and takes over from Bill Samuel who retires later this year after five years in the role.

His appointment follows that of Norfolk businessman Richard Ellis who, as the EDP reported yesterday, has been named as EEDA's new chairman.

Mr Marlow, who will receive a salary in excess of £100,000 a year, will leave his current role as chief executive of Doncaster Metropolitan Council in south Yorkshire to take up the position.

He has been credited with helping to turn round the fortunes of the council after it was rocked by the so-called "Donnygate" scandal which saw 21 former councillors convicted of expenses fraud following a South Yorkshire police operation launched in 1997.

Mayor of Doncaster, Martin Winter said: "David has played an integral role in Doncaster's resurgence over the past two-and-a-half years and in working with me to transform the Council as identified in our Compre-hensive Performance Assess-ment. David's background and experience both as a development economist and as a chief executive of a large metropolitan authority has resulted in a rare opportunity to become the chief executive of the East of England Development Agency."

As chief executive of Doncaster Council, Mr Marlow headed an organisation with more than 14,500 staff and with a turnover of about £450m a year. He joined the council in 2001 and since then has led one of the four fastest improving councils in the country.

Before moving to Doncaster he was an executive director at Southampton City Council.

Mr Marlow said: "I'm delighted to be joining EEDA and moving to a regional economic development role.

"I studied development economics at the UEA in the early 1980s, and that experience very much set me on a career path of intense interest in economic development.

"I am therefore particularly looking forward to coming back to this region in such a prominent economic devel-opment role, getting to know the East of England of the 21st century, and to developing relationships with partner organisations, businesses and EEDA's Board and staff."

Mr Ellis, EEDA's newly appointed chairman, said: "David brings a wealth of experience to this role and I'm sure he will make a major contribution to the East of England and to EEDA.

"We are looking forward to working together and to making a real difference to the region's economic perfor-mance."