AS job titles go ‘The Immediate Past President of the North East Chamber of Commerce’ is a bit of a gob-full.

As of yesterday that is the official tag applied to Dave Laws, who marked the end of his two year tenure at the head of the region’s leading business membership organisation by handing a gleaming chain of office to Mike Matthews, his successor.

The chain itself consists a series of individual dog tags embossed with the names of presidents long since past. I am not a big fan of pomp and ceremony, and yesterday’s event at Ramside Hall with its hifalutin titles and shiny accoutrements might suggest that NECC, which this year marks its 200th anniversary, is rooted in the past.

Not a bit of it.

I wrote in this column last week about the importance of appointing the right leader.

The NECC has hit the right note by inviting Darlington-born Mr Matthews to become its new President.

His recent predecessors - Mr Laws, a former fireman and union leader, and Northumbrian Water’s John Mowbray - both had reputations as down-to-earth, plain-speaking people who worked hard to help connect the Chamber with its members.

Mr Matthews is cut from the same cloth.

“I am a Darlington lad, I came from a working class background and I am proud of that. I want to see more people with that kind of background get a better start in life,” he told me yesterday.

The former Phoenix Tubemans apprentice toolmaker is a passionate advocate of skills, training and apprenticeships, but he understands that businesses must also do their bit by helping to nurture young talent.

As boss of Stockton car parts maker Nifco he has led a firm on the verge of administration into one of the shining lights of North-East engineering that is in the process of scouring Tees Valley for a location to build its third new factory in four years. The firm is regularly cited by government ministers as the kind of go-ahead advanced manufacturer they would love to see in every town.

But most of all, in the dealings that I have had with him, Mr Matthews has shown boundless energy and a determination to defy anyone who says that something cannot be done. By the time he himself adopts the moniker 'Immediate Past President' he should have left an even bigger impression on the region's business community.

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