Jürgen Maier is bouncing as he opens the door of his home in south Manchester. After retiring as chief executive of Siemens UK three years ago, the industrialist has been hard at work in his office overlooking the garden of his detached Edwardian home. With Britain’s economy close to recession, a cost of living crisis, global heating, a green transition, Brexit and deep regional divisions, there are plenty of problems he wants to fix.
Having moved the Siemens UK headquarters to Manchester in one of his final acts before retiring, and become vice-chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, Maier is one of the leading voices pushing to level up the UK’s lopsided regional economy.
