September 18, 2026 - 225 views
An Anglesey businesswoman behind one of North Wales's best-known international brands has been appointed to a panel helping design a new economic development agency for Wales.
Alison Lea-Wilson MBE, co-founder of Halen Môn, is one of 11 business experts who will advise the Welsh Government on the form and role of the proposed agency.
The panel is being asked to help develop an organisation intended to support business growth, innovation and investment, as part of a wider ambition to halve the productivity gap between Wales and the rest of the UK within ten years. Its members will work in an unpaid capacity and are expected to produce an interim report early next year.
For North Wales, Alison Lea-Wilson brings experience of building a business around a distinctly local product and taking it into international markets.
She and her husband David started Halen Môn on Anglesey in the 1990s, initially making sea salt from water taken from the Menai Strait. What began on a family Aga has developed into an internationally recognised food and drink brand, with the company's salt now exported around the world.
Halen Môn's sea salt was awarded Protected Designation of Origin status in 2014, protecting its identity as sea salt harvested from the Menai Strait. The company has also won numerous awards, including the Queen's Award for Enterprise for sustainable development in 2017, and became a certified B Corp in 2023.
The business now employs more than 20 people and has exported to more than 15 countries, with its products supplied to major businesses including Waitrose and Marks & Spencer. Its salt has also been used by leading chefs and restaurants, while the company's visitor centre at Brynsiencyn has added a tourism element to the business.
Alison's experience extends beyond Halen Môn. Before concentrating on the salt business, she and David were involved in creating and running Anglesey Sea Zoo, which attracted around 2.5 million paying visitors over 23 years and employed more than 250 people. Alison was responsible for areas including retail, catering, human resources and training.
She is also a former Deputy Chair of the Food and Drink Wales Industry Board and has worked with business clusters and start-ups. She was appointed a Department for Business and Trade Export Champion and received an Outstanding Contribution Award at the Wales Food and Drink Awards in 2023.
Other members of the new panel bring experience from some of Wales's largest and most internationally significant businesses.
Oriel Petry, Senior Vice President of Airbus UK, brings experience of industrial strategy, international investment and advanced manufacturing. Airbus's major UK manufacturing operation at Broughton in Flintshire is one of the most significant industrial employers in North Wales, although Petry herself is listed by Airbus as being based in London.
The panel also includes La-Chun Lindsay, who previously led GE Aviation Wales. Lindsay lived in Wales while running the company's operation and became its first female managing director. She was later appointed a Welsh Government Envoy, helping promote Wales internationally.
The wider panel includes senior figures from finance, technology, energy, manufacturing and the workforce, including Sarah Williams-Gardener, a founding member of Starling Bank and Chair of FinTech Wales; former Subsea7 chief executive John Evans; venture capitalist and Capital One co-founder Nigel Morris; and TUC Cymru General Secretary Laura Doel.
The aim is for the panel to look at what a new development agency should actually do and how it should work with businesses and other organisations across Wales.
The Welsh Government says the panel will engage with a wider range of voices from the Welsh economy rather than working in isolation. The proposed agency is expected to have a particular role in helping businesses start, grow and attract investment, while improving productivity across the Welsh economy.
For North Wales, the appointment of Alison Lea-Wilson provides a direct link to the experience of smaller, rural and place-based businesses — and to the potential for a company rooted in a local natural resource to develop an international market while retaining its base in the region.
