A BUSINESS-minded woman with a long background in events management will be joining the team of Tavistock Business Improvement District (BID) as its new manager.

Janna Sanders, from Peter Tavy, will be officially welcomed as the new BID manager next week and is looking forward to her new role.

Janna worked for many years for the Associated Press in London providing television events management and managing broadcasting facilities for huge events such as the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton and the Chilean miners’ rescue.

She also set up Tavy Ales with her husband and brother, which they sold in 2015 and most recently she worked for the charity ShelterBox.

She was ‘born and bred’ in Tavistock and is mother to two young girls.

Her family has strong links with the community as her father Ken Sanders was mayor of the town for several years and her mother Jenny is involved with a number of groups in the town.

Janna hopes her working experience will greatly help her in her new role.

‘I have a background in events management and I also ran my own business in Tavistock,’ she said.

‘My local trading experience will hopefully let me see things from a trader’s perspective.

‘I have been following what Tavistock BID has done and I thought the experience I had was quite relevant.

‘I wanted to be able to help the town to flourish.

‘It is a lovely, independent town and I have a young family that will grow up here.’

Janna said it was very early days but when her position started next week she would be going out, introducing herself and getting to know people.

‘I intend to speak to the traders to see what their concerns and desires are outside of the business plan.

‘It is about what the traders want and what more BID can do to help them.

‘Coming from a village that feeds Tavistock, you do have a choice about where to shop — Tavistock is closest but Okehampton is not far away — so I want to see what we can do to encourage the villages within the catchment to make Tavistock their first port of call.’

Janna will officially start in her new role on Tuesday (June 5) and has taken over the post from former manager Lisa Piper.

BID chairman Robin Rich said: ‘She brings to the post new skillsets and will take up the mantle that Lisa created.

‘We are lucky to have Janna — these are exciting times with a new manager that is enthusiastic and has a wealth of experience.

‘She comes across as unflappable and is very diplomatic — we are pleased that she has accepted the post and she stood out.

‘We did have strong applicants and all were very good, with different strengths and weaknesses, but Janna came across as the best candidate.’