Cohort 4: Delegate and Facilitator Profiles

Transcription

1 Cohort 4: Delegate and Facilitator Profiles

2 Lead Facilitator, John Atkinson PROFILE John Atkinson is one of the leading practitioners in local government leadership development in England. He has designed and led a wide range of leadership interventions at national and local level. Most notable of these were Total Place and the Leeds Castle Leadership Programme for Elected Mayors/Leaders and Chief Executives. For Total Place, the methodology devised built on previous work with Cumbria, Suffolk and Norfolk County Councils. This work was seen as internationally ground breaking and has been copied in 29 countries around the world. For Leeds Castle the process was based on a design team approach where differing experiences of a core facilitation team, international faculty and the participants were brought together to create a unique and world-leading programme. John has recently become founding partner of Phillips Kay Partnership which focuses on leading change in social settings throughout Europe and the rest of the world using a 'living systems' approach. Facilitator, David Bolger PROFILE David Bolger is an experienced organisational and leadership development consultant and coach. His principal current client is the Local Government Association/Leadership Centre for Local Government. David s career spans some 35 years. In that time he has worked as an Executive and as a consultant in a wide range of settings, both public and private. He first joined the Civil Service as a Fast Stream entrant, and filled policy posts across the then DTI. He was Director of Fast Stream Development at the Civil Service College before joining Price Waterhouse (PW) Management Consultants. With PW he worked extensively in the UK public sector for example with HM Treasury, Benefits Agency, and the Office of Manpower Economics.

3 Transcend Cohort 4 SPONSORING CEOs Clare Marchant, CEO, Worcestershire County Council Clare started her professional life as a management trainee and then Engineering and Production Manager for Rank Hovis McDougall. She then joined Deloitte Consulting where she worked for a variety of clients including Burberry, Abbey, Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Constitutional Affairs, leading large scale, transformation programmes. In 2003 she joined the Department for Health, leading the development and implementation of Choose and Book and Picture Archiving Communication Services across the NHS as part of the National Programme for IT. Having taken a short sabbatical to teach IT in Ghana she returned as Chief Deployment Officer. In 2010 she joined Worcestershire County Council as Head of Change and in 2012 was appointed Assistant Chief Executive with responsibility for leading change across the organisation and the Chief Executive's Unit functions including Marketing, Communications, Research, Performance and Programme Management. Clare was appointed Chief Executive in February 2014 and started in post on 1 st June Her focus since becoming Chief Executive has been on working with the LEP to ensure delivery of our Strategic Economic Plan, supporting delivering of transformation across social care and introducing more commerciality into the organisation. Jim Graham, CEO, Warwickshire County Council Jim Graham took over as Chief Executive of Warwickshire County Council in October Immediately prior to that, he was Chief Executive of the unitary West Berkshire Council from November He started his career in local government in Hampshire in 1974 as a Social Worker, and was Director of Social Services at Plymouth Council from Jim is the Honorary Secretary for the Association of County Chief Executives. He is married with two children.

4 Transcend Cohort 4 SPONSORING CEOs Steve Winterflood, CEO, South Staffordshire District Council After graduating in 1980 Steve s first job in local government was as a planning assistant with South Holland District Council in Lincolnshire. In 1983 he started work with South Staffordshire Council as an Assistant Area Planning Officer in Development Control. Between 1985 and 1999 he worked in various planning jobs with Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council where he was responsible for producing the Council s first Unitary Development Plan. In 1999 he returned to South Staffordshire Council as the Head of Strategic Development Services and in May 2004 he became the Council s first Deputy Chief Executive. Steve became Chief Executive at South Staffordshire Council 5 years ago. He is currently Vice Chair of Improvement & Efficiency West Midlands and takes a keen interest in customer satisfaction, service improvement and value for money. In the face of the Government cut backs announced at the end of 2010, Steve and his team prepared a strategy to reduce the Council s budget by almost a third by 2015 while at the same time improving services. The strategy known as the Transformation Delivery Plan was successfully completed in November 2012 and as important, the Council has managed to improve a range of services resulting in an approval rating from our customers of 83%. Steve and his team are now working up a new and even more ambitious strategy which aims to make South Staffordshire Council financially self-sufficient and no longer reliant on Government grants. Other recent successes, in partnership with Staffordshire County Council and Wolverhampton City Council, include persuading Jaguar Land Rover to build their new engine plant in South Staffordshire.

5 Alison McGrory, Head of Income and Awards, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council I have worked at Solihull Council for 16 years after moving here from South Staffordshire District Council and prior to that Hartlepool Borough Council. I really enjoy my job and love working at Solihull Council where I have been given a number of development opportunities over the years. I am currently working with our new Chief Executive Nick Page on a functional review of the organisation. My day job involves being responsible for the collection of income from Council Tax, Business Rates, our local Bid and Sundry Debtors. I am also responsible for the payment of Awards, Grants and Benefits such as Housing and Council Tax Benefit, Disabled Facilities Grants, Fairer Charging, Children's Payments and since last year Crisis and Community Care Grants. I am originally from Billingham, Teesside, North East England. I now live in Solihull with my husband Martin and 2 daughters Hannah aged 13 and Isobel aged 7. I am very self motivated, enjoy a challenge and like to get involved in new initiatives. Andrew Johnson, Area Manager, Head of Operational Planning, Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service I joined SFRS as a Fire fighter 23 years ago and have had numerous roles within the Service since. Over the last 10 years I have been heavily involved in supporting, and more recently leading on, the Service s change programme, which has involved consulting on an almost annual basis, with our staff, Members of the Fire Authority, the public and other stakeholders on many different issues. With pressure from budget reductions being keenly felt by all public services, this last year has involved exploring options to potentially close fire stations, remove fire engines and combine our Fire Control with other services, which resulted in significant concerns being voiced by those we are here to serve. Having recently spent nearly a year in a temporary Executive role within SFRS, I am looking forward to sharing my experiences and furthering my awareness of the challenges facing other public services, both to support improvement within SFRS and also within myself. I have been married to Pat for 25 years and we have a 17 year old daughter, Chloe, who I am in the process of teaching to drive so no stress there! I have been a school governor for a number of years and in my spare time I enjoy reading, both for leisure and for professional development purposes. I also enjoy watching ice hockey and baseball, as well as going to the cinema with Chloe and dancing to Northern Soul with Pat.

6 Andrew Jones, Deputy CEO and Monitoring Officer, Warwick District Council I have been employed with WDC for twelve years having arrived as Benefits Manager, moving to a Head of Service role until arriving in my current position as Deputy Chief Executive & Monitoring Officer in April At one time and another, I have overseen most of the functions of a District Council. WDC is very much focussed on promoting the Prosperity and Housing agendas and as part of the Council s senior leadership team, I have played a key role in this bringing forward significant housing schemes and sponsoring regeneration projects. It will be fascinating to learn from the experience of other senior leaders in these areas. I have worked previously at North West metropolitan and city Councils (Wirral and Liverpool) and it has been insightful to compare the challenges associated with such areas as against a relatively prosperous shire Council in the Midlands. I live in a small village outside Warwick with my wife and daughter (two boys flown the nest!) and take full advantage of what the unspoilt countryside has to offer. My outside interests include cycling, music and Liverpool Football Club. Bill Hunt, Deputy Chief Council, Warwick District Council I started my working life in the voluntary sector as a welfare rights advisor before moving into local government as a housing officer. I spent 10 years with Coventry City Council then moved to a Housing Association before joining WDC as Head of Housing. I hung up my housing boots after moving into my current role 5 years ago. I m married, with grown up kids who have all left home. Mad keen Coventry City fan and birdwatcher. Tweet

7 Christine Whitehead, Assistant Director Adult Services, Stoke City Council I am a qualified social worker and have worked in the public sector for 30 years, initially in the Probation Service which I left in 2004 to join Social Services at Birmingham City Council. I have been an AD in Adult Social Care for 7 years; 3 years in Staffordshire and 4 years in my current post. I am driven by the desire to improve the lives of the most vulnerable in society and committed to the traditional values of public service, integrity, equity and accountability. I believe strong and effective leadership is the single most critical factor to organisational success and look forward to working with colleagues in Transcend to reflect, learn and develop. I live in Sutton Coldfield (north Birmingham) and am married with two grown up daughters. I enjoy running, live music and box sets (currently House of Cards). Karen Curtin, Commercial Director, Cherwell District Council A highly motivated and innovative professional with 19 years significant experience across a number of European markets; public, private, local government and third sector organisations involving single entities, alliances and joint venture governance arrangements. A qualified accountant (don t hold that against me!) with excellent commercial acumen, interpersonal skills and a customer focussed approach to service delivery. I have taken a key role in the development of shared working between Cherwell District Council, South Northamptonshire and latterly with Stratford District Council. This has included developing business cases, identifying services for sharing, leading on ICT, Finance, and Procurement integrations and developing governance models. In my current role I am leading on delivering growth in Bicester. Projects include an Eco Town of 6000 homes and a substantial self build project at Graven Hill where the Council has set up a commercial vehicle to build a new community of 1900 self build homes and significant commercial space. I have a driving passion for securing business improvement, promoting best practice and delivery. I thrive on challenge and making a difference. I like to challenge the status quo and look to find new innovative solutions that enhance public service for service users, employees and the public purse. I believe it is these skills and enthusiasm that will be needed to create sustainable public sector entities that deliver quality public services and I look forward to working with likeminded professionals during the Transcend Leadership programme.

8 Kate Bailey, Strategic Housing Service Manager, Wyre Forest District Council. I currently work for a District Council in a two tier county and cover services including Health, Sustainability, Housing and Watercourses and Flooding. We also provide some of these services to three other council s in the county. I have worked in the housing sector for various urban and rural authorities since leaving Bristol University, where I undertook a post-graduate diploma in Housing. I have undertaken a variety of roles including in housing management, housing advice and homelessness and private sector housing and have completed a MSc in Management Learning and Oganisational Development which has helped me throughout my career. Like all Local Government organisations we are currently facing some significant challenges as demands from the public increase and resources are cut. I would like to see how peers from the Transcend programme meet these challenges and to learn from their experience. The council I currently work for is currently using a systems thinking approach as a way of addressing some of the issues we face and we have found this to be beneficial particularly in the frontline work we do around supporting benefit claimants. I moved to the West Midlands for work nearly 20 years ago and have since got married and raised a family here so feel very settled in this area. Kevin Hubery, Head of Strategic Policy Birmingham City Council I was appointed to my current post in October Currently I am responsible for: managing the Strategic Policy Team, supporting the Council Leader, including the delivery of the Leader s Policy Statement and overseeing the Corporate Leadership Team arrangements, I also take part in service reviews for two years leading the Health and Adult Social Care reviews in addition reviews of regulatory services, economic development and arts and culture. I am also building a Policy Community of council and non-council policy expertise within and outside the city, to contribute to our priority policy areas as expressed in a new Prospectus. I graduated from Sheffield City Polytechnic with a BA in Urban Studies in 1987, joining Dudley MBC as a trainee Economic Development Officer. I moved to Coventry City Council in 1989, working on Economic Development research and policy. I completed my part-time Master of Social Science degree in Economic Development and Policy at the University of Birmingham in I moved to Birmingham City Council in 1999, initially continuing my work in Economic Development Policy. I joined the City Council s Corporate Strategy Team in In 2013 I completed an Institute of Leadership and Management qualification in Strategic Leadership in Modern Local Government. Outside work I am a parent governor at my younger son s primary school and chair of governors at my older son s secondary academy.

9 Neeraj Sharma, Director of Legal and Governance Services, Sandwell MBC I am a member of Sandwell Council s Management Board with shared responsibility for the delivery of all of the council s priorities. I contribute to the corporate leadership of the authority. I have personal accountability for the leadership of Legal Services, Governance Services, Elections, Bereavement Services and Registration Services. I support and advise my officers in their managerial and operational roles. I am the Council Monitoring Officer and also the Clerk and Monitoring Officer to the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service. I qualified as a solicitor in 1987 and have worked in local government throughout my career. I have been at Sandwell Council since I also hold a Masters in Public Administration postgraduate degree from Warwick University. Notwithstanding the difficult financial circumstances I do my best to ensure that there are sufficient resources to ensure that corporate governance and ethical governance processes are robust. Similarly with so many decisions within the public sector being legally challenged I provide advice to senior officers on how to achieve lawful decisionmaking. Nigel Kletz, Assistant Director, Procurement, Birmingham City Council I joined BCC in 2009 with responsibility for Commissioning, Procurement and Contract Management across the Council. In this role I ve led delivery of value through implementing best practices, improving engagement with the local SME business community, internal customers and elected members and significantly improved compliance to sector leading performance level. I recently led the implementation of Commissioning & Contract Management Centres of Excellence across the Council which has increased focus on effective contract management and is enabling the development and adoption of innovative delivery options to support new organisations emerging from the Council. As the Council lead for social value, we developed and implemented the Birmingham Business Charter for Social Responsibility including the Birmingham Living Wage across the supply chain with over 100 organisations signing up in its first year. This year I ve taken on responsibility for ICT: managing the Council s JV with Capita Service Birmingham leading negotiations to deliver significant savings as well ICT governance and strategy. I have recently launched an ICT Improvement Programme. I chair the National Advisory Group for Local Government Procurement and represent the West Midlands. The group published the National Procurement Strategy for Local Government this July. Outside of work I spend most of my time with my children aged 12, 11 and 9, or cycling which is my main way of keep fit and commuting 12 miles to & from work in the summer!

10 Pete Fahy, Assistant Director, Coventry City Council For a job I'm Assistant Director (Commissioning and Transformation) for the People Directorate in Coventry City Council. This role places me at the heart of the challenges facing the biggest directorate within the City Council and a key contributor to the change programme required across the City in the years to come. Although achieving financial sustainability is never far from people s minds I see my role as much about finding and implementing improvement as it is about the money. I'm Coventry through and through - born there, live there, worked there for 17 years and held around 9 different roles with the present one being the longest at 2.5 years. Previous roles include Human Resources for approx 7 years, and Commissioning for approx 8 years. In a distant past I also did a spell as an Estate Agent. When not at work you can generally find me pounding the streets in a pair of trainers and shorts (all weathers). Other personal stuff - not married but long term partner, no kids, 41 years old. Robert Weeks, Head of Environment and Planning, Stratford on Avon District Council I started my local government career as an Environmental Health Officer with Birmingham City Council but shortly after qualifying I moved to SDC where I have enjoyed many roles in most of the Council's front line services. I have been in my current role for four years and whilst this role includes some familiar services there are some new areas which have and do provide a challenge. This role includes Environmental Health, Licensing, Community Safety, CCTV and Planning. In my more reflective moments I feel lucky to be involved with Planning at District Council level at this unique moment in time, although there are other moments.. Praise be for the NPPF!! Prior to this post I was Head of Environmental Services. This included Environmental Health, Licensing, refuse and recycling, street cleaning and grounds maintenance. This role provided my first exposure to the joy of multi million pound contract renewal and the pleasure of changing every resident s reuse and recycling service. For those who have done likewise, we will have similar scars. My first Head of Service role was that of Environmental Health and Housing This included the Council s Housing and Homeless services and delivery of the affordable housing programme. I have completed a number of management training courses previously and I am sure that each has helped my career progress to date. The Transcend Programme offers me the opportunity to learn practically from the experts in public service around me on and supporting the programme.

11 Shaun Alexander, Environmental Services Manager, South Staffordshire District Council Professionally I have a broad mix of public and private sector experience. This includes working across a number of industries such as chemical, nuclear and pharmaceutical and working within a City and District Council setting. I currently manage 30 people in the delivery of environmental services. I am part of an income generation group which is working strategically to ascertain new commercial opportunities for the Council to generate additional income, allowing the Council to become self-sufficient into the future. Personally I am interested in making a difference to individuals and the community and the challenges that working within local government brings on a daily basis. Career-wise, I have accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience that can be utilised to lead and direct staff to achieve their goals and aspirations. My career choices are about not standing still, but seeking new challenges. I am keen to influence at a Senior Level and believe that there are opportunities to both locally through working relationships with local Members, escalating to MP s and strategically to work within a County and national context. Participating in Transcend will add a different dimension by working with colleagues across authorities to learn and bring back the learning into the authority and seeking to influence the future of Government thinking. Tara Malik, Strategy and Change - Service Manager, Sandwell MBC I have worked in Local Government for the last 15 years, starting my career at Northampton Council, then moving to Blackpool Council and the last 9 years I have spent my time here at Sandwell. I am driven by improving the lives of people of Sandwell by actively shaping the future direction of the council and challenging the way we do things. I feel very privileged to work in the public sector - making a difference to people and doing the right thing is what motivates me. I live in Kings Heath, Birmingham and have two very young children (five and one) which keeps me very busy when I'm not at work!