Live discussion: what makes a good council chief executive?
Author: The Guardian, Local Government Network |
Senior Policy Officer at Localis, Steven Howell, participated in a Guardian online debate about how the role of the local government chief executive is changing.
Other participants included:
Donna Hall was appointed as Wigan council’s chief executive in February 2012, having been deputy chief executive since August 2011. Prior to this Donna was chief executive at Chorley and Wyre councils.
David McNulty is chief executive of one of the biggest local authorities in the country, Surrey county council.
Tom Riordan is chief executive of Leeds city council. Previously Tom was chief executive at regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.
Hilary Thompson is the Office for Public Management’s chief executive and was formerly a senior local government officer. OPM works with chief executives in councils to help them lead effectively.
Mick Kent is chief executive of Bromford Group. As chief executive for 28 years, Mick has a passion for inspiring people to achieve extraordinary things and encouraging colleagues to be innovative and brave.
Michael Coughlin is executive director for leadership, improvement, pay, workforce and productivity at the LGA. Michael was formerly chief executive at Reading and Crawley councils.
Sir Bill Taylor was leader of Blackburn with Darwen council in 2001 and 2011. He was also part of the award winning council of the year process.
John Atkinson was managing director of the Leadership Centre for Local Government where he oversaw the Leeds Castle programme for leaders and chief executives. John was also a director in KPMG’s local government practice.
Click here to read the full debate
Click here to read a round up of the debate