Speakers
The conference will hear from a range of senior voices from across the public and private sector, including an international perspective. Further details on speakers will be added to the website shortly, in the meantime, please contact Natasha Wildman for further details natasha.wildman@neilstewartassociates.co.uk
Speaker details to date:
Sir Michael Lyons 
Sir MICHAEL LYONS was Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council in 1994-2001, Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire County Council (1990-1994), Wolverhampton MBC (1985-1990), and in 1980-1983 he served as a Birmingham City Councillor. He was knighted for services to local government in 2000. He is a non-executive director of Mouchel Parkman, Wragge & Co and SQW. He was Professor of Public Policy of Birmingham University (2001-2006) and Deputy Chair of the Audit Commission from 2003 - 2006. Sir Michael is also Chair of the English Cities Fund.
Richard Lambert
Director-General CBI
Having studied history at Balliol College, Oxford, Richard joined the Financial Times in 1966. He edited the Lex column in the 1970s, becoming financial editor in 1979. In 1982 he moved to New York as the bureau chief, returning to the UK a year later as deputy editor. He became editor of the Financial Times in 1991 and during his 10 years in this role launched the US version of the newspaper.
From August 2002 Richard spent a semester at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was subsequently asked to write the Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration.
In Spring 2003 Richard became a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. He has been Director-General of the CBI since 1 July 2006.
Richard is a trustee of the British Museum, a member of the UK-India Roundtable and the Franco-British Colloque.
He is married to Harriet and has two children. He enjoys the theatre, music and galleries.
Michael O'Higgins
Chairman of the Audit Commission
Michael O'Higgins became Chairman of the Audit Commission in October 2006. For the previous ten years, Michael was a Managing Partner with PA Consulting, leading its Government and IT Consulting Groups, latterly as a member of its International Board.
He was previously a partner at Price Waterhouse, worked at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris and held academic posts at the University of Bath, the London School of Economics, Harvard University and the Australian National University. He is also currently the Chair of Centrepoint, having been on the Board of Trustees since 2002, and became a Trustee of the National Centre for Social Research early in 2007.
Sir Howard Bernstein
Chief Executive, Manchester City Council
Moira Gibb CBE,
Chief Executive, London Borough of Camden
Moira joined Camden as Chief Executive in July 2003. Previously she was Executive Director, Housing and Social Services in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. She has worked in a number of local authorities, Ealing, Surrey and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in their Social Services departments in a variety of roles. She worked as a lecturer in social work at the then Preston Polytechnic, now the University of Lancashire. She was also a visiting lecturer at the London School of Economics. Before training as a social worker at Edinburgh University, she was a teacher in the London Borough of Newham and in Brussels.
She is a graduate of Glasgow University. She was President of the Association of Directors of Social Services in 2000/01 and was appointed CBE for Services to Social Services in the 2002 New Years Honours.
She was a member of the Lord Chancellor’s Children Act Advisory Committee and on the Ministerial Advisory Group on Special Educational Needs.
Moira has recently been appointed to the Advisors Board of the UK Centre for the Measurement of Government Activity (UKCeMGA), which has been established to improve the measurement of public services output and productivity.
She is also a member of the Board of the London Marathon and sits on the London Resettlement Board.
She is also a member of the Board of the London Marathon, sits on the London Resettlement Board and is a governor of a primary school.
Nick Pearce,
Director, ippr
Nick Pearce is a regular media commentator on political and social issues and has authored numerous books and papers on education, social justice, immigration and citizenship, the future of the welfare state, and South American politics. He is a member of the Teaching & Learning 2020 Review Group, the Welfare Reform Advisory Group to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the UK-India Round Table, and the advisory committee for the Nuffield Review of 14-19 Education & Training. He is also a trustee of Crime Concern.
Nick was formerly a Special Adviser to David Blunkett at the Home Office (2001- 2003), where he led work on migration, asylum and citizenship, and at the Department for Education & Employment (1999 – 2001), where he worked on further and higher education, skills policy, and asset based welfare, including the original ideas for the Child Trust Fund.
Barry Quirk
Chief Executive
London Borough of Lewisham
Barry has been CE at Lewisham since 1994. He has worked in local government for almost 30 years: with experience in five London Councils as an officer and, in the mid-1980s, a sixth as an elected politician. He has a PhD in social and political geography and for the past eight years he has been a Visiting Fellow in Social Policy & Politics at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
In 2004 and as part of the Spending Review (CSR 2004), Barry was appointed as the national “efficiency champion” for local government. Barry is currently Chairman of SOLACE (the national association for local government chief executives).
He was awarded a CBE in the 2001 New Years Honours list for services to local government in London. Following a four year term (2002-6) as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of HM Revenues and Customs he serves now on its People Committee.
Steve Freer
Chief Executive
Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)
Steve Freer was appointed as CIPFA’s Chief Executive with effect from February 2000, following a successful career spanning the public and private sectors. He has held senior finance positions with three large local authorities – Birmingham City Council, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire County Councils – and has also worked as a successful management consultant with Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers).
Steve also holds a number of non-executive positions. He is a member of the Boards of the Centre for Public Scrutiny and the Local Government Leadership Centre. He is also non-executive member of the Board and chair of the Audit Committee of the National Audit Office.
Steve was a member of the Balance of Funding Steering Group, chaired by Nick Raynsford MP, which reported in 2004.
Manny Lewis
Chief Executive, LDA
Manny graduated in Law from University College London in 1981 and joined the ILEA as a management trainee, undertaking various roles within their Personnel Services function. He completed a Masters degree in Manpower Planning before moving onto work for Lewisham as their Head of Recruitment & subsequently to Waltham Forest as the Head of Education Personnel. In 1990 he joined Birmingham and was part of the renaissance of that City, working with Michael Lyons and Professor Tim Brighouse as Assistant Director for Education. Manny contributed directly to the highly regarded transformation of educational standards in Birmingham in the nineties and lead the City’s mission to make its schools more representative of Birmingham’s diversity.
In 1997 he moved to Thurrock Council as Head of Personnel & Democratic Services, leading the organisational development of the Council from a small district to a 5000 employee Unitary authority which was a vital step in putting Thurrock at the heart of the regeneration of the Thames Gateway. He led one of the first member cabinet/scrutiny prototypes in advance of the legislation and achieved groundbreaking work on employee health schemes receiving international acclaim. Manny also gained corporate membership of the Institute of Personnel & Development (I.P.D.) at this time, building on the I.P.D. qualification he had obtained in 1991.
In 2001 he was appointed as Executive Director for the GLA to help form London’s new regional government and managed the delivery and set up of Foster’s iconic City Hall. Manny has played a large part, working with the Mayor & the Assembly, in setting up the new organisation and the processes for delivering its strategic objectives. He was seconded to the LDA as Interim Deputy Chief Executive in June 2003 to manage the internal operation of the Agency, successfully masterminding its new corporate plan and budget for the medium term through to 2007 as well as leading the Agency’s change management process.
From 5 January 2004 Manny became Acting Chief Executive of the LDA and was appointed Chief Executive in April 2004, reflecting the Board and the Mayor’s confidence in his leadership of the organisation.
Tony Travers
Director, LSE London
Tony Travers is director of LSE London, a research centre at the London School of Economics. His key research interests include local and regional government and public service reform. He is currently an advisor to the House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee and has recently advised the ODPM Select Committee. He is an Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy. He was a Senior Associate of the Kings Fund from 1999 to 2004, and also a member of the Arts Council’s Touring Panel. From 1992 to 1997, he was a member of the Audit Commission. He was a member of the Urban Task Force Working Group on Finance. He has published a number of books on cities and government, including Failure in British Government The Politics of the Poll Tax (with David Butler and Andrew Adonis), Paying for Health, Education and Housing How does the Centre Pull the Purse Strings (with Howard Glennerster and John Hills) and The Politics of London: Governing the Ungovernable City (published in spring 2004). He also broadcasts and writes for the national press.
David Frost
Director General, British Chambers of Commerce
David Frost was appointed Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce in January 2003.
Prior to this he was Chief Executive of Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce and Business Link.
The British Chambers of Commerce represents over 100,000 businesses through a network of 57 Accredited Chambers of Commerce. The role of the BCC is to promote the interests of British Business and represent the interests of the Chambers of Commerce. A subsidiary company, BCC Enterprises, develops a range of commercial activities for the benefit of Chambers and their members.
David is Chairman of the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship.
He is a Board Member of Ufi/ Learn Direct and also a member of the National Employer Advisory Board for the Reserve Forces
Councillor Peter Jones
Leader, E. Sussex County Council
Born in Birmingham and brought up in Yorkshire, Peter Jones is a graduate of Strathclyde University in Economics and Economic History (1968) and married to Jacqui Lait MP. Peter began his stockbroking career with the Edinburgh firm Wood MacKenzie & Co. before joining London firm Laing and Cruickshank as Partner in Charge of the Financial Sector Operation. He was a star rated analyst in investment research on financial companies. Peter next moved into the institutional and corporate finance side of broking and then became a Managing Director with the Bankers Trust Company of New York where he was engaged principally in international mergers and acquisitions.
In 1997 Peter was elected as a County Councillor for Rye in East Sussex. He was elected Leader of East Sussex County Council in 2001 and again in 2005. He is Chairman of Sussex Police Authority, Deputy Chairman of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) and a Board Member of the Audit Commission. Peter's interests include: politics, reading (especially about history, wine and food and music), walking and boules/petanque.
Ben Page
Chairman, Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute and
Managing Director of Ipsos MORI Public Affairs
Ben Page is Chairman of the 130 strong Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute, and Managing Director of Ipsos MORI Public Affairs. He joined MORI in 1987 after graduating from Oxford University in 1986. A frequent writer and speaker on research and performance management in the public sector, he has directed hundreds of surveys for UK local and national government and large service providers examining quality of life, service delivery, customer care, communications and the democratic deficit.
Since 1992 he has worked closely with ministers and senior policy makers across government, leading on work for Downing Street, the Cabinet Office, the Home Office, ODPM and the Department of Health, as well as a wide range of local authorities and NHS Trusts.
Named one of the "100 most influential people in the public sector" by the Guardian newspaper, Ben was winner of the 2001 British Market Research Association award and the 2005 MRS medal for the best paper published in the International Journal of Market Research. He is a Commissioner of Architecture and the Built Environment at CABE. He sits on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Market Research (IJMR), and of INVOLVE, a charity promoting citizen participation.
He has one son and likes jazz.
