Our people

Rt Hon Peter Riddell

Peter took up the Directorship at the Institute for Government on 1st January 2012. He was previously a Senior Fellow at the Institute and divided his time here with his work for the Detainee Inquiry, a privy counsellor panel looking at whether the British Government was implicated in the improper treatment of detainees held by other countries (a role from which he resigned at the end of last year to concentrate on the IfG). At the Institute, he co-authored reports on Transitions and Ministerial Effectiveness and has been closely involved in work on political and constitutional reform. Until mid-2010, Peter was a journalist for nearly 40 years, split between the Financial Times and The Times, where he had been their domestic political analyst and commentator. He has been a regular broadcaster, has written seven books and delivered frequent lectures. He chairs the Hansard Society, a non-partisan charity which promoters understanding of Parliament and representative democracy. He will be stepping down from this role in the next few months. Peter has received two honorary doctorates of literature, is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, an Honorary Fellow of the Political Studies Association and was one of the first recipients of the President’s medal of the British Academy. He was appointed to the Privy Council in July 2010 in order to serve on the Detainee Inquiry.

Zoe Gruhn

Zoe joined the Institute in December 2008 as the Director of Learning and Development. She was previously with HSBC where she was Global Head of Leadership & Learning for Global Finance. Prior to that, she was Head of Leadership Transformation Services and then Head of the Executive and Team Coaching Practice at Hay Group. She has extensive experience of working at senior levels across the public and private sectors including top team and leadership development and coaching CEOs, board members and government ministers.

She has been a visiting fellow at Cranfield University for ten years and a visiting lecturer at the University of Reading. She ran leadership workshops at the World Economic Forum and has a strong interest in providing fresh perspectives and approaches to developing leadership capability.

Zoe is currently working on the research and development of politicians for the Institute. She has recently co-authored a publication on The Challenges of being a Minister and on the impact of NEDs on Whitehall Boards. See Zoe's Leadership for Government and Politics blogs.

Julian McCrae

Julian joined the Institute in July 2009. Prior to that, he was one of the Deputy Directors at the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, leading its work on social mobility, welfare policies and economics. While at the unit, among other things Julian led the process spanning 11 government departments that culminated in the 2009 New Opportunities White Paper, and ran Tony Blair's Fundamental Savings Review. His other experience in government includes two spells in the Treasury, and as a special adviser at the Department for Work and Pensions.

Julian started his career at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, where he spent eight years. His work there included numerous publications on the UK's personal taxation and welfare system. He also led the Institute's research programme on corporate taxation and business investment issues and taught public economics at University College London. Finally Julian worked at Frontier Economics, one of the UK's leading economic consultancies, where he helped expand the public policy practice. Read Julian's blog

Tom Gash

Tom joined the Institute in January 2008. He leads the Institute’s work on public service reform, looking at contemporary innovations in the UK and worldwide. Tom is particularly interested in assessing the impact of changes to government accountability arrangements (for example, the introduction of elected mayors) and attempts to incentivise public service innovation and efficiency (for example, through more flexible contracting structures). Tom also leads the Institute’s international projects, having previously worked as a consultant to governments in Europe and the Middle East.

Tom was previously a senior crime policy adviser in Tony Blair’s Strategy Unit and a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. Tom remains passionate about government crime policy and continues to contribute widely to public debates on crime and justice issues in a personal capacity. His book on crime policy Unusual Suspects will be published in 2012.

Jill Rutter

Jill joined the Institute as a Whitehall secondee in September 2009 and was co-author of the Institute's report on arm's length bodies, Read Before Burning (July 2010). She has also been part of the better policy making project. Before joining the Institute for Government, Jill was Director of Strategy and Sustainable Development at Defra.

Prior to that she worked for BP for six years, following a career in the Treasury, where she was Press Secretary, Private Secretary to the Chief Secretary and Chancellor, as well as working on areas such as tax, local government finance and debt and export finance. She spent two and a half years seconded to the No.10 Policy Unit (1992-94) where she oversaw health, local government and environment issues. Read Jill's blog

Peter Thomas

Peter leads the Institute's work on Transforming Whitehall, working closely with senior leaders in Whitehall as they strive to make Whitehall better and different – not just cheaper.

He joined from the Ministry of Justice where he was Director of Strategy and Change – helping the Ministry develop a strategy to transform justice whilst reducing the cost of the Ministry by 25%.

Previously he was Director of the Capability Review programme in the Cabinet Office. He led the project from its inception to implementation.

Other roles include Director then interim Head of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit.

Kate Blatchford

Kate joined the Institute in December 2009 after graduating from her MSc in Public Management and Governance at the London School of Economics in September 2009. Her research interests include methods of public participation in public service design.

Liz Carolan

Liz's work at the Institute is focused on the international comparison of ministers, cabinets and parliamentary opposition and the role of senior experts in the development of policy. She is also involved in the creation of learning and development products, which are based on research carried out by the Institute. Previously, Liz spent a number of years carrying out research and development work with civil society and academic organisations in Ireland, the Balkans and Australia. She holds a postgraduate degree in comparative politics from the London School of Economics.

Dr Catherine Haddon

Catherine is a professional historian whose doctoral dissertation was on Whitehall and Cold War defence. As well as working as an academic, she has been involved in research for a number of high profile publications, museum and corporate projects. She has co-authored the Institute’s publications Making Minority Government Work (PDF, 3.3MB) and Transitions - Preparing for changes of Government (PDF, 3.3MB). She was instrumental in helping the Civil Service understand the importance of preparation for a hung parliament.

Miguel Coelho

Miguel joined the institute in November 2011. He leads the Institute’s work on economic growth in partnership with the London School of Economics and Political Science. The ongoing “LSE Growth Commission in partnership with the Institute for Government” aims to provide the authoritative contribution to the formulation and implementation of a long-term growth strategy in the UK.

Miguel is an economist with extensive experience of working and influencing policy-focused environments. He has played a variety of roles at the heart of Government (providing advice to the Treasury, the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, and No10); in Government departments (as a strategy advisor to the Department for Education); outside Government, as a leading economist in the Institute for Public Policy Research, an advisor to foreign think tanks, and an economics commentator in the international media.

Miguel’s research interests lie in the drivers of income determination and growth; the economics of the welfare state; and the political economy of redistribution.

Jonathan McClory

Jonathan joined the Institute in February 2009. His work has focused on governance arrangements in Whitehall departments, the role of special advisers, and strategic reform of central government. His current research includes transformational change in the civil service and incorporating soft power into public diplomacy and foreign policy strategies. Jonathan graduated from the University of Michigan with a dual degree in economics and political science. He also holds a MSc in International Public Policy from University College London. Read Jonathan's blog

James Page

James leads the Institute’s work on transforming departments as the Civil Service seeks to make major savings following the Spending Review. James also works on Transforming the Civil Service, was an author for IfG’s report System Error: Fixing the Flaws in Government IT and contributor to Whitehall Monitor. 

Previously, James worked on public service reform at Demos and the Department for Education and Skills Innovation Unit. He then spent five years in consulting at GHK Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers. James is also a school governor at a primary school in Haringey. Read James’ blog

Akash Paun

Akash joined the Institute in September 2008. He has worked on research projects looking at performance management in public services, the organisation and management of the civil service, and the impact of a hung parliament on Westminster and Whitehall. He is currently leading the Institute’s work on coalition government. 

Prior to joining the Institute, Akash spent four years as a researcher at the Constitution Unit, University College London, where he specialised in devolution and parliamentary reform. Read Akash's blog

Sam Sims

Sam joined the Institute in September 2010. Prior to this he worked as a researcher on the book Brown at 10, co-authored by Anthony Seldon and Guy Lodge. Sam has been involved across the Institute for Government's work on directly Elected Mayors and has also contributed to two projects in the Better Policy Making workstream. Sam graduated from Oxford University in 2010 with a degree in politics, philosophy and economics. Read Sam's blog
 

Justine Stephen

Justine joined the Institute in May 2010. Prior to this she was consultant with Deloitte within their Technology Integration practice working on projects across the public and private sector. Building on this technology experience, she co-authored the Institute’s report on government IT, System Error. Justine has a strong interest in transparency in the public sector and leads the work on Whitehall Monitor which collates and analyses government data. Justine is also working with several departments, reflecting on their change programmes as part of our departmental transformation work and is part of the team supporting our Transforming the Civil Service programme. Read Justine's blog

Michael Hallsworth

Michael joined the Institute in May 2008. He has conducted cross-government research into organisational behaviour, machinery of government changes, and information technology. His current research focuses on behaviour change and public policy-making. Previously, he was at RAND Europe (a not-for-profit public policy research institute), specialising in futures thinking and performance management. He holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from Cambridge University. Read Michael's blog

Emma Thwaites

Emma joins the Institute from the Cabinet Office, where she was Deputy Director of Strategic Communications. Her projects included handling communications for Building Britain's Future and Smarter Government during the previous administration and the Programme for Government for the Coalition. Prior to this, Emma was Associate Director at the Central Office of Information and the Director of the Media Monitoring Unit. Emma's civil service career followed 12 years as a journalist working in a variety of production and editorial roles in television, radio and online news.

Nadine Smith

Nadine comes to the Institute with 15 years experience in news and PR. Her career began in local radio news and since then she has had extensive experience of working in Whitehall communications departments. She also led the PR functions for three major public inquiries and completed an MA in Journalism. Most recently she was Chief Press Officer and then Head of Strategic Media Campaigns at the Cabinet Office.

Gareth Morgan

Gareth joined the Institute in February 2011 from Penrose where he was Director of Business and Finance. Prior to that, he was Head of Finance at Shelter.

Gareth completed his accountancy training at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and prior to moving into the not-for-profit sector worked in PwC's banking practice. Gareth has extensive experience of working at senior levels across the not-for-profit and private sectors. He has significant experience of charity accounting, regulation and governance.

Gareth will be be working on the development of business and finance controls and budget management and reporting at the Institute, as well as looking at business development opportunities and maintaining strong governance and regulatory compliance.

Loren Austin

Loren joined the Institute in May 2009. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree whilst working part-time as a receptionist at Cigar clothing boutique in Cape Town, South Africa. Loren has a Diploma in Events Management.

Kerry Burkett

Kerry joined the Institute in November 2008 as Executive Assistant to David Halpern and Zoe Gruhn. In November 2010 she transferred to the Events Team. She has a Professional Certificate in Management from Open University. Kerry has over 14 years' experience working with Senior / Board Directors. She has a varied background in Central and Local Government, and has also worked at the BBC and English Heritage.

Ellen Hallsworth

Ellen joined the Institute in June 2011. She has a background in Business and Politics publishing, having previously worked as Commissioning Editor for John Wiley & Sons. At Wiley, she successfully developed a new business publishing programme, managed relationships with leading authors, and built several high-profile partnerships with businesses and non-profit organisations. Prior to that, she was Commissioning Editor for politics & economics books at the independent publisher Zed Books, and Assistant Editor for politics books at Polity.
She holds an MA in Social & Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge.

Candice McKenzie

Candice joined the Institute in June 2011. She has over 10 years experience of working in events departments and receptionist roles for Atlantic Records (Warner Music Group), Defected Records and also Capital Quality (the Investors In People London quality centre). She has extensive experience in organising social / club events and corporate events.

Patricia Mulcahy

Patricia joined the Institute in August 2009 from St Paul's Girls' School, having previously worked in the engineering, communications, construction and financial sectors. She has a degree in History from the Open University, and a long term interest in politics at local and national levels. She is Chair of trustees of Henley on Thames Citizens' Advice Bureau.

Matthew Paterson

Matthew joined the Institute in April 2009. He served a four year apprenticeship in facilities management at a property management company where he gained valuable experience at many established clients such Swiss Air, CB Richard Ellis, Angela Mortimer and Kensington Business Village.

Justina Razac

Justina joined the Institute in May 2011. She graduated from University in 2008 with a BA (Hons) Degree in Business Administration. Before joining the Institute Justina worked at a City Learning Centre, in which she carried out administration, finance and PA based duties.

Lord Bichard of Nailsworth in the County of Gloucestershire

Michael joined the Institute in September 2008.  He was previously Chief Executive of Brent and Gloucestershire Local Authorities and in 1990 became Chief Executive of the Government's Benefits Agency.  In 1995, he was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Employment Department and, subsequently, the Department for Education and Employment.

Michael received a Knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours 1999.  In May 2001, he left the Civil Service. He was appointed Rector of The London Institute, the largest Art and Design Institute in Europe in September 2001, which became University of the Arts, London in May 2004.  In January 2004, he was appointed by the Home Office to chair the Soham/Bichard Inquiry. On 1 April 2005, he became Chair of the Legal Services Commission. Read Michael's blog

Alun Evans

Alun is currently researching the history of private offices and has contributed to a range of Institute projects including on government transitions, policy making and communication.

Alun is a senior civil servant, currently attached to the Cabinet Office.  He has had a wide ranging career in a number of departments, most recently in BIS where he was Head of Strategy and, prior to that, Director General of Science and Research.

Previously he has been Principal Private Secretary to three Secretaries of State. He has also worked at No 10 and for the former Deputy Prime Minister.

Dr David Halpern

David was responsible for the original blueprint for the Institute, and now serves as a Senior Fellow. He was Deputy Director until 8 October 2010 and is currently seconded to both No.10 and the Cabinet Office full time to head the Behavioural Insight Team, and support on the Big Society and wellbeing agendas.

David previously worked as Chief Analyst in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit (2001-2007). He led numerous reviews, including the UK Government's Strategic Audits and recent Policy Reviews; set up the Social Exclusion Task Force and drafted its Action Plan; and authored many of the Strategy Unit's most influential papers, such as on Life Satisfaction and on Personal Responsibility and Behaviour Change.

Before entering government, he held tenure at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Cambridge University, where he still remains an Affiliated Lecturer. He has also held posts at Nuffield College, Oxford; the Policy Studies Institute, London; and as a Visiting Professor at the Centre for European Studies, Harvard.  He has published widely including books on Hidden Wealth of Nations (2009); Social Capital (2005); Options for Britain: a strategic policy review (1996) and Options for a New Britain (2009), and Mental Health and the Built Environment (1995). David's blog

Sir Ian Magee CB

Until 2005, Ian was 2nd Permanent Secretary at the Department for Constitutional Affairs and Head of Profession for Operational Delivery for the whole Civil Service. He has been a CEO of three different Executive Agencies. Ian was a member of the Capability Review team for the Cabinet Office, and has a continuing role in holding the Cabinet Office board to account for progress.

He is a Senior Adviser to Booz & Company, international management consultants, and a non-executive Director of the Live Group PLC.  He has chaired several Top Management Programmes and is an Executive Coach to senior civil servants and others.

Ian conducted reviews of criminality information for the Home Secretary (2008) and the Legal Services Commission for the Justice Secretary (2010). Ian has a special interest in public sector leadership, is a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute, and a Fellow of the Sunningdale Institute.

Ian is co-author of the Institute's studies into Government ICT and Arm's Length Bodies. 

David Albury

David is Co-Chair of The Innovation Unit and an independent consultant and policy adviser specialising in strategies for organisational and system transformation in public services. From 2002 to 2005 he was Principal Adviser in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, where he co-authored the influential report on Innovation in the Public Sector. He works and speaks nationally and internationally on creating the conditions for radical innovation in Governments, national agencies, localities and public service organisations. He is the design and development co-ordinator for the Global Education Leadership Program sponsored by Cisco and the Gates Foundation. He is also a Visiting Professor in Innovation Studies at King's College London.

Sir Michael Barber

Michael Barber is an Expert Partner in McKinsey and Company's Global Public Sector Practice and head of its Global Education Practice. Prior to joining McKinsey he was (from 2001) Chief Adviser on Delivery to the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Between 1997 and 2001, Michael Barber was Chief Adviser to the Secretary of State for Education on School Standards. Prior to joining government he was a Professor at the Institute of Education, University of London.

Dr David Bennett

For the two years following the 2005 General Election until Tony Blair's resignation in 2007, David was the Prime Minister's Head of Policy and Strategy.  Responsible for the Policy Unit in No. 10 and the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, his role was to oversee the development and implementation of domestic policy on the PM's behalf, with a particular focus on public service reform. 

Before working at No. 10 David was a Director with McKinsey & Co.  where he was co-founder of the Firm's European Utilities Practice and of its Global Business Technology Office. 

Currently, David is Chairman of 'The 10 Partnership', a start-up company that provides strategic and operational support to the public sector, and a Non-Executive Director of GHK Holdings, an international consultancy providing policy advice and support to governments and multi-lateral funding agencies around the world. 

Professor Vernon Bogdanor

Vernon Bogdanor CBE is Professor of Government at Oxford University, and a Visiting Professor Law at King's College, London. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, Honorary Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, and a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences. He has been an adviser to a number of governments, including those of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Israel and Slovakia. His latest book, The New British Constitution, was published in 2009. He is a frequent contributor to TV, radio and the press. In 2008, he was awarded the Sir Isaiah Berlin Award by the Political Studies Association for Lifetime Contribution to Political Studies. In 2009 he was made a Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur by President Sarkozy. He is an Honorary Fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford and an Honorary D. Litt. of the University of Kent.

Adrian Brown

Adrian is a Principal at the Boston Consulting Group in London where he works with a wide variety of public sector clients. He previously worked on transport and health briefs in the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit (2002-04), acted as a policy adviser to Tony Blair (2004-05), and co-authored the Cabinet Office's Excellence & Fairness report on public services.

Prof Paul Dolan

Paul is Professor of Economics in the Department of Social Policy at the LSE. He has previously held academic posts at York, Newcastle, Sheffield and Imperial, and has been a visiting scholar at Princeton. There are two main themes to Paul's work. The first focuses on developing measures of subjective well-being that can be used in policy, particularly in the valuation of non-market goods and in ‘joining-up' the impact of changes in health, crime, the environment etc. The second considers ways in which the lessons from behavioural economics can be used to understand and change individual behaviour. This work is focussing on the important role that situational factors play in influencing our behaviour. Paul has published in top economics, psychology, health and social science journals and has won research grants from a range of funding bodies, including the ESRC, AHRC and the British Academy. He was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize in Economics in 2002 for his contribution to health economics. Paul has been on many expert panels across government and he has advised various departments, including Defra, DH, DCLG and the Home Office, and he is currently chief academic adviser on economic appraisal for the Government Economic Service.

Christina Dykes

Christina has worked in the Conservative Research Department, as a Special Adviser and latterly as Director of Candidates in CCHQ. Moving to the Leadership Centre for Local Government as senior special adviser she continued her research while working with political groups within local government. She has recently concluded a study on the training needs for newly elected Conservative MPs. In March 2010 Dominic Grieve QC MP appointed her his chief of staff.

Sir John Elvidge

Sir John Elvidge was Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government from July 2003 until his retirement in June 2010. Prior to that he had been Head of two of the Departments of the then Scottish Executive: the Scottish Executive Education Department (1999-2002) and the Scottish Executive Finance and Central Services Department (2002-03). He had returned to Scotland when devolved government began in May 1999, following a period as Deputy Head of the Economic and Domestic Secretariat within Cabinet Office responsible for co-ordination of UK domestic policy, the planning and management of the UK Government's legislative programme and for civil contingencies. His earlier Civil Service career, from 1973 to 1998, was spent within The Scottish Office. He was born and brought up in London and educated at Sir George Monoux School, a state comprehensive school, and St Catherine's College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and an Associate of the Institute for Government.

Professor Robert Hazell CBE

Robert is director of the Constitution Unit in the School of Public Policy at UCL. After starting his career as a barrister he joined the Home Office as an administrator, and became a senior civil servant, working in police, prisons, immigration, race relations and broadcasting.

After 14 years in Whitehall, he became Director of the Nuffield Foundation in 1989, and left Nuffield to found the Constitution Unit in 1995. The Unit has produced almost 150 reports on every aspect of constitutional reform in the UK, including devolution, freedom of information, parliamentary reform and Lords reform, the Human Rights Act and new Supreme Court.

In 2009, Robert led a joint project with the Institute on Hung Parliaments and the Challenges for Westminster and Whitehall, which helped Whitehall prepare for the 2010 election and its aftermath.

Dr Wendy Hirsh

Wendy has over twenty years experience in applied research and consultancy on employment issues. She was Associate Director at the Institute for Employment Studies, leading its work with employing organisations. Wendy now works freelance, in close association with IES and other centres of expertise in HR and organisational research, including a Visiting Chair at Kingston University. Her particular fields of interest are leadership, strategic workforce planning, succession and talent management and career development. These areas address the future needs of organisations; how they relate to the career interests of individuals and how leaders and managers develop the current and future workforce. Wendy works with many government departments and agencies as well as local authorities, the NHS and global corporations. Wendy has contributed to Institute research on the work challenges facing senior civil servants and the effectiveness of Departmental Boards.

Professor Andrew Kakabadse

Andrew Kakabadse is Professor of International Management Development at Cranfield School of Management. He has acted as Visiting Professor at a number of US, Australian and Chinese universities. From 2005-2006 Andrew was the H. Smith Richardson Fellow at the Centre for Creative Leadership, North Carolina, USA. Andrew is Visiting Professor at the University of Ulster, Ireland; Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Australia; Thunderbird School of Global Management, USA; Université Panthéon-Assas, France; Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. His areas of research cover boards and top teams, the governance of enterprises and the governance of governments, international relations and conflict resolution.

Professor Anthony King

Anthony King, a Canadian by birth, teaches political science at the University of Essex. His books include SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party (with Ivor Crewe) and, most recently, The British Constitution. He served on the original Committee on Standards in Public Life and on the Royal Commission on the Reform of the House of Lords. He also chaired the Royal Society of Arts Commission on Illegal Drugs, Communities and Public Policy. He is currently completing a book on American constitutional development and conducting research on why British governments seem to make so many mistakes.

Professor David MacLeod

David has a portfolio of responsibilities which include being a Non Executive Director of the Department for International Development, and of the Ministry of Justice. He is a visiting Professor of the Cass Business School and a Fellow of the Ashridge Business School. Early in his career he was Head of Marketing for the Dulux brand before going on to be Chief Executive of European and then Global businesses. He also spent a year and a half working in the Cabinet office. He has co-authored a book called the The Extra Mile on the theme of how to engage your people to win and is co-author of the MacLeod Report to Government called Engaging for Success.

Dr William Moyes

Between 2004-10 Bill was Chairman and Chief Executive of Monitor, the Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts. Before that he was  Director-General of the British Retail Consortium for nearly four years,and Head of Infrastructure Finance in the Bank of Scotland between 1994-2000. Bill spent 10 years in Whitehall, in the Departments of the Environment, Transport and the Cabinet Office, where he was a member of the Economic Secretariat in 1980-83. He also spent just over 10 years in the Scottish Office in Edinburgh, where he served in the Finance, Education, Fisheries and Health departments. Bill has a Ph.D. in theoretical chemistry from the University of Edinburgh. He is a lay member of the Legal Services Board, a Trustee of the Nuffield Trust and a non-executive director of the Office of Fair Trading.

Jonathan Powell

Jonathan was Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007. He was responsible for co-ordinating all political and non-political work in No.10 Downing Street. Before joining Tony Blair, Jonathan was a British diplomat for sixteen years and prior to that he was a journalist with the BBC and Granada TV. Since leaving No.10 Downing Street in 2007, Jonathan has worked as a senior managing director at Morgan Stanley in London and as a negotiator and senior adviser on different conflicts across Europe and Asia for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva. He also works with Tony Blair Associates, Tigris Financial Group, Save The Children and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. 

Dr Barry Quirk

 Barry has been the chief executive of a large and successful inner London borough (Lewisham) since 1994. Barry served as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of HM Revenues & Customs (from 2002-6).  He was an independent member of two capability reviews of HM Treasury (in 2001 and 2008).  For five years to 2009, Barry was appointed by Government to be the national efficiency champion for local government.  In 2007 he produced a landmark report for Government on the potential transfer of public assets to the community. 

Barry has experience of managing twenty different elections using five different electoral systems.  He has a PhD in political and social geography and is an author and regular lecturer on localism, public policy and public management. 

Jon Stokes

Jon is a business psychologist and leadership coach with many years experience consulting and advising senior executives and boards in both public and private sectors as well as internationally. He is co-founder and director of the leadership and management development firm Stokes & Jolly. He trained and then worked for over 20 years as a psychologist at the Tavistock Clinic and Institute. His consulting work includes advising on inter-personal, group and organisational dynamics; designing and providing for the in-depth assessment and selection of senior executives; and assisting with the on-boarding of new senior hires. Current clients include professional service firms, private equity partnerships and advertising. Jon is a Visiting Professor at the Graduate Business School of Strathclyde University, a member of Faculty of Henley Business School, and teaches at Said Business School, Oxford University.

Professor Colin Talbot

Colin is professor of public policy and management at Manchester Business School. He's been a specialist adviser to two Select Committees (Treasury and Public Administration) and many other national and international public bodies. He's been a guest speaker in over 20 countries and written dozens of academic and professional articles and authored, co-authored or edited several books. He is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Public Administration and also publishes the well-respected blog Whitehall Watch.