Who we are

Local Government Leadership is funded by the government department for Communities and Local Government. In April 2008 LG Leadership acquired charitable status as the Leadership Centre for Local Government. We operate within the Local Government Association Group, which collectively aims to support, promote and improve local government.

Our small team is made up of leadership experts with experience in politics, local and central government and the private sector.

We believe it takes great leadership to create a thriving and prosperous community. Our role is to help create great places to live by giving leaders the opportunity to shift their thinking on leadership so they can fundamentally transform their communities for the better.  We help local government leaders to meet the specific challenge of leading a place rather than a council as today’s local leaders are expected to provide the imagination to create a community out of place.

‘Leadership’ is all we do. We work with the leaders of local authorities and, within local strategic partnerships to help them develop the skills and qualities they need to be effective leaders across place.

Lord Peter Smith, Chair

Peter Smith is Leader of Wigan MBC. He became Chair of the Leadership Centre for Local Government in March 2010. Peter is active at the national, regional and sub-regional levels of local government. He was appointed by the Local Government Association to the Board of the Improvement and Development Agency on which he served until March 2003. He is also the vice-chairman of the Special Interest Group for Municipal Authorities (SIGOMA). Peter was Chairman of the North West Regional Assembly for 1999-2000 and has been appointed the first chairman of the English Regions Network. In 2005 he was appointed as chair of the Executive Board of the NWRA. In June 2000 he was elected Chairman of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities. In June 1999 he was created a Life Peer with the title Lord Smith of Leigh. In Parliament he takes particular interest in local government, health and transport matters.

John Atkinson, Managing director

John leads the Leadership Centre's work on the ground-breaking Total Place initiative, which grew from the Leadership Centre's successful work with over 150 local authorities across England. Total Place has attracted the support of senior leaders from across the public sector and Whitehall and has the potential to be a catalyst for fundamental change. John is also responsible for the Leadership Centre's overall strategic direction and its work within the Local Government Association Group. As the Leadership Centre's director of operations, John was instrumental in developing the Leeds Castle Leadership Programme, widely regarded as the foremost development programme for top leaders and chief executives in local government. Before coming to the Leadership Centre, John ran his own very successful leadership development business working with both the public and private sectors, including several of the world's largest companies.

Joe Simpson, Director of politics and partnerships

Having read PPE at Oxford Joe started his careers in the voluntary sector, becoming Assistant Director of Community Service Volunteers. He worked in television for a  number of years, heading up the ITV Telethon, working as Strategy Co-ordinator for BBC Worldwide and the Director of Programmes for World Learning Network.  He is also the former National Programme Director for the New Millennium Experience.  In parallel, Joe Spent 16 years as a councillor in Islington.  Joe’s passion for and commitment to local government eventually led to him setting up the Leadership Centre for Local Government in 2004. Here he is Director of politics and partnerships, responsible for the Civic Pride initiative encouraging confident, capable and ambitious political leadership.

 

Nicky de Beer, Head of Operations

Nicky is responsible for the smooth running of LG Leadership. She is also the central project manager for the Total Place programme.

Holly Wheeler, Head of Learning

Holly is responsible for collecting and sharing the learning from LG Leadership's work. She also manages the Leeds Castle Leadership Programme.

Virlina Choquette, Project officer

Virlina works onthe Leeds Castle Leadership Programme and Aspiring Chief Executives programme.

Rebecca Cox, Project officer

Rebecca works with Nicky and Holly on the Total Place programme.

John Jarvis, Project officer

John supports Nicky on the Total Place programme.

Charlotte Eisenhart, Political officer

Charlotte works closely with Joe Simpson particularly on Civic Pride as well as other political aspects of LG Leadership's work. 

Siobhan Coombs, Political officer

Siobhan works with Joe Simpson on areas of the Civic Pride initiative and is also responsible for our range of publications.  

Sarah Abdel-Aal, Project administrator

Sarah supports the Political officers and looks after the administration of a range of Civic Pride projects.

Daniel Shamplin-Hall, Executive assistant

Daniel is EA to John Atkinson and responsible for the administration of the LG Leadership office.
 

Board of trustees:

Cllr Cathy Bakewell (Somerset County Council)
Steve Freer (Chief Executive, CIPFA)
John O'Brien (Chief Executive, London Councils)
Cllr David Parsons (Leader, Leicestershire County Council)
Kate Priestley
Kim Ryley (Chief Executive, Shropshire County Council)
Joanna Simons (Chief Executive, Oxfordshire County Council)
Cllr Lord Peter Smith, Chair (Leader, Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council)
Cllr Richard Stay (Chair, East of England RIEP)