Meet our speakers

Cllr Michael Payne

Deputy Chair, LGA

Derek MCllr Payne is Deputy Chair of the LGA. He is a member of the LGA’s Leadership Board, which directs the LGA's activities and business in accordance with strategic priorities and direction set by the LGA Executive. The LGA Leadership Board reports and makes recommendations to the LGA Executive, which Cllr Payne is also a member of. It is made up of the office holders of the LGA and headed by the Chairman of the LGA. Cllr Payne is also Deputy Leader of the LGA’s Labour Group. He was first elected to Gedling Borough Council in 2011 and has been Deputy Leader of the council since then. He is also a Nottinghamshire County Councillor..

Cllr Tracey Dixon 

South Tyneside Council, co-vice chair of APSE’s Northern Region

Cllr Dixon is the Lead member for Independence and Wellbeing on South Tyneside Council and is co-vice chair of APSE’sNorthern Region and an APSE Advisory Group chair.

Tracey is married with two children, and has had a career in hotel management before moving to support the development of a family restaurant business. Tracey has a keen interest in the needs of younger and older generations. She is also passionate about improving public services at a local level.

Cllr Julie Simpson 

Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council, co-vice chair of APSE’s Northern Region

Cllr Julie Simpson is co-vice chair of APSE’s northern region and a long-serving councillor on Gateshead council serving on the Care, Health & Wellbeing Overview Scrutiny Committee; the Communities Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee; and the Appeals Committee. Julie is passionate about local public services and is an experienced local government officer in addition to her role as a councillor. Julie has also held the role of Chair of APSE Facilities Management Advisory Group which works to primarily support the provision of school meals; a role which also sees APSE provide on-going secretariat support to the All-party Parliamentary Group on School Food.

Andy Mudd

Head of APSE Solutions

Andy Mudd is the Head of Solutions, the consultancy arm of APSE. The consultancy works with local government clients throughout the UK and across all service areas. APSE solutions also provides interim managers, drawing on a large pool of expertise. Andy joined APSE in 1999 as a Principal Advisor and before joining APSE, he played a role in the development of Best Value through leading Bradford's Best Value pilot and representing the pilot authorities on the then DETR's Best Value Steering Group. He holds a Master’s degree in social policy from the LSE and has worked in housing, social work, youth work and the voluntary sector. Contact Andy on [email protected].

Derek McCallan

Chief Executive, NILGA

Derek McCallan has been Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Local Government Association since April 2011.  Derek is responsible for advising / supporting the NILGA political leaders, Executive and 90 elected members, taking forward policy and legislation as the representative body of the 11 councils, this includes negotiations with central government departments and agencies. Derek represents NILGA within the Local Government Group as part of the UK/devolved assembly national body for councils and is contracted by various Departments fulfilling Strategic Migration, EU, Waste Management and other key services for the sector.

Derek is a graduate in Politics and English from Trinity College, Dublin, and enjoys walking, running, cycling, wine, cheese and Private Eye.

Laura Church

Corporate Director, Place and Infrastructure, Luton Borough Council 

In Laura's current role she provides strategic leadership to the Place and Infrastructure Directorate which covers abroad range of “place” related functions. She contributed to corporate leadership of the Council through the Corporate Leadership and Management Team.

Laura empowers and motivates key staff within the Directorate to push forward on the delivery of key corporate projects which will have a transformation impact on the Council in the future. This includes a Waste Review, Energy Programme, Building Control options a strategic review of the Licensing Service.

She has launched Luton’s new Investment branding at a national property exhibition to deliver £1.5billion investment and maintained momentum on a number of projects within the Council’s Investment Framework. She has secured Enterprise Zone status for land at London Luton Airport to facilitate earlier delivery of new employment land in the town.

Laura is a Director at Luton Traded Services Ltd, she has established a SME to allow Luton Borough Council to provide services to private sector organisations and individuals. She is also the Service Director Business and Consumer Services at Luton Borough Council. Where she provides Strategic direction and lead of a portfolio of operational and regulatory services. Laura has seven years’ experience as a planner at Luton Borough Council.

Elma Murray OBE

Chief Executive, North Ayrshire Council

Elma Murray was appointed Chief Executive of North Ayrshire Council in 2009 and is also the current Chair of Young Scot (Scotland’s youth information and citizenship charity).

With a local government career spanning around 35 years she is passionate about public sector services and their vital role in supporting local people and the most vulnerable in our communities.  She focuses on children’s services and inclusive growth.

Elma has held several senior positions including Chair of SOLACE, Director of the Improvement Service, Depute Director of Finance and Head of Service Reform at Glasgow City Council, Head of IT Services at North Ayrshire and at Strathclyde Police. 

Elma was awarded an OBE for Services to Local Government, Education and the Economy in the Queen’s 2018 New Year’s Honours List.

Stuart Murray

Project Lead DRS and EPR, Zero Waste Scotland

Stuart joined Zero Waste Scotland in 2012, following roles at both Falkirk and North Ayrshire Councils. For the last year Stuart has worked exclusively on developing the deposit return scheme (DRS) for Scotland having previously partnered with local authorities across the country to improve their recycling and resource management.

Stuart has developed significant expertise in DRS and how it will support Scotland to improve the quantity and quality of beverage containers collected for recycling. He has a BSc (Honours) degree in Technology & Business Studies from the University of Strathclyde and is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM).

Taliesin Maynard 

Projects Director, Mott MacDonald

A chartered engineer with 20 years’ experience, Taliesin has been responsible for leading the delivery of waste to energy infrastructure within the Welsh Government since 2009.

Prior to the Welsh Government, he held senior project and commercial positions in several major infrastructure programmes.

His experience ranges from the regeneration of east Manchester for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and London’s Crossrail, through to investment planning in utilities and an integrated programme of flood and coastal defence works

With a specialised focus on infrastructure development, public private partnerships and clean energy projects across the UK and the Netherlands, he is a Projects Director in Mott MacDonald’s London based infrastructure advisory business.

Professor Steven Griggs

Professor in Public Policy, De Montfort University 

Steven Griggs is Professor in Public Policy at De Montfort University where he is Director of the Local Governance Research Centre. Steven’s research investigates local democratic governance, the delivery of local services, and the mobilisation and evolution of community campaigns (with particular reference to the field of environmental politics). He has undertaken policy development work with a number of local authorities and public sector organisations, as well as undertaking national policy evaluations and contributing to senior management leadership programmes. He is currently participating in an ESRC comparative research study on the impact of austerity on cities and collaborative governance across eight countries. Steven was one of the founding editors of the international journal, Critical Policy Studies

Neil McInroy 

Chief Executive, Centre for Local Economic Strategies

Neil is CEO of CLES www.cles.org.uk – UK’s leading independent think and do tank, realising progressive economics for people and place. CLES’s aim is to achieve social justice, good local economies and effective public services for everyone, everywhere.

At present he is focused on applying a progressive economic model for places which includes ideas around local wealth building.  He has published widely on this, including: Forging a good local society: tackling poverty through a local economic reset.

James Smith

Operations Director, Cloud Technology Solutions

James is integral to delivering CTS’ cloud consultancy services as Head of Innovation, ensuring that every requirement and expectation is fully understood and exceeded. Having previously worked in roles at Warwickshire County Council and the UK Government G-Cloud initiative, James’ experience with local authorities allows him to develop roadmaps for clients to take advantage of Google’s Cloud technology using his knowledge of pain points and deployment.

James focuses on supporting the onboarding of partners and clients, working with the sales team as a technical specialist. James has worked with clients including the Cabinet Office, Department for Culture and Manchester City Council.