| GARY
AMOS, Assistant Director, Procurement, Salford
City Council |
| Salford
City Council exists to serve its residents and
provides a complete and comprehensive range of
services and facilities. The Council's mission
statement is ‘to create the best possible
quality of life for the people of Salford.’
The Council aims to enhance and support individuals,
their families and their communities within the
city, as well as developing and boosting the city's
economic base. Many of the Council’s services
are high profile and include aspects of education,
social services and health, land-use planning,
libraries, physical communications and community
safety. |
| TERRY
BREWER, Chief
Executive Officer, Firebuy |
 |
Terry
is Chief Executive of Firebuy, the organisation
established to undertake national procurement
for the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS). He drafted
a National Procurement Strategy for the FRS which
was launched by CLG (Department for Communities
& Local Government – formerly ODPM)
in November 2005. He reports directly to the Firebuy
Board of Directors on all policy, project and
contract matters. |
| COLIN
CRAM, Director,
North West Centre of Excellence |
 |
Colin,
a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing
and Supply, has held senior positions in public
sector procurement for the past 25 years, including
central government, higher education and local
authorities. He has been responsible throughout
for initiating and implementing innovative procurement
strategies for a wide range of goods, services
and outsourcings and creating and re-engineering
procurement organisations and collaborative groups.
Colin was the first Director of the North Western
Universities Purchasing Consortium; he created
and was the Director of the Benefits Agency Contracts
organisation; and created and was the first Director
of the Research Councils’ Procurement Organisation.
He was also a founder member of the Central Unit
on Purchasing, the forerunner of the Office of
Government Commerce, and has run a successful
procurement consultancy business. He is an OGC
accredited consultant and a regular speaker at
national and international seminars and training
events as well as a member of the Advisory Board
for the University of Glamorgan Business School
and an advisor to an EU committee on Procurement
and Innovation. |
JAMES
FOTHERGILL,
Head
of Public Procurement Policy, Public Services
Directorate, CBI. |
|
James
joined the CBI in 2002 to work on employment policy
issues before taking up a role in public service
reform in 2005. The CBI public services
department represents a range of private sector
companies involved in delivering public services.
James is currently head of Public Procurement,
with responsibility for developing policy in areas
such as procurement and contract management, public
service management and efficiency, private finance
initiatives and alternative models of public-private
partnerships. James specialises in applying
CBI policy to the health and local government
sectors |
MARTIN
GLEAVE,
Head
of Procurement, Stockport Metropolitan Borough
Council |
| Martin
has worked in procurement in both the private
and public sectors since 1979. He started his
career with Associated Biscuits before moving
into the public sector to work in contracts and
purchasing for four different local authorities
– Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes
and Stockport. He was a Member of the Central
Buying Consortium Management Committee from 1998
to 2003 and is at present a member of the Association
of Greater Manchester Authorities Heads of Procurement
Group and lead on Sustainable Procurement. Martin
is also a member of CIPS and SOPO. |
NEIL
HIND, Procurement
Programme Director,
North West Improvement and Efficiency Partnership |
| Neil
is the Procurement Programme Director for the
North West Improvement and Efficiency Partnership,
formerly the North West Centre of Excellence.
Neil has been working for the past 2 years will
all North West local authorities. The role is
to increase skills in procurement and ensuring
that efficiency targets are met whilst not impacting
on local economies. Recent developments have been
the introduction of “The Chest”, a
web repository of local government opportunities
within the region. |
| PETER
HOWARTH, CEO,
SOPO |
 |
Peter
has a long track record in procurement and local
government. In October 2003 he started his own
consultancy and training company (SBV Ltd) specialising
in procurement and contracting matters, primarily
in the public sector. He is currently the Chief
Executive of the Society of Procurement Officers
in Local Government. Prior to that he had spent
three years with the Improvement and Development
Agency (IDeA) where he worked as a member of the
team developing IDeA Marketplace. He is also a
member of the National e-Procurement Project board,
a Director of the Ipswich and Sudbury Enterprise
Agency, primarily working on their strategy group,
and is a regular conference speaker and workshop
facilitator. Peter is a Fellow of the Chartered
Institute of Purchasing and Supply and a member
of IPSERA. He was one of the first graduates from
the Birmingham University MBA in Strategic Procurement
and also holds a degree in Applied Economics. |
| JOHN
KING Procurement Manager, Newark and Sherwood
District Council |
 |
John
joined Newark and Sherwood District Council
in 2005 as Procurement Manager, following a
varied career with a multinational engineering
company which included facilities management
and non-production purchasing. John currently
chairs the Nottinghamshire Procurement Forum,
whose members focus on collaborative procurement
projects that will help deliver the challenging
cost-saving targets set by central government
in successive Comprehensive Spending Reviews. |
| Jillian
Lilico,
Contracting
Authority Relationship manager, Supply London
Programme |
 |
Jillian
is a programme manager at Pera with programme
management responsibility for Supply London.
Supply London is an LDA-funded programme for
which Pera is the delivery agent. Prior to joining
Pera, Jillian, a PRINCE2 qualified practitioner,
worked for London Fire Brigade as the project
manager for their new fleet mobilising system
and for London Borough of Tower Hamlets Social
Services, project managing business systems
such as electronic records & document management
and social care systems. These roles included
procurement responsibilities, which sparked
Jillian's interest in lowering the barriers
to entry for SMEs as there seemed to be a knowledge
and skills gap in the public procurement process.
Supply London has a robust and well-respected
public sector workshop programme that is free.
Jillian is keen to work with more local authorities
wishing to stimulate growth and innovation in
their local enterprise sector and also to make
more SMEs aware of the free support that is
available. |
ANDREW
MAISEY,
Head of Procurement,
Torfaen County Borough Council |
 |
Andrew
has almost 30 years’ local government
procurement experience. He has held a number
of senior procurement positions with various
local authorities and is currently the Head
of Procurement at Torfaen County Borough Council,
where he is in the process of implementing the
Council’s Procurement Strategy. He has
been the Chairman of the Welsh Purchasing Consortium’s
Officer Panel since 1996 and has given a significant
amount of support to the Welsh Procurement Initiative
Team and now Value Wales (Procurement). He led
the All Wales framework arrangement for recruitment
advertising and represents local government
on a number of steering and working groups.
He is currently Chairman of the Training and
Development Steering Group, Vice Chairman of
the E-Procurement Steering Group, and a member
of the Welsh Initiative for Procurement Partnerships,
a strategy sub-group of the Business Procurement
Task Force. |
| KEN
MAY, Director,
Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation
(ESPO) |
 |
A
Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing
and Supply, and Secretary of the Society
of Procurement Officers in Local Government,
Ken joined the Eastern Shires Purchasing
Organisation from the private sector in
1981 as Assistant Director. He was appointed
Director of ESPO in 1998. |
| SAM
MAZLOUM, ProcServe Programme Manager, XChange
Wales |
|
Sam
has a breadth of expertise in programme management,
strategy development and business and systems
analysis, in both application development
and IT infrastructure. He has a proven track
record of delivery within a number of sectors
ranging from energy and financial services
to central and local government, delivering
programmes such as the development of digital
rights management software, the implementation
of world-class disaster recovery and the
e-enabling of government. |
| TOM
MORAN |
|
Tom
Moran is Principal Policy Adviser on public
service reform for the CBI. He leads a
team which covers issues including criminal
justice, education and children’s services
and welfare to work within the Public Services
Directorate. The CBI’s Public Services
Directorate promotes quality public services
through competition and choice, and works closely
with central and local government on commissioning
and procurement issues. Prior to
his present job, Tom worked on EU employment
issues and equality and diversity in the CBI’s
Human Resources Policy Directorate. Tom
is currently studying for a Masters in Political
Economy at the LSE. |
| RICHARD
PARSONS, Service
Head of Procurement and Corporate Programmes,
London Borough of Tower Hamlets |
 |
Richard
recently joined the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
as its new Service Head of Procurement and Corporate
Programmes. He is former Chairman of the London
Contracts and Supplies Group and has worked for
West Sussex County Council, London Borough of
Bexley and the London Borough of Camden, where
he held the position of Strategic Procurement
Manager. |
| MIKE
PHILLIPS,
Managing Director, West Mercia Supplies |
 |
Mike has held a number of procurement positions
in both the private and public sectors during
a career spanning 25 years. He was appointed to
the post of Deputy County Supplies Officer for
Shropshire County Council before moving to the
post of Purchasing Director for West Mercia Supplies,
a purchasing consortium owned by four Local Authorities.
He was appointed to his current post of Managing
Director in 2004. Mike has extensive experience
of both major public procurement projects and
high value commodities purchasing, and has been
involved in key Pathfinder e-Government projects.
He is a National Executive Committee Member of
the Society of Procurement Officers in Local Government
(SOPO) and has been a visiting lecturer for the
CIPS Professional Diploma. |
| ALAN
RATCLIFFE, Head
of Strategic and Commercial Procurement, Cumbria
County Council |
 |
Cumbria
County Council has been incorporated into the
Connected Cumbria Partnership (CCP). The CCP is
made up of the six district and borough councils,
Fire, Police and the County Council, as well as
other invited public sector and not-for-profit
organisations from around the region. The partnership
was formed to accelerate the introduction of effective
service modernisation across all public services,
by the creation of a regional strategy for Cumbria. |
JOHN
SCOWEN,
Corporate Procurement
Manager, London Borough of Havering |
 |
John
has been in the field of purchasing for 35 years,
starting off in the Health Service where he worked
his way from Buyer to Assistant District Supplies
Manager. He has been part of local government
purchasing since 1989 and has held the post of
Corporate Procurement Manager for the London Borough
of Havering since 1990. He was Chairman of the
London Contracts and Supplies Group, Chairman
of SOPO (Society of Procurement Officers in Local
Government) 2002-2004. One of his objectives is
to co-ordinate the purchasing of commodities throughout
London and he has worked hard to achieve this.
The London Contracts and Supplies Group is a forum
for such activities and has had significant influence
on the way purchasing has developed within London.
The LCSG is now developing strong links with the
Centres of Excellence to meet the demands of Efficient
Procurement throughout the public sector. |
JULIE
SWARBRICK
Step
up to Supply Sefton Programme Manager, Sefton
Metropolitan
Borough Council |
|
Julie
Swarbrick has worked in the field of supply
chain development for over 12 years, delivering
procurement-related programmes for Business
Link, Chambers of Commerce, local authorities
and large private sector organisations.
In 1998, Julie launched the Merseyside Sustainable
Supply Chain Initiative in partnership with
Business Link and St Helens Chamber. The
Initiative delivered activities aimed at increasing
local market share through business support,
supply chain mapping, and the One Form pre-qualification
tool. Two years later, Julie launched
the Merseyside Purchasing Consortium, which
involved large buying organisations such as
St Helens Council, Merseyside Fire Service,
Pilkington and Jaguar. In 2004, Julie joined
Sefton MBC Economic Regeneration division to
manage a joint SMBC/NWDA business support project.
2006 saw the launch of Supply Sefton, which
aimed to address the barriers often encountered
by small companies selling to public organisations.
Since 2007, Julie has managed Step up to Supply,
a three-year joint Liverpool City Council/Sefton
MBC project funded by the Local Economic Growth
Initiative. The project, which has been
developed in partnership with the North West
Regional Centre of Excellence, has two primary
activities. Dedicated buy-side resources
are working with local authority procurement
and regeneration divisions to identify the risks
and opportunities of contract aggregation, efficiencies,
and e-business for local economies. In addition,
a complementary supply-side project has been
established to provide local firms with fit-to-bid
support, contract information and inter-trading
opportunities. |
| ED
WALSH, Assistant
Director, Strategic Procurement Division, ESPO |
|
Ed
is a commercial solicitor and Member of the Chartered
Institute of Purchasing and Supply, and has worked
in procurement in private practice, local government
and industry. He joined ESPO in 2001 following
a review of the management of the organisation
and the creation of ESPO’s Strategic Procurement
Division. As head of division Ed is responsible
for the procurement of a wide range of goods and
services for the public sector with an annual
value of circa £300 million. He has been
responsible for the development of procurement
guidance to ESPO’s member authorities and
is an expert in European procurement law. |
BRYAN
WEBBER,
Corporate Procurement
Manager, City and County of Swansea |
|
Bryan’s
early career started with Rolls-Royce, where he
worked in the company secretary’s department
at their Aero Engine plant at Derby. There he
developed an interest in procurement, later moving
to the purchasing department of 3M, at their London
HQ, specialising in international procurement
and freight/import movements and logistics. Company
decentralisation moved him to 3M’s Gorseinon
plant, and in so doing brought him “back
home” to Swansea. Bryan is currently Corporate
Procurement Manager with the City and County of
Swansea, having prior to that been Chief Buyer
at the West Glamorgan County Supplies Department.
He is an enthusiastic member of CIPS, having been
a National Council member and Chairman of the
West Wales branch. |
| DAVE
WORRALL, Assistant
Director, Procurement and Special Projects, Oldham
Metropolitan Borough Council |
|
David
has spent his entire career within procurement,
having over 30 years’ experience in local
authorities, latterly as Head of Procurement for
Sefton Council on Merseyside. Currently responsible
for the development and implementation of the
strategic function for Oldham MBC, he is responsible
for ensuring the authority receives an efficient
and cost-effective service. He is North West Regional
Representative on the SOPO National Executive,
and a former Chairman for the North West Region
of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply,
serving on a number of national initiatives. |
Speakers
may be subject to change |
