Jules Pipe – Mayor of Hackney (Chair)

Jules Pipe was re-elected as Mayor of Hackney for a second term in May 2006, having become the borough’s first directly elected Mayor in October 2002.  He was previously a ward councillor from 1996 to 2002, and Leader of the Council from June 2001 until elected Mayor.  As one of only 12 directly elected Mayors in the country, Jules Pipe provides transparent and accountable leadership to the Council, as well as acting as a champion and advocate of the borough. He has overseen significant improvements in Council finances and the delivery of Council services.  Until taking up the role of executive Mayor, Jules Pipe was a journalist on the Sunday Telegraph, and Sunday Times among others.  He was born and grew up in East London, and has lived in Hackney for 14 years.  In the 2008 New Year's Honours List, Jules was awarded a CBE in recognition of his service to local government.

Jamie Carswell, Deputy Mayor

Jamie Carswell has been a Councillor since 1999, Cabinet Member for Housing in Hackney from 2002-6 and is currently Deputy Mayor of Hackney, with strategic responsibility for housing. He has overseen the formation of 'Hackney Homes', the borough's ALMO, the Woodberry Down regeneration project, one of the largest in the country, and driven through one of the biggest stock improvement programmes in London.  He is also co-chair of Hackney’s Better Homes Partnership which sits withinTeam Hackney,for housing associations, other agencies and the council to deliver the borough’s cross-tenure housing priorities. On a London stage, he is Executive Member for housing in London Councils, representing and campaigning for all of London’s 33 boroughs

Tim Shields, Chief Executive, Hackney Council

Tim Shields has recently been appointed as Chief Executive at the London Borough of Hackney. His career in Local Government spans almost 27 years which has been spent mostly in London Boroughs including Wandsworth, Lambeth and Hackney.  Tim joined Hackney 5 years ago as Deputy Director of Finance and was later promoted to the role of Director of Finance and Resources. For the past 18 months he has also been Deputy Chief Executive.  He is a qualified CIPFA accountant.

Alan Wood – Chief Executive, The Learning Trust

Alan Wood grew up and was educated in the east end of London.  He graduated after reading economics, history and politics at York University before taking his PGCE at Birmingham and a diploma in SEN at London University’s Institute of Education.

Alan Wood has been the Chief Executive of The Learning Trust since its launch in August 2002.  The Learning Trust provides all the Statutory education services in the London Borough of Hackney.  He has held Directorships in the two Inner London Education Authorities of Lambeth and Hackney. By profession he is a teacher of history and has worked in various schools across London.

In January 2006, Alan took on responsibility as Director of Children Services for Hackney alongside his role of Chief Executive of The Learning Trust.  Alan has a proven track record of service delivery and good contacts with government departments.  He is currently vice-chair of the London Association of Directors of Children Services and will become Chair in November 2007.

Bisi Ojuri, Managing Director, Hackney Voluntary Action

Bisi studied for a BA in business administration at London Guildhall before pursuing a career in banking.  She has been an active volunteer with her church since the age of 19, working there as a Sunday school teacher and youth worker.  She is on the board of the Gateway Community Initiative; founded Gold Lamp, a charity for parents and toddlers in 2002; and is on the management committee of the East London Christian Choir School in Dalston.  She joined Hackney Voluntary Action in October 2000, becoming managing director in early 2006.

Bisi was born in Hackney and her family returned to Nigeria while she was still a baby.  At 16 she was back in Hackney, at Haggerston School, and she lived in the borough until three years ago when she moved to Enfield Lock.  Her three children were all educated at Hackney schools.

Derek Harvey,  MCMI, Job Centre Plus

Derek joined the Department in 1975, undertaking various administrative roles in the North East. In 1985 he moved to Milton Keynes on promotion, thereafter undertaking a range of managerial posts in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, London and Regional Office. These included operational management at various levels as well as consultancy, project management, contract management and partnerships.

He became a senior manager in 2003, managing all jobcentre functions in Berks, Bucks and Oxon District. Following Jobcentre Plus restructuring, he became the External Relations Manager in City and East London District in March 2006, responsible for engaging with local partnerships and external organisations, contracted provision, communications, marketing, employer engagement and Diversity and equality.  

Ian Ashman, Principal, Hackney Community College

Ian Ashman is the Principal of Hackney Community College,having held this post since 1st January 2007. This is areturn to the college - he was Deputy Principal there between 1993 and 2002; during which time heled thedevelopment and implementation ofthe £40m property strategy,including the world-class Shoreditch Campus.

Prior tohis appointment as Principal of Hackney Community College, Ian was Principal of Lambeth College, during which period he was on the Lambeth LSP. He then worked as an independent education consultant. Projects included developing the first National Skills Academy in Financial Services,strategic support for individual colleges and for the Learning and Skills Council anddeveloping international education partnerships between colleges in London and Beijing and the UK and India.

Earlier in his career Ian worked as an Education Policy Officerand in economic developmentin South London,starting his career ina voluntary sector,youth employment programme in Manchester. He has a degree in Economics and a post-graduate teaching qualification and has lived in Hackney forover 20years.

Ian Lewis – Director, Team Hackney

Ian was born in Heysham, Lancashire, and brought up in Newport, Gwent, in Wales.  He studied English at Middlesex University and then got a job in the HR department at the Inner London Education Authority.  He worked in education for about ten years, as clerk to the Governors in Camden, and then as head of governor services in Haringey and Tower Hamlets.  He started in partnership working in 2001 when he was seconded to run the Tower Hamlets partnership – a secondment which turned into a permanent position lasting four years.  It was during his time at Tower Hamlets that the partnership won many awards.  He joined Team Hackney in February 2006.  His passions are gym, reading, cinema and travel.  He has lived and worked in Los Angeles and Singapore and now lives in Islington.

Jake Ferguson – Chief Executive, HCVS

Jake Ferguson is Chief Executive of Hackney CVS, the umbrella organisation which supports Hackney’s 1900-strong voluntary and community sector. Jake has been with HCVS since 2001. His background as a medical student led him to work in Mosside Manchester on Diabetes research, and he then moved to London to focus on environment and health impact assessment at University College London. He has worked with Drug Action Teams and public health departments in Central London.

As CEO of HCVS, Jake has lead responsibility for the Community Empowerment Network and its respective community engagement programmes, leading Team Hackney’s response to capacity building local VCS orgs, supporting their involvement in LAA commissioning. The CEN also has a key role in helping local people and local community networks to influence local strategic policy.

Jeremy Taylor, Executive Director, Groundwork East London

Jeremy Taylor is executive director of Groundwork East London, a regeneration charity working in partnership with Hackney tochange lives and improve the environment inareas of deprivation. He is responsible for a team of 25 staff delivering a wide range of projects and services to improve public space, develop and engage communities and help workless people find jobs.He joined Groundwork in March 2007,making a big leap after a career in the civil service, latterly as a senior civil servant in HM Treasury, where I wasresponsible forrelocating civil servants out of London, evolving the PSA target framework and implementing the Gershon efficiency programme. The experience was invaluable but taught him the drawbacks of a top down approach to public service delivery, and inspired a dream to make a difference in a more direct and hands-on way. He lives with his wife and three young children in Wapping and is a school governor.

Jacqui Harvey – Chief Executive, City and Hackney Primary Care Trust

Jacqui started her career as a management trainee in 1978, becoming a deputy hospital administrator in Leeds, and then taking on a series of planning and general management posts.

Her first director-level post was as Director, Planning and Contracting, at Broadgreen NHS Hospital Trust in Liverpool.  She then moved on to gain commissioning experience as an Assistant Director of Development and Commissioning at a Health Authority in South Cheshire before being offered the post of Chief Executive at Ellesmere Port and Neston Primary Care Group in 1999. At the end of her first year in post, the organisation had achieved a three star performance assessment and achieved all statutory financial duties.  She was successful in bidding for £2m from the national lottery to build and run a Healthy Living Centre which was used by 12,000 residents in the last year.   

She became interim chief executive at City and Hackney PCT, covering for Laura Sharpe’s one-year absence, at the end of 2007.

Kevin Sugrue – Chief Executive, Renaisi

Kevin led the establishment of Renaisi in 1998 as an independent not for profit regeneration agency. Since then he has taken forward the expansion of the company to become a market leader in high quality regeneration and renewal consultancy services.

Kevin has more than 20 years experience in regeneration. He has been an adviser to New Deal for Communities (NDC), Neighbourhood Management (NM) and Local Strategic Partnerships assisting with partnership development and operation and the design and delivery of programmes.

Kevin has a proud record of achievement in the management and delivery of high impact projects across the fields of education, business and employment, health, crime, housing and environment including an award winning PFI scheme. In doing so he has worked with a range of community, voluntary, public and private sector providers using a cocktail of funding sources.

Kevin is a Neighbourhood Renewal Adviser (NRA) for the NRU (ODPM) and is currently commissioned by them to provide training across the country on delivery of the national strategy.

Liam Kane, Chief Executive - East London Business Alliance

Liam Kane is Chief Executive of the East London Business Alliance, a social and economic regeneration agency working in East London. Last year the Alliance helped put more than 7000 volunteers to work in the East end community.

It also runs Training into Work programmes and is currently spearheading a major effort to ensure local companies are helped to become fit to supply to the Olympics and the other 27 major developments taking place in the Thames Gateway.

Liam is an accountant by profession and spent most of his career in the national newspaper business, before joining the charity sector in 2002 after two years’ service at the Millennium Dome, where he ran the commercial sections including sponsorship and press and PR.

Micheal Pyner – Chief Executive, The Shoreditch Trust

Micheal is Chief Executive of Shoreditch Trust a pioneering Regeneration Agency in Hackney that is driven by the local community. Appointed in 2000 Micheal was head hunted from the award winning Mile End Park.

Born and educated at the heart of London’s East End Micheal went on to University in 1980. MA’s in Modern Political Thought and Urban Regeneration completed the academic aspects of Micheal’s career. Moving into local government, Micheal had stints in corporate policy, education and social services.  Coming into regeneration in the late 1980’s Micheal’s first job was project managing the re-location of 5000 people from the estates displaced by the Limehouse Link leading to Canary Wharf in London.

He regularly speaks at conferences and seminars, guest lectures on MA’s in Urban Regeneration at two Universities and is a National Neighbourhood Renewal Advisor. Community led regeneration, the development of sustainable asset bases and the creative use of arts and social enterprise have been at the heart of what he does He was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2006.  Michael has driven the social enterprise arm of the Trust which most recently opened but already award-winning Acorn House London’s first eco restaurant. Three more restaurants are planned.

Nancy Hallet – Chief Executive, Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Nancy Hallett joined the Trust in 1993 as Director of Nursing and Patient Services, having previously worked in nurse management and education in the NHS, and in the voluntary sector in project work.

She later held the post of Director of Service Development at Homerton before becoming Chief Executive in 1999. Under her leadership the Trust has achieved 3 star performance for four years running. In April 2004 Homerton became one of the first ten NHS foundation trusts in England. Nancy was awarded an OBE in 2004 for services to the NHS.

Steve Dann - Borough Commander, Hackney Police

Chief Superintendent Steve Dann, vice chair of the Safer Cleaner partnership, arrived as the new Borough Commander of Hackney in December 2006, with a wealth of inner city experience behind him.  He has been a police officer for 25 years,  including 11 years in uniform in Central London, and was deployed during the Broadwater Farm and Poll Tax riots of the 1980s.  He served as Sergeant, and then Inspector in West London before joining the Directorate of Professional Standards as a Senior Investigation Officer.  He spent two years in Belfast from 2001, investigating complaints against police deaths in custody and police shootings.  As Detective Superintendent back at the Met he worked on combating drugs trafficking and kidnappings, and helped set up the Olympics Operation Command Unit.  As Detective Chief Superintendent, he has been part of the July 2005 Review Group.