Paul O'Brien

Paul O’Brien has been the Chief Executive of the Association for Public Service Excellence ( APSE) for the past eight years. Based in Manchester the organisation has 250 local authorities in membership from throughout the U.K. He has overall strategic responsibility for the management and development of all APSE’s activities in the United Kingdom. 

Paul has been a keen contributor to the current debate on the shape of Local Government and Local Services in 2015. He has represented the Association on the Scottish Executive Health and Physical Activity Council, the Office of the Deputy Prime Ministers, Strategic Partnership Taskforce, Trading and Charging working party and the Local Government Procurement Forum. He has given evidence to various parliamentary select committees and participated in numerous lobbying meetings with Government Ministers, whilst representing APSE. Paul is a columnist with the MJ magazine and regular contributor to numerous local government publications. He was also a board member on the partnership between APSE, IDeA and LGIU which delivers the ODPM’s National Councillor Mentoring Programme.

Paul was previously APSE’s Principal Advisor ( Scotland), with a remit to develop links with the Scottish Parliament and associated local government agencies.  Paul has over 24 years experience in local government. Prior to his appointment with APSE, Paul worked with South Lanarkshire Council in the areas of CCT and Best Value.

When previously a trainee manager with Strathclyde Regional Council, Paul spent two years on secondment to APSE at the Scottish Secretariat from 1994 to 1996. 

aul graduated in 1998 with a Masters Degree in Business Administration, having carried out his dissertation on the transition from a CCT environment towards the development of Best Value. 

email:po'brien@apse.org.uk

Mark Bramah

Mark Bramah is the Assistant Chief Executive at APSE. Mark took up his post in April 2004 and formerly managed APSE's growing consultancy arm, the Best Value Consultancy from November 2000 to March 2004. Mark previously worked for the Association from 1992 to 1999 as the Principal Adviser for Public and Environmental Services after which he moved to Kirklees Metropolitan Council where he worked in the Corporate Development Unit on the implementation of Best Value and corporate policy development. Mark has also worked for both Rochdale and Bury Metropolitan Borough Councils.

email:mbramah@apse.org.uk

Jan Mazzone

Principal Trainer

Jan Mazzone is the Principal Trainer for APSE and has responsibility for Lifelong Learning and Development. Since Joining APSE, Jan delivers the majority of APSE’s training programme including Project Management, Leadership, Marketing, Business Planning, Service Level Agreements, and Masterclasses on the Clean Neighbourhoods Act, Shared Services and Corporate Manslaughter. Jan has recently undertaken study to achieve Level A and Level B in Psychometric testing. Jan has a background in training and development, firstly as an executive training officer in central government where she gained her CIPD in Training and Development and in local government, where she joined Liverpool City Council as a member of the corporate training team. Jan has experience of managing and delivering a wide range of training and development including Liverpool’s One Stop Shop training programme. Prior to joining APSE, Jan managed the Lifelong Learning Employability curriculum in Adult Learning and Community Education. Jan also holds a Certificate in Post 16 Education and a CLAIT Advanced in ICT.

email:jmazzone@apse.org.uk

Andy Mudd

Andy Mudd is the Association’s Principal Consultant with responsibility for the Best Value Consultancy. Since joining the Association in 1999 as a Principal Adviser Andy has carried out research on Housing Stock Transfer, the New Millennium Service Provider and Green Waste as well as writing many briefing notes. He has recently stepped down as a member of Bradford MDC after 12 years. For most of that time Andy was a front bench member with responsibilities for Direct Services and most recently overview and scrutiny. Before joining APSE Andy 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 Masters degree in social policy from the LSE and has worked in housing, social work, youth work and the voluntary sector.

email:amudd@apse.org.uk

Debbie Johns

Debbie Johns is the APSE Principal Advisor contact for Wales and has been with APSE since 2000. She is also responsible for the Sports and Leisure, Civic, Cultural and Community Venues, Highways, Street Lighting and Security groups. Prior to this role, Debbie was the Data and Projects Co-ordinator for the APSE Performance Networks service. Prior to her employment with APSE, Debbie worked as a Research Officer for Cheshire Constabulary. Debbie graduated in 1997 from the University of Manchester with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours Degree in Economics and Social Studies. She successfully completed her Masters Degree in Management at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2004.

email:djohns@apse.org.uk

Mo Baines

Mo Baines is the APSE Principal Advisor contact for the Northern Region. Before joining APSE Mo was Branch Secretary of UNISON’s Manchester Local Government Branch and a member of the Local Government Service Group Executive. Mo has held many roles within the union movement since joining local government in 1989 to work for Manchester City Council’s Chief Executive’s Department, firstly within the City Solicitors division and then within the Council’s Tendering Unit. Reflecting Mo’s experience she is now responsible within APSE for Advisory Groups on Workforce Strategy and Employee Relations, Social Care, Catering and Building Cleaning and the APSE Members Forum. Mo will also take a policy lead on Local Government Finance.

email:mbaines@apse.org.uk

Phil Brennan

Phil Brennan is the Principal Advisor contact for both the Central Region and Northern Ireland. He is lead APSE contact for building maintenance and construction, Best Value and procurement as well as business processes and technology issues. He has recently carried out research into housing issues such as housing finance, the skills gap in the construction sector and options for stock retaining councils.He has worked for APSE since February 2006 having previously worked in the corporate centre and Planning Department of Preston City Council.

He has 15 years experience of working in local government and previous roles have involved performance management, Best Value, and service planning and improvement as well as town planning. He is a qualified town planner with a degree and diploma in town planning and a Master’s degree in geographical information systems. He also gained a Diploma in Management Studies in 2005. Prior to coming into local government he had worked in the ICT and banking sectors.

email:pbrennan@apse.org.uk

Pat Taggart

Pat Taggart is the Principal Advisor for APSE based in Scotland. His main responsibility is to develop and build on existing links with the Scottish Parliament and associated local government agencies. Degree educated at Portsmouth (Open) University in Criminal Justice Studies, he recently joined the organisation in December 2006. Pat is currently working on building his portfolio with partner agencies and assessing the needs of APSE’s members in Scotland. Pat brings with him over 15 years experience within local government. Prior to taking up this role, he worked as a Children’s Reporter with SCRA (Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration) in a solicitor role, with responsibility for ensuring the legal safety of children in need of compulsory measures of care. Having worked with Strathclyde Police as a detective for 13 years, he brings a wealth of skills and experience in dealing with partner agencies. Pat can be contacted on 01698 454104.

email:ptaggart@apse.org.uk

Anne Clayton

Anne is the Principal Advisor for the Southern and South West Regions. She is also responsible for the Refuse & Street Cleansing, Transport & Vehicle Maintenance and Parks, Open Spaces & Horticulture Advisory Groups. Anne moved to APSE from Rochdale Boroughwide Housing where she was the Research Manager. Although her 20 years local government experience has been withinin housing, Anne has experience of housing management, Housing Market Renewal and multi-agency working, staff training, policy development, performance management and research.

Anne has a BSc (Hons) in Housing Studies and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education. She is a qualified NVQ Assessor and Internal Verifier and has been involved in the delivery of housing qualification courses and housing NVQs at Salford College since 2002 as well as managing construction NVQ courses in Rochdale.

email:aclayton@apse.org.uk

Rob Bailey

Rob is the Principal Advisor for the Central Region with a supporting role in the South and South East. He is responsible for the Leisure, Social Care, Catering and Cleaning Advisory Groups. Rob joined APSE in 2003 and spent 5 years as Senior Consultant to the best value consultancy. In that role he has gained wide ranging experience across all aspects of direct service delivery.

Rob is a law graduate and holds an MBA from Warwick University. He is also a chartered engineer and holds a degree in systems engineering. He is an elected member of West Lancashire District Council where he has held positions as both a cabinet member and chairman of scrutiny. He is an accredited peer mentor with the IDeA.

email:rbailey@apse.org.uk

Louise McMillan

Louise McMillan, commenced employment with APSE in April 2001. She has a 2:1 Honours Degree in Business Information Management from Glasgow Caledonian University. Louise manages the Scottish seminars and exhibitions, national exhibitions and all APSE Awards sponsorship. She is also responsible for overseeing the administrative function within the Scottish office and co-ordinating Direct News adverts from local government suppliers.

email:lmcmillan@apse.org.uk

Cheryl Walker

Cheryl joined APSE in 1995 and is now the Performance Networks Officer for the membership subscription service Performance Networks. Cheryl is responsible for all membership aspects, and the day-to-day activities of Performance Networks. This includes the data collection process, analysis and reporting of results, and co-ordinating admin support to ensure an overall service delivery to members. She also provides financial support to APSE in the form of management information and subscription management for Performance Networks.

email:cwalker@apse.org.uk

Amanda Steele

Amanda joined the organisation in December 2001. She is currently in the process of finalising a HND in Business Management and will then progress to studying for a Marketing Diploma. Amanda’s responsibilities lie in the production side of APSE’s national & regional events and the apprentice awards scheme. Amanda also has responsibility for the creation of flyers, publications and other APSE material and is responsible for managing the administrative team within the Manchester office.

email:asteele@apse.org.uk

Wai Lee

Wai joined APSE in April 2000. She manages the financial and management information strategies, and associated service activities, including co-ordinating support to the Best Value Consultancy, and Lifelong Learning and Development units.

email:wlee@apse.org.uk

Alistair Fildes

Alistair is the Research and Advisory Officer ( Scotland) for the Association, appointed in 2007, following the completion of his diploma in Social Research at the University of Edinburgh.  Prior to starting his position within APSE, Alistair worked in healthcare research and obtained his Sociology degree from the University of Glasgow.  Alistair’s responsibilities include monitoring activity within the devolved assembly in Scotland, highlighting areas of specific interest to APSE members through briefings.  His particular area of interest is on European legislation that affects the public sector.

email:afildes@apse.org.uk

Emma Barrow

Emma works within APSE’s Interim Solutions and Best value consultancy, marketing our services and coordinating appointments. Prior to starting her position within APSE, Emma completed a degree in Media Studies and went on to work within local government before taking on various roles within the media, she then joined the association on a permanent basis in May 2007.

email:ebarrow@apse.org.uk

Emma Nolan

Emma joined the organisation in 2003 after working for three years providing administrative and financial support to the Post Office. Emma provides administrative support to APSE performance networks and the national and regional seminars.

Keisha Adair

Keisha joined the Association in 2004. She previously worked as an Administrative Assistant at the GMB Training and Conference Centre. Keisha is responsible for providing secretarial support to the Assistant Chief Executive and the Chief Executive. Keisha also works in the organisation of National Council meetings and assists at the National and Regional Seminars. Keisha is happy to be part of APSE and looking forward to what the future brings.

email:kadair@apse.org.uk

Laura McShane

Laura joined APSE in September 2003 having previously worked with South Lanarkshire Council for five years. Laura provides administrative support for the Scottish office and also has responsibility for dealing with all entries into the APSE Annual Service Awards.

email:lmcshane@apse.org.uk

Steve Keefe

Steven joined APSE in February 2003 as a clerical assistant. As of November 2006, he was promoted to the role of Administrative Assistant and now provides administrative support to the Manchester office. Steve works with the administration of national and regional seminars and also supports performance networks and APSEs best value consultancy.

email:skeefe@apse.org.uk

Michael Egerton

Michael joined the organisation in August 2007 as a Clerical Assistant, after completing A Levels at Sixth Form College. Michael provides support to all APSE staff in the Manchester office and is currently responsible for the administration of one day seminars, members network queries and cheques/BACS payments to the organisation.

email:megerton@apse.org.uk