Paul O’Brien has been the Chief Executive of the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) for the past ten years. Based in Manchester the organization 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 represented APSE 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 is currently the independent chair of the Northern Ireland Local Government Reform Joint 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 delivered the ODPM’s National Councillor Mentoring Programme.

Paul was previously APSE’s Principal Advisor (Scotland), and has over 26 years experience in local government. Paul previously worked with South Lanarkshire Council in the areas of CCT and Best Value. Prior to this he was a trainee manager with Strathclyde Regional Council. 

Paul 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.

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.

Jan Kennedy 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, Managing Change, Marketing, Negotiation skills, Customer service, Service Level Agreements and Transport responsibilities for front line supervisors. In conjunction with APSE’s legal partners she also delivers on the current Masterclasses on Corporate Manslaughter and Construction design and Management - CDM 2007. 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. She is also qualified in Level A and Level B in Psychometric testing.

Andy has been a principal officer with APSE since 1999.  Over this period he has played a leading role in the development of APSE.  Since 2004 he has taken lead responsibility for consultancy and interim management and has overseen a near doubling of turnover and substantial growth in the pool of associates from which the consultancy draws much of its expertise.  The consultancy now undertakes around 100 projects each year and regularly achieves very high satisfaction levels.   The service has contributed to the success of the efficiency drive in local government and can point to millions of pounds worth of savings generated for its clients. As well as managing the consultancy Andy is an experienced consultant in his own right and works on projects across a range of services focusing on management, procurement and service design issues.  He has acknowledged expertise in local authority trading and charging and delivers APSE’s popular master class on trading and charging in conjunction with Eversheds Solicitors.

Debbie Johns is the APSE Principal Advisor contact for Wales and has been with APSE since 2000. She is also responsible for environmental services which includes waste, refuse collection, street cleansing, parks and grounds maintenance and transport, as well as the management of the Performance Networks team. 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.

Mo Baines is the APSE Principal Advisor contact for APSE In the North. Before joining APSE Mo held many roles within the union movement following a career which began in local government in1989 working for Manchester City Council’s Chief Executive’s Department, firstly within the City Solicitors division and then within the Council’s Tendering Unit. Mo has a wide range of experience in employment and procurement issues and reflecting Mo’s experience she is now responsible within APSE for Advisory Groups on Workforce Strategy and Employee Relations, Efficiencies, Procurement and Service Transformation. Mo also takes a policy lead on Local Government Finance and has responsibility for APSE’s press, media and communications.

Phil Brennan is the Principal Advisor for Northern Ireland and is lead contact for building maintenance, housing and construction and roads and highways. 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 and he is launching the Northern Ireland Local Government Awards to be presented in 2009. 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.

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, Catering and Cleaning Advisory Groups. Rob joined APSE in 2003 and spent 5 years as Senior Consultant to APSE solutions. In that role he gained wide ranging experience across all aspects of direct service delivery.

Rob is a law graduate, holds an MBA from Warwick University and is also a chartered engineer with a degree in systems engineering. He is an elected member of both Lancashire County Council and West Lancashire Borough Council where he was Mayor for 2011/12 and has held positions as both a cabinet member and chairman of scrutiny. He has been a member of Lancashire Fire Authority and is an accredited peer mentor with the IDeA. He is an active member of CIMSPA.

Helen is the APSE Principal Advisor for South and South West England and joined the Association in 2012.
In 2007, Helen started her career in Local Government on the IDeA National Graduate Development Programme. After completing placements in workforce development, performance management, strategic policy, and project management, she secured the position of Portfolio Officer for Climate Change at Denbighshire County Council. She was internally recruited into Denbighshire’s Business Transformation Team in 2010, project managing activity around asset rationalisation, energy management and renewables, in additional to a devolution and empowerment project involving Town and Community Councils. In 2012 Helen relocated to Oxfordshire and worked as an Economic Development Officer for the Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire District Councils.

Helen graduated in 2007 from Durham University with a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in Geography and holds a  Masters Degree in Public Management with Distinction from the University of Warwick Business School.
Helen will take responsibility for all south and south west regional activity.

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.

Gayle Gibson is the senior consultant within the Association’s consultancy team.  Gayle delivers direct consultancy work as well as managing a portfolio of projects.  Her role includes placing and managing APSE Associate Consultants with Local Authorities throughout the UK. 

Davina joined APSE in January 2012 as Client Coordination Officer within APSE’s consultancy team. Her main role is to oversee interim management in local government, and working with APSE’s extensive network of associate consultants and interim managers. Davina previously worked at Milton Keynes Council within the projects team for Environmental Services, and for One World Trust carrying out research on global governance and accountability in the public, private and third sector. She has a MA in Science, Society and Development from the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, and volunteered in community development projects in Indonesia and Thailand.

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.

Emma joined the organisation in 2003 as an Administrative Assistant after working for three years providing administrative and financial support to the Post Office Ltd. Emma was appointed as a temporary Performance Networks Officer in November 2007 and from September 2008 she began a job share position within the organisation and split her time between performance networks and administration positions. Emma began as a full time Performance Networks Officer in November 2008, where she is jointly responsible for all membership aspects and the day-to-day activities of Performance Networks.

Mike joined the Association in 2007 as a member of the administration team based in the Manchester office. Mike has now moved up to Marketing and Coordination Officer taking responsibility for management of the admin team, seminars, events and design of marketing material for the organisation. Mike is currently working towards a HND in Business Management with Marketing.

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.

Laura joined APSE in September 2003 having previously worked in local government for five years. She is responsible for managing the financial systems in Scotland and also provides administrative support to the office. Laura also deals with all entries into the APSE Annual Service Awards.