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 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, 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 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.

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, 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 both Lancashire County Council and West Lancashire Borough Council where he has held positions as both a cabinet member and chairman of scrutiny. Rob additionally sits on Lancashire Fire Authority and is an accredited peer mentor with the IDeA.

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 best value consultancy team.  Gayle works to place and manage APSE Associate Consultants and Interim Managers to local authorities throughout the UK.  Her role includes the production and presentation of tender documentation and she has responsibility for APSE survey solutions.

Gayle joined APSE in January 2010 from the London Borough of Wandsworth, where she worked in housing policy.   She also provided policy support for the Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH).  Gayle graduated from the University of Sheffield with a BA(Hons) Degree in Social and Political Studies. She successfully completed her Masters Degree in Business Administration in 2003. 

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.

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.

Alex is the client coordination officer for APSE’s best value consultancy team . Alex joined APSE in November 2008 as a finance and administrative assistant, splitting her time between lifelong learning and development, the best value consultancy and the finance unit within the APSE secretariat. Alex has previously worked in the university sector both in Manchester and Bristol and has an MA in modern European languages from Manchester University. Alex will work APSE’s extensive network of associate consultants and interim managers as well as helping APSE member authorities meet their consultancy and interim management needs.

email:agardiner@apse.org.uk

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.

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.

Mike joined the Association in 2007 and is currently a member of the support team based in the Manchester office. Mike takes responsibility for Performance Networks and ARCH administration, Direct News production, member network queries and national seminars/events.