Press releases

New Chief Executive appointed for Leadership Centre for Local Government

September 2, 2005

The Leadership Centre for Local Government today announced that Stephen Taylor has been appointed as Chief Executive on secondment from the organisation consultancy Stanton Marris. Mr. Taylor is a successful businessman with specialist knowledge of organisational development and a longstanding commitment to local government. His experience includes over 27 years of consultancy and two years as a Director for the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA).

The Chair of the Leadership Centre, Kate Priestley, welcomed Mr. Taylor's appointment, saying: "Everyone who has worked with Stephen will know that this is a really exciting appointment. Both his personal attributes and his immense experience will equip him well for the task ahead. Having worked with many local authorities and with national governments around the world, his grasp of leadership development within a political environment is second to none. I couldn't be more delighted than to have the opportunity to work with him in the future".

Simon Milton, Chairman of LGA Improvement Board, Director for the Leadership Centre and Leader of the Westminster of City Council, commented: "This is an excellent appointment with Stephen possessing the expertise and dynamism to drive forward the Leadership Centre's work within the public sector. I look forward to working with him and building on the progress achieved to date by the Centre".

Brian Briscoe, Chief Executive of the LGA said: "Stephen Taylor's appointment is a real coup for the Leadership Centre - an outstanding individual with excellent experience of working with local authorities and central government. He will be a real asset in the complicated world of leadership".

Stephen Taylor, discussing his appointment, said: "I am delighted to be joining the Leadership Centre. As an advocate of local government through 27 years of consulting, I have learnt that leadership wisdom does not reside only in the private sector: local government has as much to teach as it has to learn. But many councils still have far to go in serving their public, managing their people, driving out waste and raising the pace of innovation. This is where the Leadership Centre must help senior members and officers to make a visible difference".

Virginia Merritt, managing partner of Stanton Marris, said "Stephen's secondment is very much in line with our commitment to help build a better bridge between the public and private sectors in the UK."

Mr. Taylor joins the Leadership Centre as it moves into its next phase having completed the first six months of work with a wide range of local authorities across England. The Centre is directly helping authorities to improve their performance and in their role within local strategic partnerships. Most recently, the Leadership Centre completed a series of workshops, on behalf of ODPM, with findings being used to inform government and has instigated the first development centre for Cabinets.

Into autumn, the key challenges for the Centre are to expand on work to date to meet the developing leadership needs of local authorities and ensure more local authorities are able to access the findings and best practice learnings from first stage work.

Biographical note

Stephen Taylor and two colleagues founded the organisation consultancy Stanton Marris, which works across the public and private sector, in 1998. The firm specialises in helping to create high performance cultures and employs twenty permanent staff. He began his career in 1970 in what is now ODPM and has been a partner and director of three international human resource and change management consulting firms since 1978. He has consulted at top level in thirty councils - cities, counties, London boroughs and districts - in every government department, with a number of governments outside the UK and with a dozen FTSE 100 companies. A feature in The Independent at the time Stanton Marris was founded described him as 'the most sought after consultant in the UK'.

Notes for Editors
For more information, photograph or interview requests contact Natalie Orringe or Robin Campbell on 020 7641 5596.

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