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- Open Meeting 2006: Speakers' Biographies
Open Meeting 2006: Speakers' Biographies
18 October 2006
British Museum, London
The Baroness Ford of Cunninghame
Chairman, English Partnerships
Baroness Ford was first appointed Chairman of English Partnerships in April 2002 and re-appointed in 2005 for a further three-year term. She is a Non-Executive Director of Serco plc and, until recently, was Deputy Chairman of Good Practice Ltd, the publishing company that she founded. She is Chairman of Irvine Bay Regeneration Company on the west coast of Scotland. She spent her early career in local government and management consultancy before creating and building several successful companies. She has worked extensively in regeneration and is a specialist in public-sector reform and leadership development. In 2006, she was elevated to the Peerage.
The Rt Hon Ruth Kelly MP
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Minister for Women
Ruth Kelly was appointed Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 5 May 2006.
She was Secretary of State for Education and Skills from December 2004.
She previously served as Minister for the Cabinet Office from September 2004 after three years at HM Treasury where she was, successively, Economic Secretary and, from May 2002, Financial Secretary.
Ruth was educated at Queen’s College, Oxford, and the LSE, where she gained an MSc in Economics. She worked for The Guardian as an economics writer in the early 1990s before joining the Bank of England. Ruth was elected to Parliament as Member for Bolton West in the 1997 General Election and the following year became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Nick Brown at the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Robert Napier
Board Member, English Partnerships
Chief Executive, WWF-UK
Robert Napier has been Chief Executive of WWF-UK, the UK arm of the World Wide Fund for Nature, since 1999. Before that he spent 16 years at Redland plc, where he was successively Financial Director, Managing Director and Chief Executive. Robert is currently a Non-Executive Director of Anglian Water Services and Chair of the Sustainability Committee of AWG plc. He was formerly Chairman of the CBI Transport Policy Committee and President of the National Council of Building Material Producers. His community activities include being a Governor of Sedbergh School and a Trustee of Baynards Zambia Trust.
Dan Epstein
Environmental Policy Manager, English Partnerships
Dan Epstein is the Environmental Policy Manager for English Partnerships. Dan has been working in the environmental and sustainable development sector since 1984. He started his career in Nepal where he spent seven years working as a bio-engineer and forester repairing landslides on major road and water projects. Following this he worked in the UK on a number of land reclamation and regeneration schemes in the north of England developing briefs for sustainable buildings, landscape and infrastructure. Most recently he has worked as a consultant preparing the sustainability strategy and action plan for the Housing Corporation before taking the post as the Innovation and Sustainability Manager for the Ashford’s Future Delivery Team, the local delivery vehicle, which is overseeing the development of the Ashford’s Growth area.
John Callcutt CBE
Chief Executive, English Partnerships
John Callcutt was appointed as Chief Executive of English Partnerships, the National Regeneration Agency, in May 2006. A solicitor, he was the Chief Executive of Crest Nicholson plc between 1991 and November 2005 and subsequently Deputy Chairman responsible for developing and promoting Crest’s sustainable development strategy.
John guided Crest Nicholson through a successful transformation from a regional housebuilder to a company leading the way in urban regeneration and sustainability with an outstanding reputation for architecture, quality and customer care.
John is chair of a working group for the Housing Forum on meeting customer needs in construction, he is a director of the BRE Trust and writes on urban regeneration for a number of trade and industry periodicals. He is also a member of the Law Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
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