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- Open Meeting 2007: Speakers' Biographies
Open Meeting 2007: Speakers' Biographies
14 November 2007
The O2, London
The Baroness Ford of Cunninghame
Chairman, English Partnerships
Baroness Ford was first appointed Chairman of English Partnerships in April 2002 and was re-appointed in 2005 for a further three-year term. She is a Non-Executive Director of Serco plc and Non-Executive Chairman of Pinnacle Staffing Group. Until recently she 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.
Margaret 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. She was made a Labour Peer in June 2006.
Yvette Cooper
Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government
Yvette Cooper is Housing Minister and attends Cabinet. Her appointment was announced in June 2007.
Yvette Cooper was Minister of State for Housing and Planning in the Department for Communities and Local Government, previously the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), from 2005. Before this, she was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the ODPM. From May 2002 to June 2003 she was Parliamentary Secretary at the Lord Chancellor's Department and from October 1999 she was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health.
She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontefract and Castleford since 1 May 1997. Before being appointed as Health Minister, Ms Cooper was a Member of the Education and Employment Select Committee and the Intelligence and Security Committee.
Ms Cooper was previously economic columnist and leader writer for The Independent. She worked as Policy Advisor to Labour's Treasury Team in opposition between 1990-1994 and as Policy Advisor to the Bill Clinton Presidential Campaign in 1992.
John Walker
Chief Executive, English Partnerships
Since joining English Partnerships in 1994 John has held the posts of Chief Accountant, Finance and Commercial Director, Regional Director for the North East, Yorkshire and East Midlands and Chief Operating Officer. He has twice held the position of Chief Executive on an interim basis in spring 2006 and between July 2002 and March 2003.
John is a Director on the Boards of Priority Sites Ltd, English Cities Fund, the Land Restoration Trust, networkspace Ltd, Hull Citybuild and a member of the Investment Board of the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Prior to joining English Partnerships John specialised in regeneration and property development with Stoy Hayward Consulting and has held senior appointments with Teesside Development Corporation, Northumbria Police and various local authorities in the North-East.
Trevor Beattie
Director of Corporate Strategy, English Partnerships
Trevor Beattie is English Partnerships’ Director of Corporate Strategy, responsible for Policy, Economics, the Brownfield Strategy, the National Consultancy Unit and the Advisory Team on Large Applications (ATLAS). He co-ordinated the delivery of the Design for Manufacture Competition on behalf of Government and is currently doing the same for the Carbon Challenge.
Trevor joined English Partnerships at its inception in 1993, having worked on the legislation to develop an Urban Regeneration Agency as a member of the Inner Cities Policy Unit in what was then the Department of the Environment (DoE). He was responsible for DoE’s sponsorship of the London Docklands Development Corporation in the mid-1980s and was Private Secretary to four successive Ministers of Local Government and Inner Cities. He was a member of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Coalfields Task Force.
Trevor is part of the small Transition Team which is preparing for the creation of Homes and Communities Agency in April 2009.
John Lewis
Regional Director - Eastern England and Milton Keynes, English Partnerships
John Lewis is Regional Director Eastern England and Milton Keynes for English Partnerships. He is responsible for English Partnerships’ activities in Northamptonshire, East of England (excluding the Thames Gateway) and Milton Keynes. He began his career as a property professional qualifying as a chartered surveyor in 1993 but John’s interest in the broader aspects of regeneration developed when he joined English Partnerships in 1998.
John Lewis began his career with Milton Keynes Development Corporation in 1991 and later with the Commission for the New Towns. Following this he joined international property consultant, DTZ, becoming an associate director in 1996 before joining English Partnerships in 1998. He completed an MA in Urban Regeneration in 2001 and is a director of BURA with responsibility for special projects and initiatives.
Paul Spooner
Regional Director - North West and West Midlands, English Partnerships
Paul Spooner joined English Partnerships in January 2004. Prior to this appointment he was Director of Economic Development at Birmingham City Council for four years, responsible for city centre regeneration and major economic development projects. He coordinated the City’s successful Beacon Council bid for regeneration and led the Host City team for the 2002 Urban Summit. Before this he worked for seven years for Portsmouth City Council as Director of Development and led the public/private sector partnership for the regeneration of Portsmouth Harbour. He is a qualified town planner and MBA.
In his role for English Partnerships, he is responsible for delivering the Government’s national regeneration priorities in partnership with local and regional agencies in the North West and West Midlands.
He is now working with public and private sector partners on projects to develop King’s Waterfront in Liverpool, the New Islington Millennium Community in East Manchester as well as housing market renewal projects in Burnley, Morecambe and Blackburn.
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