Janet Callender formerly Orchard

Janet is Chief Executive at Tameside Council. She trained as a Solicitor, working in both private practice and local government. From 1989 onwards, she undertook both legal and senior management roles with Manchester City Council and Knowsley Council until she left to join Tameside as its Chief Executive in September 2003.

She passionately believes people should be valued as our greatest asset. She has placed the Council's People Strategy at the heart of the Council's continuous improvement work to deliver sustained improvements in the quality of life of the people of Tameside.

Tameside hosts the Regional Centre of Excellence for the North West and Janet is a member of the National Chief Executives' Taskforce, leading on efficiency and procurement. She is a member of the North West Improvement Network and is working with the Regional Implementation Team on the delivery of the Pay and Workforce Strategy across the region.

Janet has always been at the leading edge of developments in accessible customer services. At Tameside she continues to actively champion the e-Tameside agendas and the huge opportunities and benefits it beings to the community. She is Chair of the North West e-Government group, and following Tameside's appointment to lead Government Connect nationally in January 2006, now chairs the Government Connect Programme Board.

She actively champions the modernisation and transformation of public services to meet the needs of 21st century citizens. She is a member of the Delivery Council led by the Prime Ministers' Delivery Unit to deliver service transformation and Chairs the new established Local Government Delivery Council. She is committed to joining up improvement in service delivery across all tiers of government.