Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP
Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform
Department for Work and Pensions

Stephen Timms was appointed Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform at the Department for Work and Pensions in January 2008. Prior to this he was Minister for Competitiveness at the newly formed Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Other Ministerial positions include Chief Secretary to the Treasury, following his role as Minister for Pensions Reform in the Department for Work and Pensions, Financial Secretary to the Treasury; Minister for e-Commerce and Competitiveness and Minister of State for Energy, e-Commerce and Postal Services in the Department for Trade and Industry; Minister of State for School Standards; and Minister of State and Parliamentary Under Secretary in the then Department for Social Security.

[read more]

Sir David Varney
Senior Government Advisor on Transformational Government

Sir David joined Shell in 1968 after graduating from the University of Surrey with a degree in Chemistry. After gaining an MBA at Manchester Business School in 1971, Sir David returned to Shell where he worked for the Australian, Dutch and Swedish operations covering several senior roles including Chief Executive of Swedish Shell (1987), Head of Marketing in Shell International, London (1990), Managing Director of Shell UK responsible for the oil products business (1992) and finally being appointed Head of Shell Oil Products, Europe in 1995.

[read more]

Alexis Cleveland
Director General, Transformational Government and Head of Cabinet Office Management

After a short academic career, Alexis joined the Department of Health and Social Security as an Assistant Statistician. In her early career she worked on policy development, finance, planning, and data management. In 1989 she moved to the Information Technology Services Agency where she ran large scale IT development programmes and managed live service delivery.

[read more]

Janet Callender
Chief Executive, Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council

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.

[read more]

Ben Page
Chairman, Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute

Named one of the "100 most influential people in the public sector" by the Guardian newspaper, Ben Page is Chairman of the Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute, and Managing Director of Public Affairs for Ipsos MORI, taking overall responsibility for our government and public sector practice worldwide.

[read more]

Ros Gardner
Specialist in Customer Care Excellece

Ros Gardner is a specialist in Customer Care Excellence. Twenty-seven years with Marks & Spencer has given her experience in both human resources and business management. For two years Rosalyn was Director of Operations for the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, responsible for the day to day running of the CAB's in England Wales and Northern Ireland.

[read more]