I like contributing to my local area and can bring extensive experience of planning and architecture, business, health and wellbeing and community engagement through work in the private, public and voluntary sectors. I have been an entrepreneur, a business leader as well as a trustee and Chair of a number of charities and as a school governor. I have also acted in an advisory capacity to Government and research organisations. Having built my own business in London and stewarded it through its acquisition by a large, listed US-based company and continued as its Managing Director and later Chairman in Europe, establishing the business’ strategic assets and then growing the business through the careful identity of new goals and policies, was my key responsibility. Managing financial obligations was central to the roles I have held, as was risk assessment and adding value and securing growth. A vital aspect has been to ensure that multi-faceted stakeholder groups were engaged through transition. Going through a similar process at a London primary school and several charities on a voluntary basis, helped broaden my experience in recognising and creating brand value and introducing novel revenue streams alongside strengthening customer relations. Managing such change endorsed the need to ensure fairness and clarify expectations across different constituencies, and above all, creating great places to work. Recently, I have been following an early passion for the connections between the built environment and engagement with the arts, both in practice and as an academic journey, and as a break from employment. This has led to a strong interest in the way buildings affect people’s behaviour, quality of life and engagement in their surroundings and community. I enjoy being an advocate for the services I work with, and feel that external positioning, making the values of the organisations visible, both internally and externally is a strength. I believe I have a reputation for inspiring others to offer their best, and as an innovator and passionate leader of best practice. I believe in asking questions to motivate others, helping everyone in an organisation to lead on something, valuing different perspectives to draw out the benefits to customers of the services offered, and cultivating a research into practice way of working with the end user as a critical consultee.