Public Service Events - HR07 - Skills for the Future Speaker Biographies

Mark Fisher, Chief Executive, Sector Skills Development Agency

Mark was appointed as Chief Executive of the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) in October 2005.

Mark was born in 1960 and grew up in the West Country. He joined the Civil Service in 1983 as a fast stream trainee.

After his traineeship in the then Department of Health and Social Security, including as Private Secretary to various Ministers, Mark worked on welfare policy and spent two years in the Cabinet Office secretariat, advising on local government finance (including the abolition and replacement of the poll tax), global warming, pensions reform, public sector pay, and the unsuccessful Manchester Olympic bid.

Mark subsequently worked in the Benefits Agency, working on reducing benefit fraud, and in 1997 was appointed HR Director of the Benefits Agency and latterly of the whole DSS Group. He played a central role in the successful merger of the DSS with the Employment Department to form the Department for Work and Pensions, and the merger of the Benefits Agency with the Employment Service to form Jobcentre Plus.

Mark became a Board Director of Jobcentre Plus, the key instrument in the Government's welfare to work programme, in November 2001.

Mark has been a Director of Working Links (Employment) Ltd., and an advisor for the Prince's Trust Team programme.

Mark lives in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, with his wife Helen.

Presentation:

• How to best develop the HR profession
• Leadership and management in the public sector
• Challenges and barriers to progress.