Adrian Pyne has two impressive track records: practical and professional. For more than 20 years he has run or rescued change projects and programmes in many sectors, learning all the time how to adapt successfully. Adrian has also put this knowledge to good use in designing, building and managing project and programme management capability for organisations. Since 1995, he has worked mostly as an independent consultant. Professionally, Adrian has been at the forefront of the evolution of programme and portfolio management best practice. He is a frequent speaker, has written papers and is co-author of The Gower Handbook of Programme Management. Adrian is also a visiting lecturer, eg at Nottingham University Business School. Adrian says: "Despite all the great developments in best practice over the last 20-30 years, largely in process and (software) tools, much change still fails, wasting huge investment. This is because organisations seem unable to address that most difficult success factor – people. There is so much potential for work in this area and for good, very good business reasons."


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David Pitchford has operated at CEO level in large-scale organisations for over 25 years, both in Australia and internationally.

Prior to joining the Cabinet Office, he was the Chief Executive of Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, the world's largest land reclamation project and before that, the Chief Executive of the City of Melbourne in Australia. Before that role, he was the Chief Operating Officer of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.


Presentation: The skills and tools for leadership

Strong leadership is key to driving successful programmes of change in the public sector. Initiatives such as the recently announced Leadership Academy provide the skills and tools needed to manage these programmes successfully, ensuring they are delivered on time and on budget.

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Prior to joining Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, Graham White spent 10 years in local government, most recently as the Director of HR at Westminster City Council. Here he implemented many changes, including the council's redundancy programme, making budget savings of over £20m.

Graham's preceding career was mainly in the private sector with positions in a variety of commercial and financial institutions including manufacturing, retail, banking and policing.

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, Graham is a devoted family man who is personally committed to the values of flexible working as he maintains a full family life in his home in Northern Ireland and a busy professional career in the UK.

Presentation: Transforming public sector performance

People are at the heart of any organisation and success is very much reliant on the engagement of staff, particularly when adopting new working practices and strategies such as lean and agile management. Total workforce commitment is required in order to deliver real results.

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Judy has been Talent Development Manager at Imperial College London since 2008, introducing a range of talent programmes for staff identified as having the potential to take on more senior roles. She has led a project sponsored by the Leadership Foundation to develop materials for their website on succession and talent management initiatives that can be shared across the HE sector.

She has set up an internal Coaching Academy at Imperial, to provide talent coaches for the programmes as well as to provide coaching more widely to College staff.

Judy led the Learning and Development team at Imperial from 2003 and before that set up the training function at Kingston University in 1989.

As well as experience of old and new universities, Judy spent some years in local government in the 1980s.

Presentation: Introducing talent management initiatives in HE – the challenges, successes and lessons learned

Higher education has a long history of respecting the needs and aspirations of the individual, of organic rather than top-down change as well as discomfort with singling out individuals for special treatment. How can talent management be successfully introduced? This session will look at the successes and challenges of introducing talent management schemes at Imperial College and the learning points for the sector and beyond.

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Terry Huggins was appointed Chief Executive of South Holland District Council in 2003 and of Breckland Council in 2010. During his time as Chief Executive of South Holland, the council has moved from an independent inspection rating of 'fair' to 'excellent' and has been innovative in its approach to tackling issues. It has established its own housing company to build affordable homes and a jointly owned business services company, of which he is a director, to deliver mainly support services back to South Holland and others. Since being appointed as joint chief executive of South Holland and Breckland Councils, Terry has introduced an integrated shared management structure to serve the two authorities. He is President of the Society of Local Government Chief Executives (SOLACE). Currently he is in discussions with a third local authority to join the joint management arrangement.

Presentation: Collaborative leadership

Collaboration and joint working are significant terms in the lexicon of the public sector reforms. Facilitating collaboration between diverse stakeholders is a great challenge, but one which must be embraced by public service leaders.

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Anne is Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development at Norfolk County Council which serves Norfolk's population of 850,000. Norfolk is a high performing Council, recognised as delivering good value for money by residents and by the Audit Commission. It has sustained good levels of customer satisfaction and staff engagement as it transforms and modernises its services to meet the demands of public service reform and reducing finances.

Anne has over fifteen years' experience in senior HR positions in local government. She is passionate about public services, their value and their capacity for continuing improvement. She is Chair of the Governing Body for West Earlham Junior School in Norwich.

Anne is Past President of the Public Sector People Managers' Association (PPMA) for 2012-13, having been President in 2011-12. She was PPMA Regional Chair in the East of England from 2006-2010. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD). Anne was voted the 17th Most Influential HR Practitioner in the UK by HR Magazine in 2011.

Presentation: Driving cultural change – leading transformation

The ongoing public sector reforms require not just service restructuring but a deep culture change across the board. Only through outstanding leadership can public managers achieve the outcomes that are required.

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