For the last 26 years, Richard has been a local authority chief executive.
Richard has just stood down from the helm at Central Bedfordshire Council, a unitary authority created from the merger of a County Council and two District Councils, in October 2009. Since then, the Council has delivered significant improvements in key areas such as Children’s Services, Adult Social Care and Regeneration, against the background of a challenging financial climate.
Richard has worked for seven councils throughout his career and led four as Chief Executive. He first became Chief Executive of East Cambridgeshire District Council in 1995 and then Aylesbury Vale District Council in 2000. He then took over as Chief Executive of Wolverhampton City Council in 2006.
Throughout his career, Richard has led major programmes of change, including two housing stock transfers, a £350m Building Schools for the Future programme and several urban regeneration projects.
Between May 2017 and October 2020, Richard was the Senior Responsible Officer for the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care System (ICS) serving a population of a million people and comprising fifteen organisations straddling the NHS and Local Government.
Richard has also been a University governor and a governor of two Colleges of Further Education.