Peter Fanning, Deputy CEO, Office of Government Commerce

Peter Fanning joined the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) as Deputy Chief Executive in September 2004. Peter joined the OGC from London’s Centre of Procurement Excellence which he led as Interim Director based in the Association of London Government.

He previously served as Managing Director of IPF, the commercial arm of CIPFA and Chief Executive of the 4ps; a Local Government central body established to support Local Authorities procure through the PFI and other public private partnerships.

Peter spent over 12 years with the NatWest Group, which he left as a Director of NatWest Capital Markets in 1994. Peter is a Trustee and Board member of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust and a committee member of Hyde Housing Association.

Jo Beadsley, Cable & Wireless

Jo has been a Project Manager for Cable & Wireless for the last 6 ½ years and an employee for 10 years. She has held a variety of positions in her career with Cable Wireless however chose to specialise in Project Management in 1999.

In her career she has managed a wide range of internal projects, software implementations – managing third party suppliers and product portfolio solutions. Her key achievements are:

• Delivering the Business ISDN project providing £1.2m cost savings in 3 months
  
• Managing £20m customer migration from NTL to nPower,
  
• Implementing critical IT enhancements to ensure the successful launch of Carrier Pre-Select (CPS) and the 1st phase of the Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) regulatory project.

Jo is a qualified Prince 2 Practioner and has recently completed the implementation of the Project Management Tool rolling out this capability to 400 UK based employees.

Sue Vowler, Provek Ltd

Sue Vowler is an industry recognised consultant/expert in Programme and Project Management and Support. She has extensive knowledge and practical experience of Programme and Project Management methods design and implementation, with a particular interest in harmonising in-house work practices with industry best practice. Sue has acted as a method test and reference site for the Early Adopters scheme for PRINCE2 in association with OGC and has acted as a reviewer of enhancements of the method. She was also a reviewer/contributor to the development of “Managing Successful Programmes”, the best practice guidance on programme management from OGC. Sue is also passionate about “value added” Programme and Project Support Offices, with practical experience in the design and set up of a new breed of Centres of Excellence, providing decision support for business performance improvement. She currently sits on the Board for ISEB’s qualification in Programme and Project Support.

Sue spent several years as Head of Project Support for the Automobile Association (AA), establishing a successful Corporate PSO and Centre of Excellence and introducing a company wide support culture and acceptance of structured methods for change. In this role she was responsible for the Project Start up and running the Project support function for the strategic project to manage the Demutualisation the AA and subsequent acquisition by Centrica.

Sue is currently Consultancy Director for Provek Limited, providing advice, guidance and implementation support in Programme and Project Management to a wide variety of clients. Sue works with clients in both the public and private sectors, from PITO (Police IT Organisation) through local authorities to Housing Associations, Charities and large Telecomms companies.

She is a Registered Programme and Project Management Consultant (PPM RC) and a Registered PRINCE2 consultant and works with a variety of clients to tailor programme and project management methods to ensure delivery success. Since the introduction of Project Management Maturity Models, Sue has championed their use in organisations to focus development of best practice approaches.

Dave Derry

Dave has worked in IT for many years, at all levels and for many sectors, from retail to insurance to software house. Dave has only recently joined the public sector, and finds the co-operation and cross-fertilisation very refreshing.

Eddie Borup, Customer Projects

Eddie is widely experienced in programme and project management both as a Senior Manager and a Consultant. As Head of Programme and Project Management for a large Telco he successfully implemented the PRINCE2™ method, increasing productivity and reducing cost. Since 1998 he has consulted widely in all aspects of structured Programme and Project Management as the founder of Customer Projects Ltd. He has also designed and delivered training and development programmes for global and UK organisations.

Eddie is a full member of the Association of Project Management (APM) and Institute of Directors (IOD). He is an APMG registered PRINCE2™ practitioner and consultant and a Programme and Project Management Registered Consultant. Eddie is also part of the government (OGC) review team for the standard "Managing Successful Programmes" and is currently the Chairperson of The Best Practice User Group and the senior user on the project board for the next release of the PRINCE2™ manual.

Glenn Woodhead, Projects Team Leader, Barts & The London NHS Trust

Glenn is the Projects Team Leader for the ‘Barts and the London NHS Trust, one of Britain’s top teaching hospital trusts. The trust is currently undertaking Britain’s biggest PFI hospital redevelopment, a 1.2billion investment.

Glenn manages numerous projects on behalf of the Hospital. He is at the forefront of promoting the NHS Procure 21 initiative and is Chairman of the ‘London NHS Procure21 Networking Group’. Prior to working with in the NHS Glenn held senior management positions with Save the Children Fund, London Borough of Lambeth, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and Mercer Oliver Wyman.

Adam Smith. Chief Executive, Project Progress Ltd

Adam is a PRINCE2 practitioner with over 20 years experience in the construction-computing arena. Prior to Project Progress Ltd Adam was a founder of ASA Group in 1990 and was the driving force for its subsequent expansion into South Africa in 1996. Adam's leadership resulted in the establishment of ASA Group as one of the leading international exponents of Business Infrastructure Management. Clients have included Citibank, Ericsson, NHS, HSBC, Regus, Old Mutual, Virgin Atlantic and Allianz.

Alan Pellowe, Training & Quality Assurance Manager, West Midlands Regional Management Board (Fire), (Organisation: West Midlands Fire & Rescue Service)

Alan started with the West Midlands Fire Service as a Firefighter in 1977, and has spent the predominant part of his career as an operational Firefighter and Fire Officer. In previous years he has held various staff positions within the organisation where he has managed a number of projects for the organisation in procurement and development of new procedures. In the last three years Alan has been involved with the modernisation process within West Midlands Fire Service and has managed more structured projects using PRINCE2. He is currently Programme Manager for West Midlands Fire Service and is also responsible for the Co-ordination of Quality Assurance and Training in respect of the projects currently being managed under the West Midlands Regional Management Board.

Steve Worrall – Regional Programme Manager, West Midlands Regional Management Board (Fire) (Organisation: Shropshire Fire & Rescue Service)

Steve Worrall has served over 21 years with Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, prior to which, he trained as a skilled engineer with Rolls-Royce Motors Ltd. As a qualified project/programme manager and holding the rank of Assistant Chief Fire Officer, he is currently the Programme Manager for his Brigade and also the West Midlands Regional Fire and Rescue Management Board. In addition to operational command duties he specialises in the management of major and complex projects, including the current implementation within in his own Brigade of a TETRA based voice and data radio system (Airwave).

In 1999, he graduated from the University of Wolverhampton as a 'Master of Business Administration' and is currently at the halfway stage of a doctorate programme in which, amongst other subjects, he is researching stakeholder management in the public sector.

Steve lives with his (very tolerant) wife Karen in Telford, Shropshire. His interests include hill-walking, skiing, travel, theatre, DIY, travel, cycling and running.

Nigel Stock, Managing Consultant, Atkins Management Consultants

Nigel is a management consultant specialising in programme and project management. He has a degree in Engineering from Cambridge University and post-graduate qualifications in Marketing and Information Systems. He is a Registered PRINCE2 Practitioner, MSP Practitioner and Trainer, an OGC Registered ‘Centre of Excellence’ consultant and a Registered Management_of_Risk Practitioner.

Nigel can call on more than 18 years professional management experience across a wide range of disciplines, industries and organisations. He works effectively in both the private and public sector and has successfully led a number of projects and programmes, including working internationally. He has a strong track record of achievement, often operating as an agent for change in environments where the management of people and technology are critical success factors.

His consultancy work has covered mentoring for programme and project managers, providing thought leadership for business change and programme management strategy, and programme assurance. Nigel is also called on to provide workshop facilitation and designs and leads workshop-style learning events. Recent assignments have focussed, at the executive level, on bridging the gap between strategy and implementation.

Guy Reay, Business Planning & Strategy Manager, Severn Trent Water

Guy is the Business Planning & Strategy Manager for the Operations Directorate of Severn Trent Water and has over ten years experience in delivering business improvement within the Utility, Retail & Public Sectors.

He started his career in the National Health Service as an Operational Researcher, leading a review of communications processes in the Fosse Health NHS Trust, before joining Next to deliver a programme of process redesign for the Next Directory.

Following this, he moved to Severn Trent Water as a Project Leader in the Business Improvement Group and has since been responsible for delivering ambitious change programmes and projects in the Asset Management, Information Systems & Operations Directorates.

He was also involved in the start-up of a new STW business to translate core capabilities into services that would generate new income and worked as a consultant for Infraco BCV Ltd - one of the Infrastructure Companies involved in the Public-Private Partnership arrangements for London Underground.

Guy is also a PRINCE2 Practitioner and has led the introduction of PRINCE2 into Severn Trent.

John Edmonds, Senior Training Consultant, Peace Mayfield

John Edmonds is our Senior Training Consultant and leads the development and delivery of our PRINCE2 training solutions. John was previously in Senior Management with the West Bromwich Building Society, and then ran the commercial training subsidiary of Bournville College. John has won himself many fans among delegates on his Pearce Mayfield courses.

Trevor Parsons, South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority

Trevor Parsons has worked in the NHS for thirty years in planning and information/IT roles. Trevor spent five years as Programme Manager for the Sheffield Health Informatics Programme and Assistant Director of Sheffield Health Informatics Service. He joined the recently formed South Yorkshire Programme Team for implementation of the National Programme for IT in 2004.

Alan Baker, South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority

Alan Baker has worked in the NHS for almost 33 years and has been involved in Information Management and Technology (IM&T) since 1986. In 2000 he left his post of Director of IM&T in an NHS Trust to join the Trent Regional Health Authority team leading on "Information for Health". He took up his appointment as Programme Director for NPfIT in South Yorkshire in 2004.

Paul Johnston, e-Government Programme Manager, Northumberland County Council

Paul is a highly experienced project and programme manager and business change agent with a solid track record of delivering significant business benefits in private and public sector organisations. His early career was spent in the Financial Sector where he led the acceptance and implementation of numerous national projects to help ensure benefits realisation and profitable growth.

Paul’s current work as an internal consultant employed by Northumberland County Council has given him broad exposure to the key issues affecting local government and he has been particularly effective in focusing multi-agency partnerships on the achievement of common priorities.

Paul has recently introduced a standard project management methodology across the whole Council in Northumberland to increase the authority’s capacity and capability to deliver successful change. Paul and his colleagues acknowledged that using PRINCE2 to run smaller projects presented challenges – not least the tailoring required to apply the method without compromising its logic or integrity. He worked closely with Novare Consulting using their MicroP2 product to embed a simplified method for smaller projects which was available to all Projects across the Council. With over 150 users willingly taking up the approach Northumberland have benefited from evidence-based decision-making and an increased focus on benefit delivery.

Chris Ferguson, Managing Director, Novare Consulting Limited

Chris is the Managing Director and co-founder of Novare Consulting Limited – a company specialising in Project and Programme Management.

After many years as a Project Manager in industry Chris joined Duhig Berry, one of the leading providers of project management training and consultancy to the Public Sector. His career with Duhig Berry involved embedding PRINCE, delivering training courses in Project Management, running projects for clients and providing assurance to various programmes. After leading business development for the company Chris was appointed Managing Director of Duhig Berry and led the business through various strategic change programmes within OSI and subsequently Xansa.

Chris is one of the designers of PRINCE2, now the de facto standard for Project Management across many sectors and countries. He has helped many organisations understand the value of project management and invest in embedding new approaches and methods. Chris has lectured internationally on project direction and programme leadership at Board and senior management level in both public and private sector organisations. He is equally adept at explaining project management principles to those new to the profession.

Chris worked closely with Paul Johnston in implementing MicroP2 across all projects in Northumberland County Council. The take up of the solution among Council Managers has been comprehensive due to the straightforward nature of the product and the value to the Council has been profound.

Steve Scholey, Programme Manager, The Environment Agency

Steve has been working at Director level in the organisation running the ‘Shaping the Organisation Programme’ dealing strategically with major corporate change initiatives and is the Project Executive for the Agency’s PPM Benchmarking Project.

He has specialised in programme management and managed a number of high profile corporate change programmes.

As Programme Manager for the Water Management Business Change Programme he is responsible in this area for implementing the Government drive for efficiencies in the public sector - the challenge is to deliver the same or improved services while absorbing a multi-million pound cut in budget.

The results of the Benchmarking Project are seen as vital in establishing the current PPM delivery capability. This information enables a programme of balanced, prioritised, initiatives to be initiated to maximise the chances of PPM success and increase efficiency.

Geoff Groom, The Projects Group plc

Geoff Groom initial experience was within BT, covering work from the management of 350 exchange staff to initiation and controlling telephone exchange extensions. He was a founder member of BT’s project management training group and developed their first computer based planning event.

With TPG, Geoff has played a key role in implementing TPG Academy and now concentrates on consultancy business. He is motivated by achievement of successful transfer of Project Management approaches into the work environment, he works with staff from team to Director level.

The developer of TPG’s comprehensive Benchmarking Approach, which includes Individual, Project, Maturity and Governance assessments against National Standards, Geoff is now devoting a significant amount of his time to working with companies to enhance their overall programme and project management capability.

Geoff became one of the first APMG Accredited Project Management Maturity Assessors using the OGC model, and has established that this assessment combined with Governance assessment provides a comprehensive view of the organisational Programme and Project capability with clear, targeted development plans naturally deriving from this information.

Allison Parsons, Corporate Director, Sedgemoor District Council

Allison began her local government career with Somerset County Council as an accountant and having qualified moved to Sedgemoor taking up the role of senior accountant progressing to the post of Head of Finance in 2000. Since this time she has taken on additional responsibilities.

Allison became Corporate Director in 2004, when her remit expanded to include property, customer services, e-government and risk management. As a member of the Council’s Management Team, Allison is currently heading up the e-agenda and the transformation process for the organisation.

Over the last twelve months, in addition to her normal responsibilities, Allison has been lead Director in the refurbishment of the Council’s main offices delivering the £3.9million project both within budget and on time!

Alan Ferguson, Managing Director, AFA

Alan Ferguson is the founder and managing director of AFA, an organisation which delivers consultancy and training predicated on MSP programme management, PRINCE2 project management and M_o_R risk management.

During his early career, Alan gained broad experience in the engineering, aeronautical and insurance sectors. AFA now deliver its services to both public and private clients, including financial services organisations, hospitals, IT services, local authorities and central government departments.

Alan wrote the book ‘Tailoring PRINCE2’ which looks at the scaling and implementation of PRINCE2 for different types and size of project.

He has served on review panels for all three of the Best Practice manuals. Alan’s current workload includes advising a multi-million pound safety-critical organisation, introducing change within a European civil aviation organisation and developing a project management software tool.

Ian Paterson, Corporate Head of Programme Management, Birmingham City Council

Ian Paterson began his career working for the private sector in the IT computer services industry involved in data control, operations, programming, analysis through to project and team management. As a supplier this provided him with an excellent grounding in both project management and customer care perspective. Deadlines were always tight and effective project management, together with some elongated days, was the only way to survive such a fast moving environment.

Ian moved to Local Authorities some 23 years ago starting at Coventry City Council and then Birmingham City Council. Throughout his local government career, Ian has managed projects, programmes and teams. There have been a variety of different projects not limited to IT development.

Over the last few years Ian has managed teams of project managers implementing some very large scale IT applications.

Ian now has a key role with responsibility for several teams including a city-wide set up of a Programme Management Office (PMO) for Business Transformation. This is very challenging as it involves the co-ordination of projects / programmes across the largest local authority in the UK as well as leading on business transformation. Birmingham City Council is making significant progress in focusing its projects on sound business cases that support a business transformation approach, aligned with a corporate prioritisation process, all being developed by the PMO.

Ian Maudsley, Euler Hermes UK PLC

Historically residing within IT running various major projects/migrations using PRINCE2 techniques and now within Corporate Operations as Business Programme Manager, I am responsible for organising the Project Portfolio using our Business Planning & Investment Committee (Director driven programme prioritisation). Controlled change management and investment in those projects delivering the most benefit is vital to the business. Additionally I am managing several Business Process Improvement projects driven by Operational Excellence quality management techniques and using PRINCE2.

Nick Thomas, Spring IT

Nick started his career in British Airways in 1990 as a Programmer in Database and Client / Server applications. After 4 years, he was asked to move into IT Support to head up the Desktop support team responsible for all staff based at the Heathrow and Gatwick terminals. At the end of his secondment, he moved into the IT Training Department as a training consultant on the Local Area Network and Internet Systems in use by British Airways.

In 1997, Nick joined Nortel Networks as a Senior Training Consultant on their Data Communications and Network Management products. He also had the dual role of Business Support Project Manager, controlling the technical assets (in excess of £100m) of the training department across EMEA.

Nick moved to Spring IT Training in the Spring of 2002 as a Senior Programme Manager and Principal Lecturer in PRINCE2®. He is also an accredited lecturer in M_o_R and delivers a wide range of courses from Boardroom Briefings to full accreditation courses.

Hans Smit, President Director, Port of Rotterdam

Mr. Hans Smit has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Rotterdam. Mr Smit was already a member of the board of supervisory directors and acting general director. Up until now he has combined the latter position with that of director of the management consultancy Arthur D. Little.

Mr Smit began his career with the Ministry of Waterways and Public Works and later became secretary-general of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, Chief Executive Officer of Schiphol and chairman of the board of directors of Rabobank Nederland. Most recently he was director of the Dutch branch of Arthur D. Little management consultants.

Mr Smit studied Civil Engineering and Business Administration

Graham Z Smith, Project, programme consultant, Camelot

My career has focused on the management of change, including delivery of programme and project, method and process, lecturing, consultancy, and business analysis. My varied experience, I like to think, has equipped me to deal with challenge in a spectrum of business areas including IT, customer management, logistics, marketing & sales, financial management, communications, and previously construction.

I am currently project / programme consultant in Camelot (lottery). This involved establishing and maintaining PRINCE2 in the business including accreditation as a PRINCE2 Accredited Training Organisation, providing project management elements for Camelot's CMM ( Capability Maturity Model), advice on project and programme management to Camelot’s Departments , Suppliers, Shareholders, and others, delivery of regular workshops on PRINCE2 project management for levels of management from executive to project worker, delivery of PRINCE2 Practitioners course, coaching of project managers, setting up and maintaining programme and project support office, and project assurance.

Previous experience in the Post Office involved managing two programmes –their Change of Address Programme and their Delivering Excellent Client Services Programme and also providing guidance to project managers on all aspects of programme and project management including management of risks, issue control, change management, quality control, project planning, organisation roles and responsibilities.

Before that I managed projects in Barnardos, and worked in Atkins on various studies and as a lecturer.

Previous work in MOD (Army) included project management, line management and software training. Projects were various including both IT and construction projects.

I have an MA in Chemistry with specialisation in Molecular Quantum Mechanics.

I find pleasure in mountainous regions, and am relaxed when scrambling along a rocky ridgeline, ascending a buttress, and discovering the interesting twists and turns of remote mountain paths.

I enjoy adventures with the French language.

Marelize Visser, Enterprise Programme Office Manager, British American Tobacco, South Africa

Guy Eastoe, Managing Director, Snap-Tech (Pty) Ltd, South Africa

Ken May, Project Support Officer, Isle of Wight Council

Ken is an Internal Auditor (IT) with the Isle of Wight Council currently on secondment to establish a Project Support Office. Since working for Gillingham Borough Council in 1983, Ken has been involved, in equal measure, in programme management, project management, project support and internal auditing – continually facilitating change. Ken has a wealth of experience in establishing project support offices for organisations such as Sun Life Financial of Canada and Legal & General.

At the Isle of Wight he is using the opportunity to acquire and rollout a methodology and a toolkit specifically designed to assist everyone working on projects - a project in its own right. Ken is often to be found at the heart of the organisational change agenda whether it is programme or project managing or support and providing assurance services - that's a pretty big agenda on the Island at this time.

Chris Venning, Head of Change Governance, Barclays Bank.

Chris is responsible for ensuring that, across the Barclays Group, they deliver the originally defined benefits in a controlled, effective manner, via the Barclays Group Change Governance Framework. The Barclays Group Change Governance Framework is the model for change that is used across the Clusters that comprise the Barclays Group.

Chris is responsible for the success and delivery of monetary and quantifiable benefits from the Barclays Group Change Governance Framework. He is responsible for the adoption and embedding of Prince 2 and MSP, the integration of the two methodologies with each other and Changefirst, and embedding these within the Barclays Group Change Governance Framework. The Barclays Group Change Governance Framework is used, for example, to address the regulatory (e.g. Sarb-Ox and Basle II) requirements around change. Chris has introduced and managed structured, coherent approaches to change for the last 15 years, at blue chips including NatWest, Hitachi Europe and Cable & Wireless.

Brian Sutton, Director of Learning at QA.

Brian is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institute of IT Training, a member of the British Computer Society and a Certified IT Professional. He holds membership of the PMI and the APM and is a Prince practitioner. He consults and lectures on Project and Programme management.

At QA, Brian’s primary emphasis is the strategic direction of the company’s public programme of technical, project management and professional skills training. Recognised for his expertise in Learning and Development, Brian consults widely with QA clients, is a champion of integrated learning solutions and is at the forefront of the drive to demonstrate the organisational value of learning initiatives. The head of QA’s Learning Methodologies Unit (LMU), Brian ensures the continued quality and educational excellence of the QA learning experience.

Richard Moret, Senior consultant project and change Manager, accreditated PRINCE2 Consultant, Expecto

Richard Moret, 34 years old, is a registered PRINCE2 consultant, project manager and project consultant from Expecto Project and Change Management. He is an experienced project and change manager and consultant, specialising in complex projects and implementation of the PRINCE2 methodology. He specialises in PRINCE2 implementations and development of the methodology within organisations. He was the first person ever accrediting a large infrastructural project using the PRINCE2 Project Maturity Model.

Richard studied Theory of Education and Psychology at Leiden University, complemented with Business Administration at the Hogeschool Rotterdam. He worked at the Ministry of Defence in several projects and until the 1st of May 2004, he has been Manager Projects and Deputy Manager Services and Network Realisation at a company providing broadband network access in The Netherlands.

Ron Higgins, Former Chief Executive Hertsmere Borough Council.

Ron Higgins is the retired Chief Executive of Hertsmere Borough Council. A chartered civil engineer by profession, he commenced his career with Westminster City Council as a trainee before moving into motorway design and construction for the Department of Transport and project management as an expatriate for the Hong Kong Government. Following brief spells working on property development and in water operations, Ron moved into overseas sales, marketing and business development for Thames Water International where the use of project management techniques was to play a major role. He returned to local government in 1989 as a chief officer where he was able to apply his many years of practical project management experience in the rapidly changing world of public services.

Caroline Wheeler-Rowe, Learning and Development Business Partner, BT One IT

Dr Thomas Docker, Chairman, CITI

Thomas has worked in or managed civil engineering, engineering, information technology and business projects. After starting his career in civil engineering, where he worked on a number of large projects, Thomas moved into IT, working for a major computer manufacturer before running his own consultancy company and working in academia in New Zealand.

He has been in management education for more than twenty five years, and project management development and consultancy for the last eighteen years. As a founding partner of CITI, Thomas has led the development of many its products and services. He has also helped many blue chip and government organisations improve their capacity to successfully run projects. On a one-to-one coaching basis, he has supported programme and project managers in strategic change initiatives and critical programmes, including introduction of the euro.

He is Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney for the International Masters and Professional Doctorate in Project Management, jointly run with ESC Lille in France. He is also an elected member of Council of the Association for Project Management (APM) and heads its Professional Development Board.

Thomas is actively involved in research in the profiling of project managers and project-based organisations, and the development of centres of excellence in project and programme management.