Newham Council has formally approved the appointment of Althea Loderick to be its new Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service.
The appointment, confirmed during Monday’s Council meeting at the Old Town Hall in Stratford, followed a rigorous selection process. Althea will replace Katherine Kerswell who has been Interim Chief Executive since August 2018.
Althea is arriving from Brent Council where she has been Strategic Director of Resources since June 2016. Before that she was Chief Operating Officer at Waltham Forest Council for two years, where she was first appointed as Director of Human Resources and Transformation in 2010.
As well as roles across local government she has experience in large national public sector organisations including as service director in the National Policing Improvement Agency, working on modernising workforce strategy which affected almost 250,000 employees across 42 police forces in England and Wales. She has also worked at Enfield and Hammersmith & Fulham councils. She began her career in roles dealing with homelessness and housing.
Althea said: "I am delighted to be offered the role of Chief Executive for Newham Council and to have the opportunity to work with Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz and members, staff, partners and residents to bring about better outcomes for Newham’s citizens. I am particularly excited about the prospect of taking forward the excellent work already begun to truly place people at the heart of everything we do.”
The Mayor said: “I am delighted to be able to welcome Althea who brings with her particular strengths in personal leadership, transformation and culture change. I am looking forward to working with her to accelerate the pace of resetting the goals and priorities of an organisation that puts people at the heart of everything it does.
"I want to thank Katherine Kerswell for all the amazing and brilliant work she has done in her time with us as interim. Her wisdom, insight, and experience, have been much appreciated. Althea will pick up the reins and continue the change programme currently under way, but Katherine has been a tremendous force in supporting our transition towards becoming the Council we want to be. I thank her for joining us for this part of the ride and I am looking forward to seeing what she does next.”