Mayor of Newham Rokhsana Fiaz is pleased to announce that she has recommended the selection of Althea Loderick to be the Council’s new Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service.
Members of Newham’s Chief Officer Appointment Sub-committee, chaired by the Mayor, met with Althea on Friday (8 March) to undertake a final interview as part of rigorous selection process. The next meeting of the Council on 18 March will be asked to agree the recommendation of her appointment.
Althea is set to replace Katherine Kerswell who has been Interim Chief Executive since August 2018. A start date is yet to be agreed subject to the decision of the Council.
Althea is currently at 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.
Mayor Fiaz said: “I am delighted to be recommending Althea as our new permanent Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service. Subject to approval of the Council 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.
“Althea is excited by our desire to repurpose Newham and will bring with her particular strengths in personal leadership, transformation and culture change. She also shares the commitment of this new administration in advancing resident involvement in decision-making and helping us drive Newham forward as a beacon of participatory democracy.
"My thanks to Katherine Kerswell for the fantastic work she has been doing, and will continue to do in the period before Althea’s arrival. Althea will pick up the reins and continue the change programme currently under way so that Newham Council delivers for the benefit of all our residents. Katherine has been a tremendous force in supporting our transition towards becoming the Council we want to be by helping me put in place the foundations to drive our borough forward. Her wise counsel has been appreciated by my Cabinet members and I. We all wish her every success in her future roles.”
Councillor Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, said: “Althea is passionate about delivering high-quality public services which provides the strong foundations needed to help improve residents' lives. We will be sorry to see her go.”