Newham Council is pleased to announce the appointments of Jessica Crowe as permanent Corporate Director of People, Policy and Performance, and Jamie Blake as permanent Corporate Director of Environment and Sustainable Transport.
Members of the Chief Officer Appointments Sub-committee, chaired by Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz, met to undertake final interviews as part of a rigorous selection process.
Jessica will lead and co-ordinate the corporate functions of policy, research and performance; resident engagement and participation, including community neighbourhoods and citizen’s assemblies; communications; corporate governance; democratic services and member support; and customer services and complaints.
Jamie will lead and manage services including recycling, street cleansing and waste management; highways, traffic management and sustainable transport; community safety; licensing and regulatory services; parks and open spaces; and services dealing with the climate emergency.
Jessica will be joining from Sutton Council where she is Assistant Director for Customers, Commissioning and Governance. Previous experience includes being Executive Director of the Centre of Public Scrutiny, and policy roles at the Local Government Association, Local Government Intelligence Unit, and the Greater London Assembly. She has also been a member of independent recovery boards supporting turnaround programmes at three local authorities.
She said: “I’ll be very sorry to leave Sutton but am pleased to be leaving one ambitious Council for another. I am looking forward to joining a brand new corporate management team in Newham working to support an ambitious Mayor and administration with a focus on strong governance and positive outcomes for residents."
Jamie will join from Barnet Council where he has been Executive Director for Environment since 2015. Before that he was Director for Public Realm at Tower Hamlets Council and Director Operations at London Remade, a specialist regeneration business.
He said: “I am looking forward to supporting Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz and Chief Executive Althea Loderick in delivering a local environment that residents deserve, including better air quality and sustainable transport, as well dealing with the pressing issue of the climate emergency.”
Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz said: “I am delighted that Jessica and Jamie will be joining us. They will bring with them a vast amount of experience and knowledge. I look forward to working with them as they support me and my Cabinet colleagues in delivering improvements in these important areas of the Council's work, and on behalf of our residents.”
Chief Executive Althea Loderick said: “We are making very good progress on our corporate restructure at the top level of the organisation. These two latest appointments are very good news.”
Helen Bailey, Chief Executive of Sutton Council, said: “We will miss Jess. She’s been instrumental in making sure that all our commissioning work, in the widest sense, starts with the end in mind - the benefits that we want for our residents and users of our services. Outcomes-based commissioning is at the heart of our Ambitious for Sutton corporate plan. Jess will leave behind her a great legacy through her innovative approach to commissioning and her drive for public service reform, particularly our collaboration with partners through the Sutton Plan. Newham are lucky to be getting her and I wish her all the best.”