Greater Manchester Leaders Plus Candidates

Chris is a project manager with 20 years of experience in delivery across a variety of sectors in both the UK and Australia. Starting his career in Nuclear decommissioning in Cumbria, he led a number of engineering refurbishment projects before moving into consultancy to focus on projects in commercial, residential and education. Since joining Muse, Chris has been delivering a complex town centre regeneration scheme with Local Authority partners, leading a large multidiscipline project team.

Jamie is the Assistant Director for Strategic Infrastructure at Stockport Council. Jamie is responsible for approximately 110 staff delivering capital design, maintenance, policy, streetworks, road safety, flood risk, engineering and other built environment functions. He is a dual-qualified transport and town planner, with additional qualifications in project management. Prior to joining Stockport Council, he held senior positions at Mott MacDonald, delivering major projects for both local and global clients.

Anna is a Chartered Planning and Development Surveyor (MRICS) and Senior Consultant at Arup, specialising in managing masterplanning, economic strategy and business case development projects, with extensive experience in supporting local authorities to develop the case for investment in development and regeneration schemes. She has experience managing multi-disciplinary teams and is an Association for Project Management (APM) accredited Project Manager. Anna also brings experience from secondments with the GMCA and Homes England.

Emma is a Regeneration Consultant helping local authorities and developers across the UK shape deliverable, well‑funded masterplans through strategic advice, business case development, procurement, and stakeholder engagement. Prior to this, she project‑managed the delivery of Mayfield Park for U+I (now Landsec), creating Manchester’s first city‑centre park in a century, and led the masterplanning and Strategic Regeneration Framework for ID Manchester (now Sister) at Bruntwood SciTech. Emma brings a commercially focused, partnership‑driven approach to complex regeneration and placemaking projects

Sarah has 20+ years’ experience across public and private sectors, with a focus on market segment analysis, stakeholder engagement strategies and business development. She currently leads stakeholder insight at Homes England. Previously she spent 11 years in the private sector in client leadership roles for EY, including Regional Business Development Director for the North West and Regional Business Development Director for the Midlands. Prior to EY, she spent nine years in regeneration strategy and inward investment project delivery in Manchester and Birmingham inward investment agencies and local government.

Amy has 20+ years’ experience working in NHS and Local Authority roles with a focus on population health, prevention and system-wide service transformation. She values collaborative working to reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes for communities. With foundations in Nutrition and Dietetics, she brings experience in evidence-based public health, engaging partners and communities, and contributing to place-based approaches. Amy is committed to continuous learning and supporting teams, aiming to create the conditions for effective public health practice that helps improve wellbeing across Wigan and the wider system.

Sabine is a chartered Planning and Development surveyor specialising in development and regeneration. She previously worked client-side as a Development Manager, delivering office and residential schemes across Greater Manchester, and is now an Associate Director in CBRE's Development Advisory team, specialising in public-sector development and regeneration advice from strategy to delivery. Sabine is passionate about improving social mobility, particularly within the built environment sector and continues to support Regeneration Brainery across Manchester and Liverpool.

Hayley is Strategic Lead for City Centre Development at Manchester City Council and a town planner with over 20 years’ regeneration experience across the public and private sectors. She provides senior leadership on complex, multi‑stakeholder programmes, specialising in unlocking strategic sites, securing investment and shaping long‑term city centre development. At MCC, Hayley leads major programmes including St Johns, Water Street, St Mary’s Parsonage and Sister, alongside a wider portfolio of strategic sites and assets. Her career spans senior roles delivering large‑scale urban regeneration, commercial and housing programmes. Hayley is committed to place‑led growth, which delivers lasting economic and social value

Ellie, a Chartered Town Planner, has over a decade of experience in housing, regeneration, and investment. She has worked across the public and private sectors and has a strong understanding of placemaking that transforms communities through innovative and sustainable solutions. Ellie’s current work involves driving forward the Place agenda, economic development and transformational change through the GM Growth Locations programme and the Good Growth Fund. She also established the Regeneration Skills Academy in collaboration with FoGM to nurture the next generation of regeneration professionals.

Nathaniel is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with over a decade of experience delivering low-carbon building solutions across residential, healthcare, education and commercial developments. He has led multidisciplinary design teams and now focuses on MEP and sustainability strategy, helping projects balance environmental performance, commercial viability and long-term resilience. Passionate about decarbonisation and the transition to net zero, Nathaniel is committed to delivering practical, scalable solutions that support thriving communities and a more sustainable built environment.

Alun leads services including Strategic Communications, the Chief Executive's office, the Leader's office and the Civic and Ceremonial function. He is also a member of the health Locality Management Team, and a member of a community health equity group with partners spanning the public and voluntary sector. Alun also led a programme to employ more of Manchester's school and college leavers in the council, leading to a more diverse employee profile.

Tom is an experienced security consultant and structural engineer, working across transportation, property, venues and public spaces. His focus is on coordinated security design, working with clients to develop and implement effective security strategies. Tom is experienced in working with complex multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder teams to identify security needs; implement these during design; and ensure designs support effective security operations. Outside project delivery, Tom has experience working with operators of existing sites to assess their security posture, identify possible vulnerabilities and support with implementing security strategies to address any such vulnerabilities

Director and co-founder of MUD CIC, an award-winning social enterprise. Sam's background is Engineering and System Design but after training in commercial market gardening, he went on to start Platt Fields Market Garden on a disused bowling green. Since 2019, Sam has helped establish and run MUD Kitchen catering, a community cafe, farmers’ markets, community events, wellbeing and training programmes, and several urban farms including 3 one-acre community market gardens and rooftop gardens facilitating 10,000+ volunteer hours annually. Since 2025, Sam sits as a member of the Manchester Food Board promoting a better food system.

Isobel is a Chartered Planning and Development Surveyor with extensive experience leading complex regeneration programmes. She has worked across consultancy, local government and a national agency, delivering major estate regeneration projects such as Woodberry Down in Hackney and shaping long‑term strategies from early feasibility through delivery. In her current role, Isobel works nationally to help local authorities unlock large, complex sites, particularly across the North. Her approach integrates effective stakeholder collaboration, meaningful community engagement and a clear focus on place‑making to support successful regeneration delivery.

Alberto is a Chartered Engineer and Transport Planning Professional working with public and private sector clients across development, transport and infrastructure projects in the North West. He specialises in movement and place-led regeneration, bringing together transport planning, urban design and master planning to create healthy, sustainable and resilient places designed for people. Alberto thrives in complex regeneration settings, where he collaborates with multidisciplinary teams from early feasibility through to planning and delivery, using critical thinking and clear communication to unlock sites and support successful people-focused change across the region.

Kieran leads on regional public sector digital transformation, supporting the delivery of the GM Strategy and helping to build responsible, data-driven public services. He is driven to deliver better outcomes for the people of Greater Manchester, and has led the implemention of innovative solutions that have enhanced public service delivery, making it more efficient, transparent, and user-centric. Kieran is passionate about emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, and how they can be best used to address key regional challenges.

Kathy has spent the last five years in a senior leadership role at GMP as part of the team that has taken the force from "special measures" to top performing. She has led multi-disciplinary communication and engagement teams for over 25 years in the public and private sector including police, fire, NHS, local authority and the defence sector. Broader responsibilities have included organisational governance and DEI. Kathy is passionate about leveraging communication and engagement as a strategic function that achieves business outcomes. She particularly enjoys crisis communication management. She is interested in skills development and social mobility.

Tom is a construction disputes lawyer specialising in advising private and public clients on a wide range of contentious construction matters across a variety of sectors, including residential and commercial development and regeneration, manufacturing, hotel and leisure, and offsite and modular.

Tom's core practice involves providing strategic risk management advice and acting in all forms of dispute resolution, including construction litigation and adjudication.

Tom advises on all aspects of construction disputes, with significant experience in defects claims, notably fire safety and cladding defects; payment, delay and loss and expense disputes, professional negligence claims, and contractor-insolvency matters.