Co-operative council citizens' commission members
Biographies of the commission's members.
Councillor Steve Reed: Leader of Lambeth Council (Chair of the Commission)
Councillor Steve Reed was elected Leader of Lambeth Council in 2006 winning re-election with an increased majority in 2010, the first time any administration has been re-elected in Lambeth for twenty years. He has been a councillor for Brixton Hill Ward since 1998. Steve launched a major public consultation in May 2010 on proposals to establish Lambeth as Britain's first Co-operative Council, aiming to encourage public sector organisations to work more closely with communities and service users to deliver more responsive services that offer better value for money. Steve is Executive Board Member for Children and Young People's Services at London Councils, Deputy Chairman of the Local Government Association, Labour's deputy leader in local government nationally and chairman of Central London Forward.
Before entering politics Steve worked in academic and professional publishing for a number of global publishing and information organisations.
Councillor Jackie Meldrum: Deputy Leader of Lambeth Council
Councillor Jackie Meldrum is the Deputy Leader of the Council, and represents the ward of Knight's Hill. Jackie was originally elected to the Council in May 1998. As well as deputising for the Leader, Jackie is responsible for performance management and service improvement and takes a lead on all human resources issues.
Councillor Paul McGlone: Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources
Councillor Paul McGlone has been a councillor in Lambeth since 1998. During that time he has held senior political posts at Cabinet or Committee Chair level for nine of these 12 years. From March 2008 to May 2010 he was the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People.
Paul is currently a full-time councillor and freelance management consultant. Previously Paul had been an accountant in the hospitality industry in Australia; accountant and then director of a London and Hamburg based international film and television company; and Finance and Administration Manager within the London based world headquarters of an international music company. He has worked in local government as an accountant within Housing and Environment services both as an employee up until 1999 and later as a freelance consultant, specialising in performance management and Housing ALMO inspection preparations.
Paul is also an accredited I&DeA Member Peer and has been heavily involved in the Modern Members Programme.
Lord Victor Adebowale
Lord Victor Adebowale has been Chief Executive of Turning Point since 2001 and has more than 25 years experience in the health, social care and housing sector.
Turning Point is the UK's leading social care organisation, provding services for people with complex needs, including those affected by drug and alcohol misuse, mental health problems and those with a learning disability
He was awarded the CBE for services to the New Deal, the unemployed and homeless young people. He was appointed as a cross bench peer in 2001.
Matthew Taylor
Matthew Taylor became Chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts in November 2006. Prior to this appointment, he was Chief Adviser on Political Strategy to Tony Blair. Until December 1998, Matthew was Assistant General Secretary for the Labour Party. During the 1997 General Election he was Labour's Director of Policy and a member of the Party's central election strategy team.
He was the Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research between 1999 and 2003, Britain's leading centre left think tank. His activities before the Labour Party included being a county councillor, a parliamentary candidate, a university research fellow and the director of a unit monitoring policy in the health service. He is a Lambeth resident.
Srabani Sen
Srabani Sen is Chief Executive of Contact a Family, a UK charity for families with disabled children. Her professional background is in public affairs and communications and she has always worked in the voluntary section and public sectors.
Before joining Contact a Family, Srabani was Chief Executive of the campaigning organisation Alcohol Concern, where she led efforts to put issues around alcohol misuse at the centre of political and public debate.
Prior to this, as Head of Communications, and then Acting Director of Nations, Regions and Campaigning at Diabetes UK Srabani's remit was to increase the profile of issues affecting people with diabetes. She spent the early part of her career in various communications and public affairs roles in the social housing sector.
Martin Green
Martin Green is Chief Executive of the English Community Care Association, the largest representative body for community care in England. Martin has had an extensive career in NGO development, both in the UK and internationally and he is a Trustee of the International Longevity Centre and the National Aids Trust. He is a resident of Lambeth and is a founder Co-Chair of the Lambeth Voluntary Action Council and a former Chief Executive of Age Concern Lambeth.
In 2006 he became a Member of The Secretary of State for Health’s Stakeholder Board and a Member of The Ministerial Strategy Group on End of Life Care. Most recently, he has been appointed by the Department of Health as Dementia Champion Independent Sector. Prior to his appointment at ECCA he was Chief Executive of five British Charities, Coordinator of the Coalition for Quality in Care and a Trustee of Age Concern England.
Allison Ogden-Newton
Allison Ogden-Newton is the Chief Executive of Social Enterprise London (SEL), London’s leading agency supporting and promoting social enterprise throughout the Capital.
Prior to working for SEL, Allison was the CEO at Women's Education in Building (WEB), which was a voluntary organisation set up to support women by providing education and training in the construction trades. It was while at WEB that Allison became interested in social enterprise and set up, building etc a project that offered struggling entrepreneurs incubator office space, access to start-up finance and business mentoring.
She is a member of the Government’s Women’s Enterprise Task Force, Deputy Chair of ACEVO, and sits on a number of social enterprise Boards including the London Rebuilding Society and Social Enterprise Coalition.
Stephen Bubb
Stephen Bubb is Chief Executive of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) – a dynamic and high profile UK body - where his work on leadership, sector funding and public service reform has radically shifted attitudes and policies. In 2007 he became Secretary General of Euclid Network, the European body for Third Sector leaders. He is the Chair of the Social Investment Business, the largest social investor in the UK. He is a member of The Commonwealth Foundation’s Civil Society Committee, an Independent Assessor for high profile public appointments and a member of the Honours Advisory Committee.
He has been in major national roles in the TGWU, NUT and the AMA (Association of Metropolitan Authorities) and was Founding Personnel Director of the National Lottery Charities Board.
He is a Lambeth resident and has been a member of West Lambeth Health Authority, Chair of Stockwell Park High School and he set up Lambeth Aids Action. He was a Lambeth Councillor from 1982 and 1986.
Richard Bridge
Richard Bridge is a local resident, community campaigner and the chair of Waterloo Community Coalition, an innovative partnership of local community organisations working together to provide mutual support, information sharing and joint strategic planning to increase their activities and their benefit to local residents. By working together members of WaCoCo have also enabled the local community sector to become a more effective and powerful partner with other local stakeholders including the Council. In addition, the coalition’s innovative approach sees groups sharing resources and bidding jointly for funds to deliver services with local communities.
In his day job Richard works for Community Matters, the national federation of community associations, where as Regional and Quality Programmes Manager he oversees a number of national programmes delivering support and advice to community organisations, as well as to those who work with them such as local authorities and CVSs.