Paul Schanzer

Director, Academi Wales
Paul has over 25 years’ experience in leadership development after joining NHS Wales as a development practitioner during the 1990s. Paul has worked in Academi Wales, Welsh Government since 2013. During this time, he has taken the lead on governance, executive and board level development across the public and third sectors in Wales.

Having developed senior team-assessment frameworks, for leaders, Paul is involved in enabling senior teams and boards. Helping them to identify the characteristics, approaches and strategies required for organisations to implement and sustain organisational high performance.
Paul has a particular interest in exploring concepts around individual, group and system dynamics and their impact on effective decision making at board level.

Following completion of the ‘Board Level Dynamics Programme’ with the Tavistock Institute, he contributed a case study chapter to ‘High Performing Boards – exploring the influence of unconscious behaviours for the Dynamics at Boardroom Level’ (A Tavistock Primer for Leaders, Coaches and Consultants), published in 2019 by Routledge.

Jeremy Vaughan

Chief Constable, South Wales Police
Jeremy Vaughan was promoted to Chief Constable of South Wales Police in November 2020.

Jeremy began his policing career in 1996 with North Wales Police. He served the communities of North Wales across a number of roles for twenty years, working up to the rank of Chief Superintendent, where he took responsibility for Local Policing Services.

In 2016 Jeremy transferred to South Wales Police as Assistant Chief Constable with responsibility for Specialist Operations, including Professional Standards, Criminal Justice, Operational Planning and the Public Service Centre. In December 2017 he took responsibility for the Territorial Policing portfolio including leading on Neighbourhood and Response Policing. He remained as Head of this portfolio until he was promoted to Deputy Chief Constable in 2019.

In addition to his Force responsibilities, Jeremy is the UK Police lead for Facial Matching (Identification), supporting the national development and use of facial recognition technology by the police forces of England and Wales.

Jeremy is the Welsh lead for gender equality and was recognised for his work in this area by the International Association of Women in Policing in 2019 with the HeForShe award. He has a strong track record in leading on Equalities and in 2019 was recognised with a Leading Wales Award – Leadership in Diversity and Inclusion.

A fluent Welsh speaker, Jeremy was appointed to the Gorsedd Cymru in 2019 for services to the Welsh language which reflects his work within South Wales Police in promoting the use of Welsh and improving the service the force provides to individuals within Welsh speaking communities.

Jeremy is married and has three children.

Julie James MS

Minister for Housing and Local Government, Welsh Government
Until she was elected as Member of the Senedd for Swansea West, Julie was a leading environmental and constitutional lawyer. Prior to this, she was assistant chief executive at Swansea Council. She spent most of her legal career in local government, working as a policy lawyer with the London Borough of Camden before returning to Swansea to work for West Glamorgan County Council and then the City and County of Swansea.

Since being elected Julie sat on the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, Enterprise and Business Committee and Environment and Sustainability Committee. Julie published the ‘Influencing the Modernisation of EU Procurement Policy’ Report as Chair of the Enterprise and Business Committee’s Procurement Task and Finish Group. Julie also sat as Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee’s Common Fisheries Policy Task and Finished Group.

Julie James was appointed Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology in September 2014. In May 2016 Julie was appointed as Minister for Skills and Science. Julie was appointed Leader of the House and Chief Whip on 3 November 2017. On 13 December 2018 Julie was appointed Minister for Housing and Local Government.

Matthew Taylor

Chief Executive, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA)
Matthew Taylor has been Chief Executive of the RSA since November 2006.

During his tenure, the Society has substantially increased its output of research and innovation, provided new routes to support the charitable initiatives of its 30,000 fellows, and developed a global profile as a platform for ideas.

In July 2017 Matthew published the report ‘Good Work’; an independent review into modern employment, commissioned by the UK Prime Minister.

In September 2019, Matthew started a new part-time role as the Government’s Director of Labour Market Enforcement and is also a member of its Industrial Strategy Council.

Matthew is a regular media performer, having appeared several times on the Today programme, The Daily Politics and Newsnight. He has written and presented several Radio Four documentaries and is a panellist on the programme Moral Maze. He has posted more than a thousand times on his RSA blog site and tweets as @RSAMatthew. He is also Senior Editor of the Thames & Hudson Big Ideas series.

Prior to this appointment, Matthew was Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research, and he then became Chief Adviser on political strategy to the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Previous roles included, Labour Party Director of Policy, and Assistant General Secretary of The Labour Party.

Dr Andrew Goodall

Director General Health and Social Services / Chief Executive, NHS Wales
Dr Andrew Goodall was appointed to the role of Director General of Health and Social Services/Chief Executive NHS Wales in June 2014. His role includes both supporting Ministerial priorities for health and social care within the Civil Service structures, and the leadership and oversight of NHS Wales.

Including this current role, Andrew has been an NHS Chief Executive in Wales for 15 years, his previous post being that of Chief Executive of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, a position held from the Health Board’s inception in October 2009 until 2014.

During his 29 year NHS career, Andrew has held planning and operational positions across a number of NHS organisations across South Wales as well as national roles. He has particular areas of interest in improving patient safety, quality and patient experience; partnership working across Public Services; and delivering frontline services through service improvement and modernisation.

Dr Goodall has a law degree from Essex University and a PhD in Health Service Management from Cardiff Business School. Dr Goodall was awarded a CBE in the 2018 New Year Honours for his services to Health, to Social Care and to public service in Wales.

Professor Uzo Iwobi OBE

Specialist Adviser on Equalities to Welsh Government
Originally from Nigeria, Uzo holds a law degree from the University of Nigeria and she qualified as a solicitor and a barrister and was called to the Nigerian Bar.

After qualifying as a barrister in Nigeria, Uzo moved to Wales where she now serves as the chief executive officer of Race Council Cymru and sits on the board of several voluntary organisations. This includes serving as the chairperson of the African Community Centre in Wales, which she founded in 2004.

Uzo has served with the Police National Diversity team, based at the Home Office, where she was involved in developing national policies on race relations and diversity.

After moving to Wales, she worked as a Lecturer in Law at the Swansea Law School for 9yrs. She obtained a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) with distinction from the University of Wales. She completed a Master’s Degree qualification in Business Management at the University of Glamorgan.

In 2004, she joined South Wales Police and in the same year, she founded the very first African Community Centre (ACC) in Wales and served as Chairperson for ACC for 15yrs.

Uzo was appointed to the Police National Diversity Team (PNDT) based at the Home Office to represent the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the 43 police forces in the UK on a high level strategic tripartite partnership including the Home Office, the Police Authority (APA) and Her Majesty’s’ Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) tasked with developing national policies on equality and diversity.

Uzo served with the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) UK as a Commissioner until it merged with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in October 2007. In 2008 she was awarded an OBE in recognition of her services to community relations and South Wales communities.

Uzo is a fully accredited Level 7 Executive Coach with the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM).

Uzo was recognised and commended when she was given the awards listed below by various bodies:

• 2006 Recognition of outstanding achievement in community work by the Swansea Bay Woman of the Year (Community Achievement) Award 2006
• 2008 In recognition of Uzo’s achievement in terms of community contributions, on the 14th of June 2008, the Queen Awarded an OBE (Officer to the Order of the British Empire) for her contributions to community race relations and South Wales Communities.
• 2009 The Women’s National Commission featured Uzo’s story in their journal entitled, “A guide to Women in Public Life”.
• 2010 Uzo was presented with the First Ministers’ Recognition Award for her contributions to race equality and race relations in Wales
• 2011 Uzo was honoured and featured in the British Council in Nigeria’s Reflections Report.
• 2011 Uzo received a Lifetime Achievement Award from The National Association of Nigerian Communities (NANC –UK)
• 2015 Uzo received an Outstanding Black Woman Achievement Award in Wales for contributions to the Black History Movement in Wales
• 2017 Uzo received a Recognition Award as a Founder of the Black History Movement in Wales
• 2017 Uzo received the Ethnic Minority Welsh Women’s Achievement Award (EMWWAA) Wales-wide Award for Leadership and Management
• 2017 Uzo received the prestigious EMWWAA Ambassador for Wales Award
• 2018 September 29th Uzo was featured in the Walesonline publication of Black Brilliant and Welsh, Uzo featured as no 30 on the list of Top 100 Africans and African Caribbeans in Wales

Uzo was asked by Ruth Kelly, the then Secretary of State, to serve as a commissioner to the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) UK until it merged with other commissions to form the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in October 2007.

Uzo achieved a distinction grade in Executive Level 7 Coaching and Management with the Institute of Leadership and Management and served as a trustee of the British Red Cross for 6yrs as well as a trustee of the United World College – Atlantic College. Uzo leads learning and development schemes for African Caribbean elders across Wales through the Black History Cymru Elders Scheme. Uzo mentors young people and adult learners to achieve their visions and aspirations through the coaching cadre she facilitates.

Uzo works as the first Black woman to be appointed as a Specialist Adviser on Equalities to Welsh Government.

Uzo was appointed an honorary Fellowship at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) and a Professor at Practice of UWTSD.

Professor Richard Bolden

Professor of Leadership and Management at Bristol Business School, University of the West of England
I joined Bristol Business School in autumn 2013 as Professor of Leadership and Management. In 2014 I established, and became Director of, Bristol Leadership Centre and led its expansion and re-launch in 2016 as Bristol Leadership and Change Centre, one of the largest and most active university-based centres of its kind.

I am committed to applied scholarship that has an impact well beyond academia. My teaching and research explores the interface between individual and collective approaches to leadership and leadership development, with a particular focus on issues of identity, culture and collaboration.

I have published widely on topics including distributed leadership, systems leadership, leadership in higher education, worldly leadership and leadership development evaluation. My books include 'Exploring Leadership: Individual, organizational and societal perspectives' (Oxford University Press, 2011) and 'Leadership Paradoxes: Rethinking leadership for an uncertain world' (Routledge, 2016), the latter of which was shortlisted for the 2017 CMI Management Book of the Year Award. I am Associate Editor for the journal Leadership and regularly conduct reviews for leading international journals.

My academic background is in leadership/organisation studies and applied psychology. Prior to joining UWE I spent over ten years at the Centre for Leadership Studies, University of Exeter - initially as a Research Fellow, then Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Head of Centre. I have also worked in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at Exeter and as a Research Psychologist at the Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield.

Outside of higher education, I have worked as an independent consultant (conducting evaluation projects in Egypt and Bosnia amongst other places) and spent two years at an IT company in France developing and marketing the English-language version of their survey design and analysis software.

My research, education and engagement activities involve working closely with a range of groups and organisations, including the NHS Leadership Academy, Bristol Golden Key, Bristol Mayor's City Office, Singapore Civil Service College, Leadership Centre and Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.

I teach on a number of programmes at UWE, including the Bristol MBA, BA Management and Leadership and ILM accredited courses on leadership and management. I supervise PhD and Masters students in areas related to my research interests and am always pleased to consider new proposals.

UWE web page
@bolden_richard

Baroness Casey of Blackstock DBE CB

Rough Sleeping Taskforce
Baroness Louise Casey is an Independent Advisor for social welfare, Visiting Professor at King’s College London and Chair of the Institute for Global Homelessness. She is a crossbench peer in the House of Lords.

A former British government official (also known as a ‘Czar’), she has worked on issues relating to social welfare for five Prime Ministers. She was made head of the Rough Sleepers’ Unit in 1999 under Prime Minister Tony Blair where she successfully led the strategy and action to reduce the numbers of homelessness people living on the streets by two thirds within a three year period.

Baroness Casey went on to become Director of the national Anti-Social Behaviour Unit in 2003, head of the Respect Task Force in 2005, the UK’s first Victim’s Commissioner in 2010, and Director General of the government’s Troubled Families programme in 2011, helping troubled families turn their lives around. In 2015, she undertook the Inspection into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council in South Yorkshire. Also in 2015, Baroness Casey was then asked by then-Prime Minister David Cameron to undertake a review of community cohesion and extremism, which was published in December 2017.

Throughout this, Baroness Casey maintained her commitment to the charity sector and left the civil service in 2017 to establish the Institute for Global Homelessness, with the aim of delivering an international solution to homelessness across the world.

In March 2020, Baroness Casey returned to public service to support the Government’s COVID-19 rough sleeping response and developed the “Everyone In” strategy, which saw 90% of known rough sleepers brought swiftly into self-contained accommodation within two weeks of lockdown. On 2 May, she was appointed to spearhead a Covid-19 Rough Sleeping Response Taskforce, where she worked with the government and community partners to prevent more than 29,000 vulnerable people from returning to the streets.

In November 2020, Baroness Casey became Chair of the COVID Community Campaign, which aims to end hunger during the first COVID winter and then bring together a broad coalition of partners to end it for good.

Baroness Casey was awarded the Companion of the Order of Bath (CB) in the Queen's birthday honours list 2008 and made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the Queen's birthday honours list, 2016. In October 2020, Baroness Casey was elevated as a crossbench peer in the House of Lords.

Lieutenant Colonel James Green

Commanding Officer, Wales University Officer Training Corps
Lt Col James Green assumed command of Wales University Officer Training Corps in September 2019. Born in Leicestershire, christened James but known as Jim since attending university in Southampton. It was at university that he became a member of the University Officer Training Corps, an experience which provided the spark to his military career. He went on to attend the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where his training introduced him to many of the theories and lessons in leadership, all of which he has applied throughout his career. He commissioned into the Grenadier Guards as an Army Officer in 2000.

He has led soldiers on operations in Southern Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Bosnia, and Northern Ireland. He has trained soldiers and officers on exercises around the world and worked as an instructor at the Infantry Battle School, where junior infantry leaders’ skills are honed. He now leads the University Officers Training Corps, an organisation offering military leadership training to university students across Wales.

Outside the realms of combat, Jim draws on broader experiences. He worked as an advisor at the heart of the G4S management team during the London 2012 Olympics. He spent time seconded to McKenzie Consulting, working on the Army’s brand. Jim then graduated the Advanced Command and Staff Course earning a Kings College Masters in Defence Studies.

He went on to become the Army’s Spokesperson, the interface between the national media and the Army at the Ministry of Defence. Whilst last year, here in Wales, he was employed as the Senior Military Advisor to Welsh Government in support of the COVID 19 response.

Sophie Howe

Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
Sophie was appointed as the first Future Generations Commissioner for Wales in February 2016. Her role is to act as a guardian for the interests of future generations in Wales, and to support the public bodies listed in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 to work towards achieving the well-being goals.

As the world's first Future Generations Commissioner, Sophie’s role is to safeguard the interests and well-being of the future generations of Wales. As a mother to five of her own future generations, she’s driven by a passion for ‘leaving the world better than we found it’. Known for being a straight-talker and authentic leader Sophie was previously the youngest Councillor in Wales having been elected at the age of 21. Her career has spanned equality, policing as the Deputy Police Commissioner for Wales largest Police Force and advisor to two of Wales First Ministers.