The Senior Management Team
Graham Russell - Chief Executive
Graham was a local authority regulator for more than 20 years. His most recent post was head of trading standards and community safety at Staffordshire County Council. He also chaired the partnership of Central England Trading Standards Authorities (CEnTSA), represented trading standards on the West Midlands business crime forum and worked with the DTI on developing regional intelligence units and ScamBuster teams. He also sits on the LBRO board.
Claire Bridges - Director
Claire leads LBRO's executive engagement activities, ensuring the voice of business is heard in local regulation. She works extensively with partners across the regulatory landscape to create the conditions needed for better regulation at the local level. Claire is seconded from the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) where she managed various portfolios including the Beacons Award Scheme and sustainable communities programmes incorporating community cohesion, equality and diversity, Local Area Agreements, Local Strategic Partnerships and peer challenge. Having originally practiced as a town planner, she moved into corporate management covering wide ranging strategic policy and delivery in various local authorities in the South East and West Midlands regions. Claire held the post of Director of Sustainability West Midlands prior to joining the IDeA. She has led stakeholder and partnership engagement with businesses, citizens and communities, public and government sector bodies and the voluntary sector in all her roles.
Richard Wilson - Director
Richard is responsible for the operation of LBRO's finance and governance arrangements. He is responsible for ensuring value for money and transparency in how LBRO operates, and ensuring compliance with financial, legal and governance arrangements. He was the head of accountancy at Stroud District Council before joining LBRO. He spent 17 years with the authority and had previously worked as an accountant at councils in Wrekin and Daventry. He started his career with the National Health Service in 1983 and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and holds a BSc (Econ) in Accountancy and Economics from Cardiff University.
Sarah Smith - Director
Sarah leads LBRO's team of technical experts in local better regulation. She is responsible for the development and operation of Primary Authority - the scheme that improves consistency for businesses trading across council boundaries. Her portfolio includes the implementation of civil sanctions and the Trading Places programme that brings together businesses and regulators to encourage innovative approaches to compliance. Prior to joining LBRO she worked in local government in a variety of leadership, policy and operational roles. She also worked on behalf of local authorities in the West Midlands to design and deliver innovative approaches to sharing services. Sarah is a trading standards professional, a member of the Trading Standards Institute (TSI), and was until recently a non-executive director of TSI.
Wendy McVey - Director
Wendy supports the Chair and Board in strategic engagement and development, leads strategic and corporate planning, and manages LBRO's relationship with its Sponsor Department and wider Government. She has a background in national regulation, having worked for over 20 years in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). She is seconded to LBRO from HSE for two years (March 2009 to March 2011). In HSE Wendy managed corporate and business functions in Directorate Headquarters. She is also experienced in managing projects, programmes and business change.
Rob Powell - Director
Rob joined LBRO having been a director of the Wales Audit Office responsible for cross-cutting value for money studies. He oversees and is responsible for developing LBRO's work with local authority regulatory services, which centres on the Excellence Framework. His portfolio includes the Outcomes and Impacts toolkit, regional co-ordination, shared services and work focusing on new models of service delivery. Rob started his career in Cardiff County Council's Education Department. He has an MBA and strong interest in performance management and systems thinking.
