13.03.19
Newham council to appoint new permanent chief executive
Newham LBC is set to appoint Althea Loderick as its new chief executive and head of paid service.
If approved by the full council later this month, Loderick will replace the former Capita boss Katherine Kerswell who has been the interim chief executive since August 2018.
Loderick will join Newham LBC from her current post as strategic director of resources at Brent Council although a start date has not yet been set pending the council’s final approval.
The authority’s mayor Rokhsana Fiaz, who joined in early 2018 when she replaced the UK’s longest serving mayor Sir Robin Wales, made the announcement that she had recommended Loderick.
Loderick has worked as chief operating officer for Waltham Forest Council, and has held posts across the National Policing Improvement Agency and at Enfield and Hammersmith & Fulham councils.
Mayor Fiaz commented: “I am delighted to be recommending Althea as our new permanent Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service.
“Subject to approval of the Council I am looking forward to working with her to accelerate the pace of resetting the goals and priorities of an organisation that puts people at the heart of everything it does.
“Althea is excited by our desire to repurpose Newham and will bring with her particular strengths in personal leadership, transformation and culture change. “
Fiaz added: “She also shares the commitment of this new administration in advancing resident involvement in decision-making and helping us drive Newham forward as a beacon of participatory democracy.”
The mayor also thanked Katherine Kerswell for her work, saying she had been a “tremendous force” at the council and had helped place the foundations for Loderick to pick up the reins and continue the change programme.
Muhammed Butt, the leader of Brent Council, also paid tribute to their out-going director.
He said: “Althea is passionate about delivering high-quality public services which provides the strong foundations needed to help improve residents' lives. We will be sorry to see her go.”
In January, Newham LBC established a commission into what was described as “astonishing failures of system controls” in a £9m fraud claim against its repair division.
Fiaz criticised the previous leadership in the wake of the fraud allegations, saying she was shocked by the “staggering incompetency at the highest level.”