What an honour for council chief

Carolyn Wilkins

OLDHAM Council Chief executive Dr Carolyn Wilkins has spoken of being "thrilled and humbled" after being awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

The 49-year-old was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for her services to Local Government and Public Service Reform.

She has been in post since January, 2014, and has led a significant programme of growth and reform through the local authority's cooperative agenda.

Dr Wilkins is part of what is currently Greater Manchester's only all-female chief executive and council leader team. She is also the lead chief executive role for Greater Manchester on a range of issues including delivering the Complex Dependency programme as part of wider public sector reform, communications and engagement, and the development of a new Greater Manchester Leadership Framework.

Dr Wilkins said: "I am thrilled and humbled ­- and above all somewhat shocked.

"When I first got the letter about the OBE last month I had absolutely convinced myself that somebody was pulling my leg. I even made an embarrassing phone call or two just to check there hadn't been some kind of mistake.

"I'm only just coming to terms with it as its difficult keeping such a big piece of news from your family, friends and colleagues. I am very glad that bit is now over.

"Everyone says this, of course, but it is genuinely humbling to get a letter from the Queen and be recognised like this by your peers. It's something I never even contemplated, let alone sought or expected to happen to me.

"This also isn't a reflection all about me - it's about all the amazing people I've had the privilege to work alongside during my time in local government and the public sector.

"Not only have so many shared a vision to improve, aim higher and work better together but they've also spurred me on through their own dedication, their ideas and different styles. I honestly believe you can learn something from every single person you meet or work with so this - first and foremost - is an award for all those fantastic people."

Dr Wilkins hails from Leeds and was raised by her parents Carol and Barry in Hornsea, near Hull.

After spending her formative teenage years in Leighton Buzzard she returned to study Biochemistry and Pharmacology at her hometown Leeds University. She soon changed courses, however, and started all over again to earn a Psychology degree.

In her early years in local government she worked at councils in Bolton, Trafford, Salford, Crewe and Nantwich and Bury gaining experience in a range of different roles that included corporate planning, community strategies and as head of policy.

She was seconded to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister while at Bury Council and acted as an external adviser to several public bodies.

In 2005 she joined Rossendale Council as deputy chief executive and was promoted to the top job within a year. Steering the authority through a significant period of improvement - which saw it reclassified 'good' by the Audit Commission - she counts securing a new health campus, significant regeneration funding and the introduction of neighbourhood working amongst her achievements.

Rossendale was one of just two councils nationwide to make such a big jump at the time and her arrival at Oldha­­­­m - as assistant chief executive in 2009 - was a natural progression to a metropolitan authority aiming to make a similar transformation.

Dr Wilkins said: "In Oldham we're close to delivering on the biggest programme of physical regeneration it has ever seen, but I also know the job here is about much more.

"Social regeneration - making a positive impact on people's everyday lives - is even more vital. I love working on that for Oldham both in its own right and as a strong player in a devolved Greater Manchester where we're striving to ensure all communities and places can contribute to and benefit from economic growth - and that all voices are genuinely represented and heard when decisions are made."

Dr Wilkins' close family are her husband, Gary, and her two grown-up children. Ben (23), is currently travelling around Australia after graduating last year and Imogen (18) is at college studying health and social care.

"I simply must thank my family for their incredible support and understanding," she said. "They have somehow put up with my worth ethic for many years and never stopped encouraging me.On my honeymoon in New England in 2008 I even dragged Gary along to American polling stations just to see how they work compared to ours. That's fairly typical of me, I'm afraid, so I really couldn't have achieved anything without their support and love as this isn't a very 'normal' job is it?"

She is a member of the 2016 Guardian Public Leaders' Board and the Municipal Journal (MJ) Editorial Board. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and has held a variety of other posts including as a non-executive director for the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE), a governor at both Oldham and Accrington & Rossendale Colleges, and as an Associate Fellow at Warwick Business School.

She has an MA in Literature with the Open University and a Masters in Public Administration from Warwick Business School. Her Doctorate in Business Administration focussed on the relationship between trust and control in organisations during periods of significant change.