Full Council confirms new Chief Executive

Gordon will take up the key post, which includes the statutory roles of Head of Paid Service, Returning Officer and Electoral Registration Officer, in the summer after serving his notice as Head of Business and Employability at Fife Council.

The appointment was formally agreed at a meeting of Full Council last night (10 April).

Gordon emerged as the preferred candidate following an extensive recruitment campaign which attracted 28 applicants. During the rigorous selection process, a panel of elected members reached the unanimous decision to recommend him for the top position.

Simon Tagg, Leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, said:

I’m delighted to have Gordon joining us at such an exciting time. The Council has been on an incredible transformational journey in recent years – which was recently praised by an independent inspection – and I’m looking forward to working with him to build on the excellent work that’s been done so far.

 

Gordon’s background and experience, both in the public and private sector, is really impressive and will prove invaluable in our determination to maintain high quality and affordable services for residents; deliver a range of once-in-a-lifetime, multi-million pound regeneration projects and promote our new and improved town centres as vibrant places for everyone to enjoy.”

Gordon’s current role, which he has held since 2016, includes responsibility for economic policy and development, town centres and tourism. Before his move to Scotland, he was Head of Culture and Environment Services at Ipswich Borough Council, managing front-line operations.

He had returned to local government there after time leading on the development of new apprenticeships and graduate training as Employment and Brokerage Manager for Crossrail and was responsible for the economic development, responsible procurement and employment initiatives for several major construction programmes, including London’s Shard of Glass, Heathrow Terminal 5 and Tate Modern.

Gordon added:

I’m really looking forward to taking on this new challenge and joining a fantastic council. I’ll be focusing on continuing to deliver excellent services for residents and making sure that there is continuity of leadership on issues which are of concern to communities, such as Walleys Quarry, as well as bringing new perspective and insight to wider priorities including sustainability, income generation and major regeneration.”

Gordon succeeds Martin Hamilton who stood down at the end of March after five years at the authority.