Olympic borough races north to appoint chief executive
Olympic borough, Waltham Forest LBC, has offered its top job to Andrew Kilburn, currently chief executive of Oldham MBC, who will start next October.
Mr Kilburn has been a chief executive since 1995, first at Redcar & Cleveland, and from 1999, at Oldham. He was in post during the 2001 riots, and since then has been heavily involved in the town’s regeneration programme through its Oldham Partnership, as well as cohesion initiatives.
He is already acquainted with the London borough, after being on an IDeA peer review of the council. He said: ‘There is enormous potential for Waltham Forest as a council but more importantly, as a community.’
The borough has been without a full-time chief executive since the departure of Jacquie Dean last year, and has been run by an interim, Roger Taylor, an ex-Birmingham City Council chief. Leader, Clyde Loakes, is the youngest among the London boroughs.
Last month,Islington LBC announced it was appointing ex-Wakefield City Council chief executive, John Foster, to its top job.
The Waltham Forest appointment means all the five Olympic boroughs have new, or almost-new, chief executives.