Two new senior leaders are joining Nottingham City Council’s top team to help guide the authority forward. Frank Jordan and Sajeeda Rose will take up their respective posts of Corporate Director for Resident Services and Corporate Director for Growth and City Development from early September.
The appointments come as the council implements a recovery and improvement plan to find fresh ways of delivering vital local services efficiently and effectively. Their arrival will come a year after Mel Barrett took up the post of Chief Executive, who has also been joined on the council’s five-strong Corporate Leadership Team by Clive Heaphy as interim Corporate Director for Finance & Resources. Catherine Underwood has been in post as Corporate Director for People since autumn 2019.
Frank Jordan joins the council from his current role as Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director for Place at Cheshire East Council, a post he has held for the last five years. He brings extensive experience of working in local government, starting his career at Newcastle City Council working in environmental services and highways in the 1990s. He is no stranger to the East Midlands, having worked at Leicester City Council as the Strategic Director for City Development and Neighbourhood Services for four years.
Frank has also had experience of leading corporate transformational change programmes, building and sustaining effective multi-agency partnerships and managing complex financial and commercial projects. The move not only provides him with a new set of exciting opportunities to improve the outcomes for local residents in, but also because it enables him and his family to relocate back to join other family members in the East Midlands.
Frank said: “The opportunity at Nottingham not only provides a new set of challenges for me but also enables me and my family to relocate back to join other family members in the East Midlands.”
The East Midlands is already home for Sajeeda Rose, who grew up in Leicester and spent her working life in the region. She has been Chief Executive of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for the last three years, which means she has been involved in many of Nottingham’s flagship developments and is a member of the Nottingham Growth Board.
Sajeeda brings a lot of relevant experience for the role of the Corporate Director for Growth and City Development, having been influential in successfully delivering the LEP’s £250m Local Growth Fund and securing an additional £44m of Getting Building Funding to support the regional economy. Most recently she led the successful bid for an East Midlands Freeport, the only inland freeport in the country. She also led the transformation and organisational change of D2N2 following the 2018 LEP review and put in place stronger governance, accountability and a culture of performance and delivery.
Sajeeda joins the council with different and fresh experience working with and lobbying central government in the LEP world, having been involved in the Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership for a decade before joining D2N2.
Sajeeda said: “I am delighted to be joining Nottingham City Council as its Corporate Director for Growth and City Development. I look forward to working with council leaders, members, officers and partners to deliver the ambitions and vision for the city and ensure that its development and economic growth are sustainable and positively impact people’s lives.”
City Council Chief Executive Mel Barrett commented: “I’m delighted with the appointment of these two first-class candidates for these important roles at such a crucial time for the council. Fresh approaches and innovative thinking will be vital as we forge a new direction for the City Council by focusing on how best to deliver services in new ways.
“I am confident they will both bring a huge amount of experience, insight and innovation to roles which oversee how our council services are delivered to a high standard and how, in partnership with others, we will shape the future of this great city.”
City Council Leader, Cllr David Mellen, added: “We welcome the wealth of experience and fresh perspectives that Frank and Sajeeda will bring to our senior leadership team at a time when we are guiding the council in new directions and continue to be ambitious for Nottingham’s future.”
