Anne Gibson, Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development at Norfolk County Council, will take over as President of the Public Sector People Managers’ Association (PPMA) later this month.
Gibson, who has served as Vice President of the PPMA for the last year, comes in to the role at a time of unparalleled challenge for the sector. She says: “The public sector is grappling with two agendas at the present time. Austerity and cuts on the one hand and, on the other, transformation through the development of a radically different policy direction for the public sector and the delivery of public services. This will see a focus on commissioning with delivery of services through a range of organisations and sectors.”
She continues: “This is all against the backdrop of major reviews on pensions and pay, meaning the scale, depth and pace of the changes facing the public sector today are unparalleled. This in turn presents an exceptional task for the sector’s people management professionals in supporting our organisations through this time of great change – challenging ourselves about what is needed and being prepared to do things quite differently.”
The PPMA, which represents over 1,000 HR and Organisational Development professionals in the public sector, will officially announce the new presidency on 31 March 2011 at their AGM. Taking over from Gibson as Vice President will be Martin Rayson, Divisional Director of HR and Organisational Development at the London borough of Barking and Dagenham
Gibson’s career in HR and Organisational Development has covered all disciplines within the profession and all aspects of upper tier local authority services, including Fire Services. She has a strong track record of success in employee engagement, organisational and leadership development and employee relations.
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“My theme for the year ahead is ‘From Insight to Action,’ which has at its heart the principle that the new insights we need will come in many shapes and forms and from all sectors – public, voluntary and private alike. We know where we are now, but the challenge is if we are to support our organisations through the challenges ahead, we need to develop new thinking, new insights, and we need to turn those into action, fast.”
Gibson takes over as President from Dean Shoesmith, executive head of HR at the London Boroughs of Sutton and Merton, who has served in the role for the last year.
