Richard Crouch has been elected president of the Public Sector People Managers’ Association (PPMA) for 2013/14.
Crouch, director of HR, organisational development (OD) and communications at Somerset County Council and vice-president of the PPMA for the past year, takes over as the public sector continues to cope with ongoing cutbacks.
“HR must push to play a bigger role in supporting public service delivery in our communities,” said Crouch. “This is not so much about HR moving to the so-called ‘top table’, but more about it moving towards the ‘business end’ of modern public service.”
He continued: “There is still much more capacity in the HR and OD profession. I believe we can utilise HR talent even better than we do at the moment, resulting in benefits not just for HR’s internal customer base, but for external public service users as well.”
The PPMA represents more than 600 HR and organisational development professionals in the public sector. Louise Tibbert, head of HR and OD at Hertfordshire County Council, becomes vice-president.
Crouch takes over as president from Martin Rayson, divisional director of HR and OD at the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, who has served in the role for the past year.
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