Francesca Okosi, director of human resources for Brent council in London, is
the new president of the Society of Chief Personnel Officers in local
government (Socpo).
Okosi, who takes over from Keith Handley, will be officially elected
president of Socpo today (March 19) during the society’s Annual Seminar at
Scarborough.
Okosi is Socpo’s first black president and as a local government officer in
mid career, is probably the youngest.
Her 13-year career in local government personnel has been with London
boroughs, including Newham, Hackney and Merton.
Okosi has strong views on the key role of personnel in delivering the
strategy of council organisations. She also wants to attract a more diverse
range of personnel officers to join Socpo.
One of her key objectives is to lead national initiatives and programmes
with the Government and organisations such as improvement and development
agency IDeA.
