Terry Street is currently a Principal Consultant and Product Manager for Socitm Consulting. He is experienced in strategic consultancy at the highest levels. After 35 years in the public sector his key focus is on advising public and independent sector organisations on major procurement programmes, performance management and outsourcing. As a specialist in EU procurement legislation for over 15 years, his contributions span the earliest Audit Commission guidance on ICT purchasing to development of Socitm's SMART procurement model. He was formerly Technical Services Manager at Coventry City Council, and Strategic Consultant with Siemens.

Jenny Brogden is a consultant for Socitm Consulting with a background in community development. She has directed this experience into working on strategic issues on the use of ICT for the delivery of services and information especially from the point view of the user and the usability issues of ICT. This work has entailed working on the issues of social and digital exclusion in rural and urban areas and addressing the strategic issues in the use of ICT in the planning of sustainable economic development. She is widely travelled, speaking and presenting several papers at a range of International conferences including Canada, India and Japan.

Sue Holloway is the Head of Strategic Planning - Local Government & Social Housing for Northgate Information Solutions (UK) Ltd. Her main focus is in the area of Business Strategy and Policy, she is directly responsible for strategy, policy and direction in Local Government and Social Housing. She leads Northgate's relationship with Government bodies such as Communities and Local Government, Local Government Association, Socitm and Society of Local Authority Chief Executives. Sue also ensures the company understanding of Public Services and addresses the challenges faced by customers and the citizens they serve.

Alex Butler joined COI's Management Board in 2007 as Director of Transformational Strategy.  She has responsibility for COI's Interactive cluster; building on COI's core digital and contact skills to develop a closer relationship with citizens.  She joined COI after a few years as Director of Strategy and Marketing for Directgov - the government's all in one place website for public services. Her background is mainly from the communications and technology sector as a brand marketeer, where she has worked for Cable & Wireless, General Motors and BT.

Martin Greenwood has been an independent consultant since 1992 working with local authorities and other public sector bodies. Before helping Socitm set up this service in 1992, Martin's early career involved periods in two local authorities plus one spell in the private sector and then a number of senior IT management positions at Warwickshire CC. He now manages the Socitm Insight programme run by Socitm (The Society of IT Management in local government and related parts of the public sector). Socitm Insight is a subscription service to which over 400 local authorities and other public sector organisations now subscribe.

Harvey Mattinson see biography on 'speaker biographies' page

Peter Coates celebrated 20 years of working in local government with Sunderland City Council this year, where he has experienced developing, implementing, and managing information systems in many service areas. Peter's responsibilities with Sunderland City Council have included governance of the service migration/business transformation projects that formed Sunderland City Councils Change Programme 'PeopleFirst'. Prior to that Peter's domain experience had been in the health & social care space as Head of Information & Technology for Sunderland City Councils high performing Social Services Department. Peter is a member of the Cabinet Office Contact Council, and Local Government Customer insight forum.

Simon Norbury is Head of Architecture and Business Design for Government Connect. As a pan-government funded programme led by DWP, Government Connect is a recognised, accredited and trusted secure government network for all Local Authorities in England and Wales. The network is called GCSx and it enables secure data sharing up to RESTRICTED level across government, enabling cross-government working, building common security standards and data handling. He will provide delegates with an understanding of how the programme team are meeting the technological and security challenges inherent in Government Connect, and delivering a transformational programme that continues to improve service provision for citizens and local government.

Matt Bright was Head of Communications for London Elects, the organisation which ran the London Mayor and Assembly elections. As well as overseeing the advertising, direct marketing and media relations work, Matt's team was responsible for the delivery of the 2008 London Elects website - www.londonelects.org.uk. The London Elects website is a key part of the communications plan incorporating innovative interactivity designed to encourage registration and turnout. Matt was on the launch teams of two national newspapers' websites, one English one German, and ran the editorial channels for a major portal. He has also worked as a lobbyist in Brussels.

Steve Hilton is Programme Manager for Bristol council's digital partnership, Connecting Bristol. He led the city's bid for the Digital Challenge and is a key member of the DC10plus Digital Inclusion Network.  Stephen received a personal award as BT Innovator of the Year 2006 in the National Government Computing Awards. Previously, Stephen completed a Masters degree with distinction in Social Research Methods from the University of Surrey. He worked as an independent researcher for several homelessness projects and family support strategies and is a member of the Social Research Association and of the Local Authority Research and Intelligence Association (LARIA).

Ruth Kennedy was Director of Consulting at Kable until September 2008 and leader of The Public Office - a wholly different leadership experience, specifically designed to generate collaboration between senior public servants, industry leaders and third sector partners to improve the design and delivery of citizen-centric public services. Ruth joined Kable's consulting team in 2006, bringing intimate knowledge of government as a former senior civil servant at the Department for Education and Skills, where she was Head of Family Policy from 2003 - 2006. Previous government postings include Defra, Home Office, Cabinet Office and the No10 Policy Unit, where her policy portfolio included e-government. She is a member of the IPPR (Institute for Public Policy Research) Social Policy Advisory Board.

Mary Wintershausen is currently Principal Consultant for Socitm Consulting and a member of the Institute for the Management of Information Systems. She has an outstanding record of achievement in strategic development, senior management and consultancy. Formerly Head of ICT for the London Borough of Waltham Forest, her expertise includes change management, major systems implementation for front line local government services, and the management of cross-thematic and support services projects.  Her experience also covers the strategic approach to efficiency and transformation, including professionalism in IT service management and staff development.

Mark Wheatley is a SFIA Accredited Consultant with extensive ICT management experience. In his 33 year career he has worked for various public sector, private and consulting organisations. Mark is one of the implementation leads for the SFIA/Aspire Partnership pilot project and will be sharing his experiences during the workshop sessions. He ran the Society's learning stream for a number of years and is qualified as a coach/mentor.  If you went to bed early on Sunday only to be woken by strange wailing sounds, then blame Mark who organises “Rocitm” and is also a Past President.