Glyn Evans, Corporate Director of Business Change at Birmingham City Council is the new President of Socitm

Glyn has more than 30 years' experience of working in local government IT in support and management positions. In November 2003 he was appointed Director of Business Solutions & IT with Birmingham City Council with the remit to drive forward a business transformation programme across the Council. He led the development of the Council's approach to transformational change and the creation of a joint venture company with the private sector to support the change programme. Glyn then took on his current role of Corporate Director of Business Change to ensure business transformation is adopted, embedded and implemented across the Council.

Glyn's was previously a Vice President of Socitm and he is a former chair of Socitm Futures. He is also a member of the CIO Council, the Local CIO Council and the Local Government Delivery Council.

With his high profile role at Birmingham City Council, the largest local authority in Europe, Glyn is well known among those working in central and local government on the transformation of public services. As a member of the Socitm 'Presidential team' over the last 12 months, he has played a key role in developing the Strategy for ICT-enabled local public services launched by Socitm as he took up the Presidency.

Taking forward the Strategy will be an important theme of Glyn's Presidency, alongside three other key areas:

• Increasing Socitm membership: all IT professionals, at all levels, who deliver or support public services should recognise the value that Socitm will add to their professional lives.
• Helping public service IT professionals manage austerity: IT functions will be experiencing the pain of enforced efficiencies. Sharing good practice through Socitm research, events, benchmarking, and other support will help with opportunities such as sharing IT infrastructure with neighbouring councils or supporting flexible ways of working.
• Ensuring the recognition and promotion of the role IT professionals can play in redefining and delivering public services for the 21st century: technology will be needed to 'make the joins' in a more fragmented public sector landscape, and to help the public navigate their way through it. IT professionals must continue to carve out their role as change agents, blending their technical expertise with a willingness to lead the local change agenda - recognising that change involves people and process as well as technology.

Speaking to members soon after taking up the Presidency, Glyn said that despite the difficulties of operating within a downsizing public sector there was room for optimism:

'The list of examples demonstrating how IT can enable fundamental change is growing daily.  IT across local public services is radically improving efficiency and effectiveness. Most importantly, public services can change people's lives for the better, and increasingly, IT plays a key part in that. After a lot of hard work, not least by Socitm, I think we are at or past the tipping point where organisations realise that IT is the enabler for delivery of their objectives.'

Socitm also elected a new Vice President at the AGM: Nadira Hussain from Tower Hamlets joins the existing Vice Presidents Kay Brown, Head of ICT at South Lanarkshire Council and  Steve Halliday, Head of ICT at Solihull MBC.

Further information:
A print quality image of Glyn is available at: http://www.socitm.net/images/Glyn_evans.jpg

Glyn Evans
Socitm President
Tel:  0121 303 2600
Mobile:  07766 922 220
Email: glyn.evans@birmingham.gov.uk glyn.evans@socitm.net

Vicky Sargent
Tel: 07726 601 139
Socitm Press Office
vicky.sargent@socitm.net