Who's Who

ADEPT President / Director of Environment and Transport, Leicestershire County Council
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Ann Carruthers is Director of Environment and Transport for Leicestershire County Council responsible for all highways, transport, environment and waste services. Before joining Leicestershire CC, Ann worked with a number of local authorities across Scotland and England covering the highways, transport, environment and growth agendas. Ann also spent a number of years as National Travel Demand Manager with Transit New Zealand responsible for introducing sustainable transport options and new ways of working across New Zealand’s state highway system. Ann is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation, a member of the Highways Sector Council and Chair of Midlands Highway Alliance+, a collaboration of 36 local highway authorities providing routes to market, sharing best practice and driving up standards across our highways work.

1st Vice President and Chair of ADEPT North West Board / Director of Thriving Places, Westmorland & Furness Council
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Angela is the Director of Thriving Places at Westmorland & Furness Council. Prior to this she was the Executive Director for Economy and Infrastructure at Cumbria County Council. Angela has worked in a mixture of unitary and county councils, across the North West and Wales and has senior leadership experience across place-based services including Economic Development, Highways and Transport, Flood Risk Management, Property and Facilities Management, Planning, Waste and Community Services. She jointly Chairs the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership and was the Chair of the Cumbria Strategic Flood Partnership for 4 years following Storm Desmond. Angela has significant experience of leading and managing frontline services and complex multi-disciplinary teams, with a robust track record in developing and maintaining strong working relationships with staff, members and external stakeholders.  

2nd Vice President and Chair of ADEPT East of England Board / Executive Director of Growth, Highways and Infrastructure at Suffolk County Council
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Andrew joined Suffolk County Council as their Executive Director of Growth, Highways and Infrastructure in 2022 and is responsible for Highways, Transport, Waste, Planning, Economy and Housing as well as being the authority’s lead on Climate Change and the Environment. Before joining Suffolk County Council, Andrew held a range of Place based director and executive director roles with more than 20 years of local authority experience, and has significant expertise in the management of public/private partnership contracts and the delivery of major infrastructure projects. Originally a planner by professional background, he has experience of all aspects of the planning process and has also held chief planning roles in local authority. He is passionate about the experience of residents and the positive impact that local government can facilitate, particularly in relation to climate, environmental impact, and enabling our communities.

2nd Vice President and Joint Chair, ADEPT South East Board (SEDEPT) / Executive Director for Environment City of London Corporation
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Katie has responsibility for highways, waste, emergency planning, countryside estate and green infrastructure, climate change, major infrastructure, and the county’s planning service. She is also the Council’s corporate lead for resilience and a board member for Active Surrey, the county’s sports partnership. She has 16 years of local government experience, previously having served as a Director for Environment Planning and Enforcement at Kent County Council, and economic development roles at City of York Council and Leeds City Region Partnership. She has a passion for physical activity and brings this passion to her day job – finding ways of encouraging active environments and for colleagues to be as active as possible as part of their working weeks. She is an amateur runner, and when not running around nearby Richmond Park, is found running around after her young son. 

Immediate Past President / Interim Director for Place, Torbay Council
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Anthony Payne is currently the Interim Director for Place at Torbay Council, following his retirement from Plymouth City Council in September 2024 after almost 15 years in the post. During his time at Plymouth Anthony was responsible for economic development, strategic planning and infrastructure, and street services as well as capital programme, visitor economy, events, heritage and sustainability. Anthony previously worked for the East Midlands Development Agency in a number of Director posts, which included sustainable development, land and development, and finally Executive Director for Strategy & Communications. From 1995-2004 Anthony was based in Brussels, running a network of European Cities on Sustainable Development. Anthony holds a BSc in Geology and an MPhil in Planning. He was born and bred in Plymouth. 

Chair of ADEPT Yorkshire & Humber Board / Corporate Director Business & Environmental Services, North Yorkshire Council
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Karl has been the Corporate Director at North Yorkshire since November 2020 and is responsible for highways and related functions, passenger transport, waste disposal, fleet, public rights of way, trading standards, and regeneration. Previous to that he has held Corporate Director place roles at Kirklees Council, Wigan Council and Rotherham Council. A planner by background, Karl has held a variety of planning roles, beginning his career at Exeter City Council as a planning enforcement officer, followed by roles at Doncaster Council, Wakefield Council and Blackpool Council.

Chair of Climate Change Board / Director for Environment and Community Services, South Gloucestershire Council
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Nigel joined South Gloucestershire Council in 2018, as their Director of Environment and Community Services, leading the delivery of the Council’s place-based services. Previous roles include Commissioning Director for Communities and Infrastructure at Gloucestershire County Council and Deputy Chief Executive for Stroud District Council. Nigel was also responsible for setting up the Beacon Council Scheme for the Improvement & Development Agency, is an Honorary Member of the Faculty of Public Health, a Board Member of Building with Nature and the Chair of Cotswold Beacon Academy Trust.

Joint Chair, ADEPT South East Board (SEDEPT) / Director of Highways, Transport and Planning, West Sussex County Council
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Matt has worked in municipal engineering for most of his career. Previously Matt worked in the private sector as well as with Slough Borough, Surrey County Council and Wokingham Borough Council. At Wokingham Matt helped to develop a significant capital programme to support major residential development across the borough. Matt took up the post of director of Highways and Transport at West Sussex County Council in 2016 and took on responsibility for Planning in 2019. 

Chair of ADEPT Midlands Board / Executive Director of Place, Lincolnshire County Council
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Andy's training as a Town Planner has seen him work at District, Unitary, Metropolitan, London Borough and County Council level and he spent a period of time running his own consultancy business. His current appointment at Lincolnshire County Council coincided with a number of other changes at Chief Executive and Executive Director level resulting in a new approach to the professional leadership of the authority which are now being implemented through a transformation programme at the authority. Andy has overseen the mobilisation of new contracts across highways and waste services and is an advocate of collaborative working. He is also developing a regional presence for Lincolnshire through involvement with the Midlands Engine, Midlands Connect and Transport for the East Midlands (TfEM) whilst supporting the development of new approaches to a Greater Lincolnshire agenda at upper tier level and with the GLLEP as negotiations continue with Government about a County Deal and the potential for Devolution. Andy was the LCC lead for Covid recovery and chaired the RCG within the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum to ensure effective measures in place to ensure effective recovery with an emphasis on health, economy and community. 

Chair of ADEPT South West Board / Director of Sustainable Communities, Bath & North East Somerset Council
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Sophie is responsible for the council’s place-shaping services – including the economy, regeneration, housing, planning, heritage and transport – with an overall focus on addressing the climate and nature emergency. Previously, Sophie worked for the civil service including roles at Defra (regulating the water companies), the Department for Communities and Local Government (local government finance reform) and HM Treasury (devolution to mayoral combined authorities and public service transformation).

Chair of ADEPT Engineering Board & Highways Sector Council rep / Assistant Director Direct Services, Haringey Council
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Mark is a Chartered Civil Engineer and has provided local government highways and transportation services for 40 years. He has worked for a number of local authorities including Suffolk County Council, Leicestershire County Council, Peterborough City Council and Luton Borough Council, starting his career at the London Borough of Southwark. His wide-ranging experience includes setting up and providing strategic direction to the Midlands Highways Alliance, involvement in the Highway Maintenance Efficiency programme, securing funding for and oversight of a wide range of highways, civil and engineering schemes supporting economic growth and regeneration. Mark holds a BSc Honours degree in Civil Engineering, an MSC degree in Highways and Transportation and an MBA degree in Engineering Management. He is also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Member of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation with the latter selecting Mark as its Transportation Professional of the Year in 2020. Mark took up his role of Assistant Director Direct Services at Haringey Council in January 2021.

Chair of ADEPT Environment Board / Director for Environment, Surrey County Council
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Carolyn has over 20 years' experience in the environment, public, private and not for profit sectors. Most recently, Carolyn worked at Kent County Council as Head of Sustainable Business and Communities where she led the Council's approach to environmental management of the organisation as a whole and the climate emergency specifically, amongst other areas.

Chair of ADEPT Sustainable Growth Board / Executive Director, Place, Derbyshire County Council
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Chris Henning is Executive Director, Place for Derbyshire County Council, responsible for economy, transport and environment. He joined from Nottingham City Council where he played a similar role. Chris has worked for nearly 30 years in economic development, first with central government and then with one of the UK’s leading consulting firms. He specialises in regeneration and commercial strategy – having spent much of his career linking local, regional and central government to the private sector. Chris and his family live in Derbyshire. He spends any spare time with his children at sports fixtures throughout the County or simply enjoying the beautiful countryside.

Chair of Transport & Connectivity Board / Corporate Director of Regeneration, Economy and Growth, Durham County Council
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Amy is Corporate Director of Regeneration Economy and Growth for Durham County Council, one of the largest local authorities in the UK.  

She has previously held senior roles in local government in two large metropolitan authorities in the West Midlands and South Yorkshire. Amy is committed to delivering outcomes for communities and our potential for real inclusive economies. She has also held senior combined authority roles including, Transport for the North, South Yorkshire MCA and Transport for Greater Manchester. Amy is responsible for a wide range of council front line business and community services and broad portfolio of regeneration themes, including transport, leisure, culture, corporate property, planning, commercial investment and housing as well as regional devolution.

Chair, Live Labs Commissioning Board
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Neil is a Past President of ADEPT and Chair of the ADEPT Live Labs Commissioning Board. Although he stepped out of his role as Executive Director with Buckinghamshire County Council in 2020, Neil remains closely involved with the ADEPT Leadership Team in a voluntary capacity. He is also supporting their skills agenda, sits on their Economic Recovery & Renewal Task Force, and is developing further Live Lab opportunities. Now an independent strategic advisor to the public and private sector, Neil brings over 25 years' of senior executive experience at board level, embracing vision & strategy development, partnership development, change management & delivery, innovation and executive leadership development. Passionate about nurturing talent, Neil supports existing and aspiring leaders to thrive and to realise their potential through action learning and mentoring. He facilitated the ADEPT/Amey Excellence in Place Leadership Programme, and now facilitates the ADEPT/Amey PACE Programme. Neil is currently one of four independent Commissioners overseeing improvements at Liverpool City Council.

Chair of ADEPT Northern Ireland and Director of Road Asset Maintenance for the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland.
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With over 30 years' civil engineering experience in the highway sector, Colin has worked across a variety of areas including road and bridge design, network planning, maintenance and, more recently, the delivery of major infrastructure projects for the Department. Colin is currently responsible for all aspects or road asset maintenance in Northern Ireland, the management of the Department’s DBFO contracts and the operation of the Department’s Claims Unit.

Chair of CSS Wales and Corporate Lead Officer for Highways and Environmental Services at Ceredigion County Council
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Rhodri is a Chartered Civil Engineer with over 25 years’ experience working within Local Government. Rhodri started his career in 1995 with Dyfed County Council and following local government re-organisation in Wales in 1996 moved to Ceredigion County Council. He has held a number of roles within Ceredigion County Council, with roles including aspects of highway adoption, highway/structural engineering and the development and delivery of flood/coastal defence strategies and schemes. Rhodri is currently the lead for Highways and Environmental Services within Ceredigion County Council, which covers the Highways, Waste, Street Scene, FCERM, Harbours, Parking, Transport and Fleet Management functions.