After completing my BA in History in York, I studied Post-War Recovery Studies which took me to Lebanon and Sierra Leone. I felt like 22 year old me was better learning about how the UK functions than jumping straight into international development so I was so pleased to join the Hull City Council graduate scheme. And I love local government.
I got the chance to join the Government Digital Service in 2012 and was part of the team that built and launched GOV.UK, the home for government information and services in the UK. I’m very proud of GOV.UK.
After launch I worked in the team configuring user support for GOV.UK and understanding how we could tap into that qualitative data to help keep GOV.UK improving. That led to some time at HMRC helping them set up their first digital-first user support team. I’m not sure I can say that left me with a great love for Zendesk or Deskpro.
I helped figure out how to embed user needs in the transition of agencies and arms length bodies before starting to work in product management. I’ve held product leadership in the teams responsible for the 2015 UK General Election on GOV.UK, the Performance Platform, the incubation and Alpha phases of Government as a Platform, and the Digital Marketplace. I was a lead service assessor and a member of the Spend Controls panel.
From the UK’s Centre of Government I joined the OECD to work on Digital Government and Data around the world where I worked with delegates and delegations from around 50 different countries until 2023. I enjoyed my time at the OECD and loved the people and countries I got to know, though there’s plenty of scope to improve the organisation itself.
I’ve written a number of publications and led multiple country engagements. I established OECD Frameworks for Service Design, Digital Identity, Data and Digital Skills. I contributed to developing the OECD Digital Government Policy Framework and its associated Digital Government Index.
I led the development, negotiation and adoption of the OECD Recommendation on the Governance of Digital Identity, and the OECD Good Practice Principles for Service Design and Delivery in the Digital Age. I led the early phases of developing the OECD Good Practice Principles for Data Ethics in the Public Sector.
I was a champion for the internal digital transformation of the OECD and while I can’t say I fell in love with Microsoft Teams I was instrumental in how multiple teams were able to navigate through the challenges of the pandemic and the shift of a quite traditional organisation to one that was fully remote.
I’ve done plenty of public speaking, appearing on panels and presenting new ideas. For a flavour of my presentation style here’s my slides on Building a Data-Driven Public Sector delivered to senior officials from the Government of Azerbaijan in May 2024.
If you’d be interested in working with me, please connect with me on LinkedIn