Leadership Team

Damien has worked in the region since October 2023 leading the programme to establish the authority and previously supported the Chief Executive during its first phase of growth. His role includes responsibility for leading our functions for Strategy and Inclusive Growth. Previously, he spent a decade in the UK Civil Service in a variety of policy development and programme delivery roles where latterly he worked on the cross-government effort to widen and deepen devolution in several parts of the country – including the East Midlands.

Jodie has over 20 years’ experience working in governance, the past 7 years of which have been in Combined Authorities. During this time, he has delivered a number of successful governance transformation projects, as well as acting as the Monitoring Officer at District Council, City Council and Combined Authority level. The Monitoring Officer is statutorily responsible for reporting to the Combined County Authority on any illegality or maladministration, this includes supporting our Board to ensure proper oversight of the organisation’s activities and compliance with our legal and regulatory obligations. Jodie is passionate about the benefits good governance can bring to an organisation and excited about the opportunity to develop, innovate and engage through governance at the Combined County Authority. Prior to joining the Combined County Authority, Jodie undertook a number of governance reviews within government departments and combined authorities as well as developing Assurance Frameworks and scrutiny functions.

Richard has extensive and wide ranging financial, commercial and transformation experience. He is a CIPFA qualified accountant whose career spans both public and private sectors. He joins us from Southampton City Council where he is currently interim Director of Finance. His previous roles have included Transformation Director at City of Edinburgh Council, Board Director of a mid-sized technology consultancy, Interim Resources Director at Cornwall Council and Executive Director at Somerset County Council. Prior to these roles, Richard worked in public sector consultancy for KPMG and PwC. As Executive Director Resources, Richard will lead our finance, HR, procurement, business operations and audit functions. He will also play a key role in developing our financial strategy and our commercial relationships.

Richard is Interim Executive Director of Place. He has led the development of EMCCA’s Strategic Framework and delivery plans since October 2023. Richard has worked in local government innovation and transformation for over 20 years, in both the public and private sectors. He was previously Interim Transformation Director with Nottingham City Council and before that Executive Director of Transformation and Resources at the London Borough of Haringey. In previous roles, Richard has worked in local government consultancy, established a social care support business, established and led a managed service for a large city council and led the turnaround of a number of council customer facing services.

Peter joined the East Midlands devolution programme team in September 2023 as Interim Transport Lead, bringing 35 years of local government transport and highways experience, including at senior level in Oxford, Oxfordshire, Bristol and at the West of England Combined Authority. He has now moved into the role of Interim Transport Programme Director at EMCCA to oversee, not just the establishment of the transport division at EMCCA, but also the development of the regional transport strategy and investment programme.