SARAH TANBURN ASSOCIATES

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Employment History

Experience

Company director, consultant, interim and project manager from 2003 to present

A portfolio of clients and projects including universities, public bodies, charities and private sector companies on service delivery, strategic policy, change management, business development and training.

Interim management

Sarah's most recent interim assignment, ending July 2009, has been Director of Environment and Regeneration for the London Borough of Merton. She managed a large front line department of some 750 staff and £50m gross budget, including in-house collection of waste, grounds maintenance and enforcement. She led the department through a major change in its senior management, the implementation of the 2009/10 budget and the start of the 2010/11 budget. She also delivered key strategic steps, including a new Core Strategy and Waste Plan and a post-recession economic development strategy.

In 2006 to 2007, Sarah was Interim Director for Enterprise, Tourism and Environment for Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. She managed the front-line department responsible for place-making and street-scene services, with 200 staff and some £10m budget, leading major change and managing key projects as well as enhancing performance and delivering a realistic budget.

Consultancy and advisory work

Sarah undertakes a wide range of consultancy work across different areas of specialist advice and organisational development. She is a skilled fundraiser, and has wide experience of writing strategic organisational documents. Sarah has also acted as 'trusted client' on behalf of public sector bodies and partnerships, overseeing contracts for masterplanning, regeneration and related activity.

Recent consultancy projects include:

writing the strategic cultural and creative industries plan for the three regional development agencies in the London Thames Gateway
developing the community renewal strategy for Thames Gateway South Essex
acting as technical assessor on recruitment of regeneration specialists
lecturing at the Cambridge University School of Architecture
successful fundraising for third sector arts, recycling and housing projects

Previous employment

Director of Culture & Regeneration, Brighton & Hove Council to December 2002

1000 staff and £30m revenue, £200m capital budgets, managing economic and community development, libraries, museums, leisure, arts, tourism, housing strategy and homelessness. Major projects including Brighton seafront, Brighton Dome, conference centre, sports centre. Joint working with others notably local businesses, Universities, other public agencies and the Regional Development Agency, the voluntary sector and government.

Director of Strategy & Information, Hertfordshire County Council 1997 to 2000

Corporate strategy, including modernisation of political structure and introduction of best value. Delivery of Crime & Disorder Act, corporate ICT and economic development. Board member for the Council, closely involved in all strategic discussions on core functions.

Deputy Director of Housing, London Borough Hounslow 1993 to 1997

Customer services, equal opportunities, performance monitoring, finance, personnel, ICT, and strategy. Delivering improvements in repairs and maintenance Direct Service Organisation. Introduced organisation-wide new ICT systems and associated business procedures. 150 staff, £20m revenue and £100m capital budget.

Benefits Services Manager, L B Hammersmith & Fulham 1990 to 1993

Managing a comprehensive inner city benefits service, incorporating anti-fraud teams, ICT and accountancy. Over 200 staff, £60m budget.

Head of Housing Policy, Research & Information, L B Ealing 1988 to 1990

Leading a team of 12 staff, responsible for communication with the public (particularly tenants), performance management, policy development, the Housing Investment Programme and financial strategy.

Housing Publicity Manager, Greater London Council & London Housing Unit '85 to '88

LocalGov News

Staffordshire members' allowances frozen
Staffordshire County Council has agreed not to increase county councillors’ allowances for the coming financial year. Member’s allowances have been frozen for four years running and the decision is contrary to the
West country councils set to reject weekly waste collection offer
Councils in the West Country are poised to reject the Government’s offer of funds to reintroduce weekly waste collections. This follows the launch last week by the communities secretary’s of a £250m weekly collections

RSA blogs

The RSA: an enlightenment organisation committed to finding innovative practical solutions to today’s social challenges.

Mindfulness (5): Is ‘a bit’ enough?
Many things are ‘a bit tricky’, my two year old son has started saying he’s ‘a bit hungry’, and you may be ‘a bit curious’ about where this is going. Ed Haliwell, who spoke at the RSA Mindfulness event in 2010, has just written an interesting piece asking whether the expression ‘a bit of mindfulness’ [...]
GoodbyeOverdraft HelloWallet
Is it just me, or do retail banking services in the UK seem to innovate at the speed of rowing through treacle? From a customer’s perspective, online banking has remained the same for years. My bank (which prides itself on customer service) provides a website that looks pretty much the same as the very first [...]

New Economics Foundation

Blog posts from the new economics foundation

An invitation to join the e-money revolution

The Brixton Pound's e-currency launched last year, with the technology coming to Bristol in May - where next?

Image attribution
Image by: William Hook

Link to original image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamhook/2611129573/sizes/o/in/photostream/

License type: Creative Commons

Politicians may be incapable of modernizing our dinosaur-banks, but in the world of electronic exchange things are more exciting. In particular, the ubiquity of mobile phones and the internet creates enormous opportunities for ‘dis-intermediation’ – or the removal of banks as the middle-men enabling payment and settlement.
The scramble to avoid a Greek default

The IMF, EU and ECB must have a deal in place by 20 March to avoid the risk of contagion in the Eurozone.

Image attribution
Image by: kap4001

Link to original image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kap4001/2051173300/sizes/l/in/photostream/

License type: Creative Commons

Crunch time is rapidly approaching for Greece, as its ruling coalition fail to reach agreement on austerity cuts. In return, its private creditors have ‘volunteered’ – with the barest minimum of Troika arm-twisting – to reductions in Greek debt of around 70 per cent. If nothing is signed up to by 20 March, when €14.5bn has to be rolled over, Greece will face little choice but to default.
Life before death

What can we learn from the regrets of the dying?

Image attribution
Image by: [ henning ]

Link to original image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/muehlinghaus/339603204/sizes/l/in/photostream/

License type: Creative Commons

First thing on a Monday morning - surely the best time to contemplate life and death? In the Guardian last week there was an article about an Australian nurse who cared for people in their last 12 weeks of life and what she learnt about their regrets. Whilst I can’t vouch for the scientific validity of the study it is certainly true that we will all die, and that many of us will have a chance to reflect on our lives as we approach death. Did we do the things we would have liked to?