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Senior management team

Our senior management team are the senior managers responsible for the day-to-day running of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council.

If you have any queries around strategy and policy implementation or strategic concerns, contact our senior management team.

If you have a query or need to report an issue with a service such reporting a missed bin or a pothole, please use our report it section of the website or contact us.

Graham Farrant

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council Chief Executive

You can contact Graham Farrant by email at graham.farrant@bcpcouncil.gov.uk.

Graham was previously the Chief Executive of HM Land Registry and Chief Land Registrar. Prior to that role, Graham was Chief Executive of Thurrock Council and London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. He transformed Thurrock into a council with a strong regeneration strategy providing excellent services to residents. Graham also has extensive private sector experience.

Jess Gibbons

Chief Operations Officer

You can contact Jess Gibbons by email at jess.gibbons@bcpcouncil.gov.uk.

Responsible for:

  • commercial operations
  • planning and destination
  • environment
  • infrastructure
  • customer, arts and property
  • communities and housing.

Cathi Hadley

Corporate Director - Children's Services

You can contact Cathi Hadley by email at cathi.hadley@bcpcouncil.gov.uk

Responsible for:

  • education
  • children's social care 
  • commissioning (children's services)
  • early help 
  • permanency, fostering and adoption
  • performance (children's services).

Isla Reynolds

Corporate Director - Marketing, Communications and Policy

You can contact Isla Reynolds by email at Isla.Reynolds@bcpcouncil.gov.uk.

Responsible for:

  • marketing and communications.

Isla previously worked as the Head of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement for HM Courts & Tribunal Service (Ministry of Justice). As well as this Isla worked for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute in Poole, and has many years of experience in journalism, public relations, media relations, marketing and communications.

Susan Zeiss

Monitoring Officer/Director of Law and Governance 

You can contact Susan Zeiss by email at susan.zeiss@bcpcouncil.gov.uk.

Responsible for law and governance.

Susan was most recently General Counsel at Northamptonshire County Council, where she was part of a team building financial stability and restoring good governance. Susan was previously Deputy Director Legal for the Environment Agency and Senior Solicitor at Dorset County Council. Having spent the first half of her working life in the private sector as an attorney advising in property, planning, contract and procurement, she has brought this experience to projects in Local Government like the Weymouth Relief Road, Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station, Defra transformation and the Steart Marshes Working Wetland.

Sarah Ray-Deane

Director of People and Culture

You can contact Sarah Ray-Deane by email at sarah.ray-deane@bcpcouncil.gov.uk.

Responsible for:

  • employee experience
  • culture and values
  • organisation development and design
  • personal growth and wellbeing
  • reward and benefits
  • resourcing and recruitment
  • employee relations
  • diversity, equity and inclusion.

Sarah is CIPD certified with nearly 30 years of HR experience in local government. Sarah progressed through various HR roles gaining experience across the board in people related matters and brings a wealth of experience in industrial relations and large transformational programmes. 

Adam Richens

Statutory 151 Officer/Director of Finance

You can contact Adam Richens by email at adam.richens@bcpcouncil.gov.uk.

Responsible for finance.

Adam is a qualified accountant with over 30 years experience in local government finance. He started working for Dorset County Council straight from school in 1986 as part of their Youth Training Scheme. Adam progressed through various finance roles at Dorset and then Poole before taking on the role of Poole's Chief Financial Officer in March 2012. From February 2016, Adam was the joint Head of Financial Services for both Bournemouth and Poole. As Section 151 Officer, Adam is responsible for ensuring the proper administration of BCP Council’s finances.

Katie Lacey

Director of IT and Programmes

Responsible for:

  • IT Infrastructure
  • Service Delivery
  • Governance & Compliance
  • Modern Office
  • Development & Data Architecture
  • Data & Analytics
  • Programme and Project Management.

You can contact Katie Lacey by email at katie.lacey@bcpcouncil.gov.uk.