Philip has now left his post overseeing the development of Birmingham City Centre, and has moved to Newham Council, filling a similar role regenerating the area in preparation for the 2012 Olympics.
I was due to meet with Philip during the summer, but as I traveled to the meeting by train, I received a telephone call canceling the appointment from his office, saying that he had been called away to deal with more urgent matters, much to my protest.
A complete waste of time and money demolished by what I feel to be a very inconsiderate last-minute action by his office- I will not be making the journey again.
Suzie is the CEO of Screen WM, the West Midland’s regional screen agency, and is responsible for ensuring that this area of the region’s creative sector continues to grow. Screen WM are also also working closely with Channel 4 and acting as a commissioning hub on the 4iP fund.
“At the moment due to the government announcements, Suzie is concentrating on future planning and the diary over the summer is purely based on these activities.” (via email from Suzie’s PA).
Hopefully this situation will change in the future and will allow me to meet with Suzie before this project deadline expires.
Salma Yaqoob is the leader, and former vice-chair, of the Respect Party and a Birmingham City Councillor. She is also the head of the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition and a spokesperson for Birmingham Central Mosque.
In 2006, Yaqoob received the Lloyds TSB Asian Jewel Award for Public Service Excellence while Harper’s Bazaar magazine named her in the top thirty list of British women, alongside Kate Winslet, all of whom they considered to be the most powerful in the UK.
In 2008, she was voted to eleventh place in the Birmingham Post’s Power 50 list of the most influential people in the city. She was included in the newspaper’s list again in 2009 at number 24.
In 2009, Yaqoob was included in the Muslim Women Power List run by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in association with The Times and Emel magazine.
According to The Guardian newspaper, Yaqoob is “the most prominent Muslim woman in British public life“.
Over a four month period, I have tried to contact Salma via email on several occasions, Twitter (twice) and have also left messages on her mobile telephone.
Unfortunately, none of these attempts have been successful, and to date, my requests for an interview have gone unanswered, and I have not received any replies whatsoever.
I can only deduct from this that Salma is not interested in taking part.
Unfortunately, there appears to be no image or photograph of Salma available via Creative Commons licensed outlets – only images with ‘All Rights Reserved’ licenses are available.
Councillor Mike Whitby is the elected representative for Harborne Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council, Leader of the Conservative Group and Chairman of the Birmingham City Council Business Management Committee.
I have been in email contact with Cllr Whitby’s office since May 21st 2010.
Back then, I requested a short 30-minute appointment with Cllr Whitby, to conduct the interview with him, in exactly the same format as those on this page. Negotiations, explanations, questions, date adjustments and diary juggling have been continuing since then to accommodate Cllr Whitby’s diary.
On August 5th, I received email communication from Cllr Whitby’s office (with a restriction statement of confidentiality and legal statement attached), not only cancelling our appointment next week (planned for Monday 9th August), but also completely cancelling for the future.
Upon reflection, I will avoid the temptation to include my personal thoughts here, instead allowing the above factual report to accurately inform readers/ viewers of the situation surrounding this particular interview.
Fresh from his lecturing role in online journalism (and others) at Birmingham City University, Paul has just started the next stage of his career.
The founder of Help Me Investigate, Paul’s knowledge and experience comes from previous roles in editing magazines and websites.
During a short lunch break, I managed to spend some time with Paul at the Custard Factory, where we spoke about his professional and academic history, current trends and the influences of technology for holding those in power to account, and briefly touched on what the future for the media industry could possibly have in store.
The Chief Executive of Birmingham Council is a busy guy at the moment.
The future of public service delivery is coming under greater scrutiny, significant spending cuts across the sector are slowly emerging, and organisations such as Advantage West Midlands and Business Link are under increasing pressure to reduce costs and spending.
The same applies across all areas that BCC manages, not just business and industry in the West Midlands.
I managed to steal 10 minutes of Stephens time at his office, asking a few questions about his management and leadership style, past influences and what sort of influences will affect Birmingham’s future.
Simon’s musical background brings with it not only experience and knowledge, but recognition and strong leadership skills, plus a wealth of experience on the international platform.
Coordinating large scale orchestra and choir productions, and small scale intimate concerts as part of his daily routine, Simon gives me an insight about how he leads the Town Hall teams, how the operation runs, and how the venue itself plays a key influencing role in the city’s culture.
As the Chief Executive of University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Julie and her team have just undertaken a huge move of patients, professional medical staff and facilities to the brand new Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham in Selly Oak.
Drawing from her front line experience in nursing, Julie has adopted a “bottom up” approach to consulting with patients and staff, to ensure that effective leadership and management is successfully delivered, helping the relocation take place successfully, winning the support of all involved, and the press of course, at the same time as maintaining high standards of care at what is now a huge medical facility for the region.
I spent a few minutes with Julie to find out how her management styles have taken shape over the years, and how she applies them on a day to day basis.
You know, there comes a time when you meet someone that is truly the leading authority in their specialised field- for me, that time was today, with Nick.
Such a wealth of knowledge and experience guide Nick’s leadership choices, and if ever there was an example of good teamwork making a real difference to someone’s life, then surely, this is it.
The Vice Chancellor of Aston University and I could have talked for hours. Julia’s vast past industry experience includes the cutting edge in aero and automotive engineering- there’s even a titanium award made from one of the fans from a Rolls Royce engine in Julia’s office!
However, Julia’s past is well documented elsewhere. What I wanted to find out was more about the work happening at the university, and how that is likely to affect the West Midlands engineering industry.
