I'd like to introduce myself as the new Director of Forum for the Future's Public Sector Programme. Those of you who know the programme may be aware that there has been some considerable change in staffing recently. It may be famous last words but I like to think this is coming to an end and that the team and their partners and contacts can look forward to some stability in the coming months and years.

Starting out with a degree in Botany and doing a Masters in Medieval History, my route to the Forum for the Future has been as convoluted as our other staff. My experiences range from leading teams of volunteers in transforming post-industrial Teesside to a stretch with Friends of the Earth where I provided support for 50 campaigning groups across the north of England. A key success was a campaign to save Thorne and Hatfield Moors, one of the last surviving lowland raised peat moors in the UK.

As a regional director with ENCAMS I worked in partnership with local authorities and utility companies and brought the Blue Flag back to the beaches in Yorkshire & the Humber. Then as its development director I set funding strategy for programmes like Eco-Schools in the UK and steered a Pathfinder programme with 27 councils for Defra.

Nearly five years as a head of service at CABE, where I dished out generous advice when government wished to receive it and enjoyed meeting a succession of parks ministers, brings me to my current role at the Forum.

The other recent appointments in the team are key to the Forum's success in the public sector.

Karen Lawrence comes to Forum for the Future as principle advisor on climate change. Karen joins us from LACORS, a local government central body, where she was policy officer, promoting tighter vehicular NOX emissions as well as a climate change toolkit for regulatory services. As with many other staff at Forum for the Future she has a fascinating background that means she knows the language of the public sector, can recognise a dodgy building (even if it is a low carbon one) and understands that communications are key to our success.

The Forum’s role of Head of Leadership and Change could have been written for Anna Birney. Roles such as project manager for the Pathways to Change programme at WWF and being part of the management group for Local 4 Global (an unincorporated consortium part-funded by DFID, HEC and RISC) stand her in great stead. Anna has such a charisma and enthusiasm that makes it difficult not to change spontaneously on contact with her.

Last, and by no means least, Zoe Abrahamson demonstrates how the Forum walks the walk, in being a PA with a masters degree in sustainable development. She has the dubious task of plotting my movements and those of deputy director Helen Clarkson and providing core administrative support to the team.

I very much look forward to being part of shaping Forum for the Future’s public sector programme and creating exciting change for the sector.