Liverpool is "not the place to learn on the job" for its most senior officer according to the city's lead commissioner after the identity of its new chief executive was named.
It was confirmed earlier this month that Andrew Lewis will become the local authority's most senior officer, replacing interim boss Theresa Grant. The 53-year old joins the local authority from Cheshire West and Chester Council, where he has been chief executive since 2018.
Mike Cunningham, lead commissioner overseeing Liverpool Council since being appointed by the government in 2021, was part of the team who appointed Mr Lewis and explained why the former Tees Valley Combined Authority director got the job. He said: “We were looking for somebody who had some experience of being a chief executive.
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“Liverpool, we don't think, is a good place to learn on the job how to be a chief executive. We've seen with the interim chief executive, she's brought loads of experience with her, and so what we have in Andrew is somebody who has experience heading up a local authority, of being the chief executive of a combined authority.”
Before moving into local government, Mr Lewis worked as a senior economic advisor at the Treasury, working on employment, tax and international policy. He was seconded as deputy regional director of the Government Office for the North East and led the Northern Way partnership to promote economic growth across the North. He will take up his new post in Liverpool early in the summer.
Mr Cunningham said the incoming chief executive experience in Tees Valley would be crucial in the context of the Liverpool City Region. He said: “That's important because Liverpool works within the context of the combined authority here, and if Liverpool Council is going to be effective in the future needs to work with the combined authority in a very constructive way.
“Andrew also has experience working in a core city and while core cities differ, there is something about that experience of what a city needs that I think a new chief executive will bring. What we've seen from Andrew is he'll bring all of that experience and a way of working, which is very much about wanting the best for the people who pay for the local services.
“He has the right ingredients to make a good fist of this role.” Mr Lewis will take over in the role from interim chief executive Theresa Grant who stepped into the role after the departure of Tony Reeves after he quit the council last summer.
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