Debbie Warren, one of the £1,000 per day Commissioners appointed by the government last year to oversee the financial management of crisis-hit Croydon Council, has announced that she is to step down from her “day job” as chief executive at Greenwich council.
Time out: Croydon Commissioner Debbie Warren is to step down from her Greenwich council chief exec job
The Greenwich Wire website has reported today that Warren will be retiring from the £220,000 per year CEO role at the Royal Borough of Greenwich, where she has worked her entire career.
Ransley Boardman, the firm of executive headhunters also used by Croydon Council, has published a recruitment ad for Warren’s successor offering a salary of “circa £240,000”.
It is understood that Warren intends to continue with her part-time role as a government Commissioner in Croydon.
The government sent in Commissioners to Croydon last July, when after five years under an “improvement” panel and three Section 114 notices of effective bankruptcy, Tory Mayor Jason Perry had only managed to increase the borough’s debt to £1.7billion, and was asking Whitehall for ever-bigger bail-out loans.
As well as Warren, the government appointed former Merton CEO Ged Curran as lead Commissioner together with Jackie Belton (from Tory-run Bexley) and Conservative councillor Abi Brown (from Stoke-on-Trent).
Greenwich, unlike Croydon, has managed to keep its finances in balance under Warren’s leadership despite Tory austerity policies. Prior to being promoted to Greenwich’s top job, first as an interim in 2017, an appointment which was confirmed the following year, Warren had been the borough’s director of finance for eight years.
Warren, who is believed to be in her mid-60s, began her career in local government in Greenwich in 1980.
Greenwich has been Labour-controlled since 1971.
In this month’s local elections, while losing 17 council seats to the Tories, Greens and Reform, Labour retained control of the council, and has appointed Anthony Okereke as the council’s new leader. Okereke will be the third political leader that chief exec Warren has worked with in her time in the job.
The Wire reports: “Warren is a well-liked figure at the Town Hall and … highly-rated after steering the council through 16 years of government funding squeezes.”
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Warren said: “Having started my career in the finance team at Greenwich in 1980, and leading the council as chief executive since 2018, I have decided it is the right time to pass the baton on to someone else.
“I am incredibly grateful to have spent my career working to deliver real impact to our diverse and wonderful communities across the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is a wonderful place to work and I know will continue in its success for residents with a new chief executive at the helm.”
Okereke paid tribute to Warren’s service, saying, “Debbie has always put the people of the borough first, and has had a deep positive impact on the borough which will be felt by our communities for many years to come.”
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