Ed has been Chair of Involve since June 2019. He is Executive Director for Strategy, Economy and Net Zero at West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) where he has led the development of wide-ranging programmes of regional economic development, the regional approach to the climate and environmental crises, and successfully negotiated one of only two English Trailblazer Devolution Deals.
Prior to WMCA, Ed was Director of Public Services and Communities at the RSA where he led an ambitious programme of work on people, power, place and inclusive growth. He previously led IPPR North for 9 years where he was a champion for devolution and much of the thinking behind the ‘Northern Powerhouse,’ working closely with several combined authorities in the north of England. Before that, Ed was an adviser to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government where he played a key role in developing the Sub-National Review (2007) and the Empowerment White Paper (2008).
Ed has a background in community engagement: he wrote Manchester’s first community engagement strategy, he was a founder of the national Participatory Budgeting Unit and he is the founder and chair of the Levenshulme Inspire community hub in inner-city Manchester. Ed is a qualified minister of religion in the United Reformed Church and he is part of the leadership team for his local congregation in Levenshulme.
