Commissioners
The Chair of the Commission is Max Caller CBE, who is supported by five commissioners. The Deputy Chair is Professor Colin Mellors. The Commission is supported by a team of staff lead by the Chief Executive, Alan Cogbill.
Max Caller CBE (Chair)
Max Caller was appointed Chair of the Commission on its inception on 1 April 2010. He was previously Chair of the Boundary Committee for England, the body whose functions the LGBCE assumed on 1 April 2010. He is also a Commissioner for the Electoral Commission.
Max has served as Chief Executive and Returning Officer in three London boroughs and was the London Regional Returning Officer for the 1999 European Parliament elections. He has also served as an elections observer abroad.
Professor Colin Mellors
Colin Mellors was appointed Deputy Chair in autumn 2010. He is Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of York, and previously held a similar position at the University of Bradford. He has also held academic posts at the universities of Sheffield and Southampton. He is also Director of Higher Education Strategy for Yorkshire Forward, the Regional Development Agency for Yorkshire and the Humber.
He is a non-executive member of the Corporate Management Board of Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber, and Deputy Chair of Bradford Breakthrough, the City's business leadership group.
He was founder chair of the Board of Yorkshire and Humberside Universities Association and, also, the Board of YHMAN (the metropolitan area network).
Sir Tony Redmond
Sir Tony Redmond was local government Ombudsman for nine years up to November 2010.Before becoming a Local Government Ombudsman, he was Chief Executive of the London Borough of Harrow (1987-2001). Prior to that he served as Treasurer and Deputy Chief Executive of Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council and Treasurer to the Merseyside Police Authority. He has also held senior posts in Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council and Liverpool City Council.
Sir Tony is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is also a Member of the Queen Mary Westfield College (University of London) Public Policy Advisory Board and a member of the Centre for Public Policy Seminars. In 2011, he was knighted for services to local government.
Dr Peter Knight CBE DL
Peter Knight was Deputy Chair of the Commission on its inception on 1 April 2010. He was re-appointed as a Commissioner in autumn 2010.Peter Knight is a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Central England. For many years he worked in a voluntary capacity in social housing, including serving as Chair of the Prime Focus Group and acting for the Housing Corporation on Walsall Housing Group and Staffordshire Housing Association. He has worked in local authority-managed higher education and is a past President of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE).
He also serves as a member of Wolverhampton Homes (an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO)) and in 2004 was appointed by the Secretary of State for Defence as a member of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body. In April 2011 he was appointed by the Prime Minister as the Chair of the Prison Service Pay Review Body.
Professor Paul Wiles CB
Professor Paul Wiles is currently Visiting Professor in Criminology at Oxford University, Fellow of Wolfson College and Honorary Professor at Sheffield University. Until Easter 2010 he was the government’s Chief Social Scientist and head of the Government Social Research Service. He was also Chief Scientific Advisor and Director of the Science and Research Group at the Home Office.
Dr Colin Sinclair
Former Chief Executive of Sunderland City Council, Dr Colin Sinclair is a local government expert with over 20 years experience in the sector. A specialist in strategic change management, Dr Sinclair has worked in some of the most challenging and complex local government environments. As well as serving as Sunderland’s Chief Executive, he has held senior positions at Birmingham City Council and within the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE). In his current role as independent local government expert, Dr Sinclair has advised councils across England.