14 October 2020
When I was appointed Chair of CDPS I knew I wanted an advisory panel to support me through the initial formation of the Centre. It was important that the panel had a wide range of experience and backgrounds and would be prepared to challenge both me and the progress and direction of the Centre.
The response to the advert was fantastic and as a result we have an advisory panel that I am confident will make what we do even better. We may have some gaps, but part of our approach will be to keep that under review with the option to bring in new members if we identify a need.
As we reviewed the applications we received, a number stood out for me. They were from people in Wales with a real desire to improve public service delivery. People who were often at the front end of delivery and were always passionate about digital and Wales. They didn’t necessarily have experience of working at board or strategic level, but we wanted to find a way to include these applicants in our work.
Part of the Centre’s remit is to build capability and support the growth of the next generation of digital leaders in Wales and so our apprentice panel was created.
Our apprentice panel members will be paired up with one of our advisory panel members who will act as coach and mentor. Apprentice panel members will have the opportunity to view panel papers and discussion points ahead of meetings and to feed their thoughts and views to their paired panel member. They’ll also have the opportunity to attend a panel meeting and engage with the CDPS team.
We hope that this approach will not only provide invaluable experience to our new apprentice panel members but will also give a different set of insights and support to our work.
This angle of our work is really important to me so welcome on board — I’m looking forward to working with you all.
Meet our apprentice panel members
Heledd is the Digital Services Manager at Natural Resources Wales, leading a team of translators, design and digital experts. She has over 14 years of working in public sector communications and digital teams. Passionate about all thing's user-centred design and product, Heledd has an insatiable appetite to learn and help create better services for the people of Wales.
Ashley is the developer of the first supported living SMART housing for adults with disabilities in the UK, Ashley also runs Tech4Good Cardiff providing free events bringing together volunteers, community groups, non-profit organisations, programmers, technologists and changemakers.
Jo is passionate about inclusive design, digital accessibility, and building flexible digital public services. Joanna is an award-winning digital leader and has worked in the public sector for the past 16 years.
Jenni is Deputy Head of Digital Communications at Cardiff University. She is responsible for content strategy and governance across the University’s website and intranet. She has extensive experience in digital transformation in higher education, solving large-scale problems and creating better user experience through high-quality content.
Daniel is the ‘Drive in a Clean Air Zone’ Service Owner at the Joint Air Quality Unit. He has worked in the public sector for 14 years starting at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Swansea and more recently, heading up the redesign and launch of the UK Blue Badge Parking service. Daniel is focused on leading and supporting others to deliver and embed change across the UK.
Louise is currently Technical Product Manager for Cloud Engineering at DVLA. With over 15 years’ experience in business and IT delivery Louise has a passion for delivering services customers can easily use and consume. Mad sports and fitness fan.