chair recruitment pack - campbell tickell · understanding of the demands, skills and nuances of...

Ubico September 2019 1

Chair

Recruitment pack September 2019


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Your application

Thank you very much for your interest in this post. On the following pages, you will find details of the role and the selection process to assist you in completing and tailoring your application. In order to apply you should submit:

• An up-to-date CV which shows your full career history – we recommend that this is no longer than three pages;

• A supporting statement explaining why you are interested in this role, detailing how you are a good candidate for this post and how you fulfil the person specification – we recommend that this is no longer than three pages;

• The declaration form – but completion of the equalities section is not mandatory, this is requested for monitoring purposes in line with our commitment to equality and diversity; and

• Indicate on the declaration form if you cannot attend any of the interview dates.

Please note that applications can only be considered if all the documentation is complete. Please submit your completed application documents using the online form, which is accessible via our jobs page: https://www.campbelltickell.com/jobs/

Applications must be received by Friday 4 October 2019 at 12 noon

Please ensure we receive your application in good time. If you do not see a confirmation message after submitting your application using the online form, please call us on 020 3434 0990.

If you wish to have an informal discussion about the role and organisation, or if you have any other questions to help you decide whether to apply please feel free to contact me on 07944 411 484.

Kind regards

Mark Glinwood Mark Glinwood Senior Associate Consultant

https://www.campbelltickell.com/jobs/


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Contents

Welcome to Ubico 4

About Ubico 5

Ubico people 8

Role profile 11

Person specification 14

Governance and leadership structure 16

Key terms and conditions 17

Key dates and the selection process 18

The media advertisement 19


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Welcome to Ubico

Dear Candidate,

This is an outstanding opportunity to join the Board of Directors of Ubico - a wholly owned local authority company that:

• Delivers high quality environmental services that affect everyone who lives, visits or works in Gloucestershire and West Oxfordshire

• Is proud to help protect and maintain our towns, villages , communities and green spaces

• Is determined to realise its commercial potential and drive the business forward.

Following an independent Board review, the seven shareholding councils now wish to appoint three independent specialist Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) with the appropriate skills and experience to contribute to driving Ubico forward.

One of the three successful candidates will be appointed to act as Chair of the Ubico Board. Our ideal candidate as Chair will have an ease of interaction with people, be politically astute and understand how to foster constructive partnerships with shareholders while leading from the front. The successful candidate will come with previous non-executive and commercial experience and will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the demands, skills and nuances of being an effective Chair.

Our independent specialist NEDs will be great team workers and collaborators, able to provide a strong sounding board, constructive challenge and support our Executive Directors. We would welcome NEDs who bring sound commercial skill and experience of moulding/evolving company structures. Direct knowledge of industrial sectors with a significant operational workforce requiring appropriate fleet and logistical management would be particularly beneficial. Ubico is evolving through learning from its successes and welcome NEDs who can help accelerate that learning while recognising the need to engage with and secure buy-in from our stakeholders. Ideally, you will bring previous non-executive experience, but this isn’t essential if you have the right complement of skills, knowledge and behaviours.

It is envisaged that the time commitment will be a minimum of two days per month allowing for attendance at Board Meetings and preparation. There may be a greater initial commitment in the early months to ensure familiarity with the company and its operations. Remuneration will be £6,000 per annum for the Chair and £4,500 per annum for the specialist non-executive directors. It is anticipated that appointments will be for a period of three years initially.

Yours faithfully Robert Weaver Non-Executive Director & Interim Chair For any general enquiries about the role please contact: Gareth Edmundson Managing Director [email protected] Tel: 01242 387 700

mailto:[email protected]


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About Ubico

Our Vision

To deliver safe, high quality, and value for money services, adding value to our shareholders, customers and communities.

Our Mission

To utilise our skills, knowledge, expertise and resources to drive innovation, integration, efficiency and commercial success and to make a lasting, positive contribution to our people and our environment.

Our Values

About Ubico

• Projected turnover in 2019/20 - £34m

• Over 650 employees

• Over 400 vehicles and plant

Services delivered:

• Waste & recycling collection

• Storage and processing of recyclable material

• Household recycling centres


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• Street cleaning services

• Building and public convenience cleaning

• Grounds maintenance

• Fleet maintenance

• Winter maintenance

• Consultancy, advisory and project management services

Ubico currently operates from five main depot locations:

• Swindon Road, Cheltenham

• Broadway Lane, South Cerney

• Downs Road, Witney

• Station Lane, Witney

• Gossington, Stroud

We also operate five Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) throughout Gloucestershire and several sub depots in Gloucestershire and West Oxfordshire.

The geographical area of operation is primarily within the Cheltenham, Cotswold, Forest of Dean, Stroud, Tewkesbury and West Oxfordshire boundaries, but the company is not restricted to these areas and has a number of grounds maintenance contracts in neighbouring districts.

Ubico is an environmental services company owned by seven local authorities. We are dedicated to keeping 1200 square miles of Gloucestershire and West Oxfordshire clean and green. We work in some of the most admired towns and rural communities that are internationally recognised for their culture, history and natural beauty. Working for Ubico is more than just a job. Each and every one of our employees is a custodian of the spaces and places where people live, work and visit and we take pride in helping to enhance and protect the environment for current and future generations to enjoy. Our first priority will always be to deliver safe, reliable, high quality and resilient services that our shareholders, clients and customers trust.

Since 2017, Ubico has been implementing a series of changes resulting from a Board Effectiveness Review. Shareholders unanimously agreed to change the composition of the Board and to appoint three new independent Non-Executive Directors, including an independent Chair. Diversifying our board will help Ubico to benefit from the right external skills and knowledge to help drive the company forward to meet its current and future ambitions.

We have recently set a five-year plan for the company which will begin a new phase of development. A new longer-term vision will seek to invest in opportunities that will both deliver operational savings but also fulfil our commercial potential.

In 2019 Ubico will drive commercial growth by harnessing the potential of our skills and assets and offer opportunities for investment that will aim to deliver greater profits. We also have a strong Unique Selling Proposition (USP) to our external customers and local businesses – the profits we make are returned and reinvested in to the communities where we work.


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We want our new independent Non-Executive Directors to be commercially focussed, creative and possess the right skills and experience to help us thrive. We also need them to understand the challenges our company faces and relish working in partnership with our Council shareholders.


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Ubico people

The Board

Robert Weaver – Interim Chair & Non-Executive Director

Robert is Deputy CEO at Tewkesbury Borough Council and has over 20 years local government experience, predominantly within the regulatory and development management sectors. He is passionate about improving services for local communities, through transformation and innovative service delivery and appreciates the benefit of more contemporary forms of income generation in meeting this aim. Robert is currently undertaking research work for the completion of an MBA, exploring the relationship between non-financial risk management and governance arrangements associated with local authority commercial investment programmes. Robert is undertaking the role of Chair on an interim basis until a new independent chair is appointed.

David Neudegg – Non-Executive Director

David joined West Oxfordshire District Council as their Chief Executive in 2007 having previously held senior roles in Salisbury and Poole Councils. In 2008, he became shared Chief Executive with Cotswold District Council leading the extensive shared services agenda for the two councils. In 2015 he was appointed Managing Director of the 2020 Partnership to lead the programme of shared services for the four councils and is the Managing Director for Publica Ltd.

Paul Jones – Non-Executive Director

Paul Jones is Cheltenham Borough Council’s Executive Director for finance and assets and also fulfils the statutory role of Section 151 Officer. He leads corporate finance, property and asset management, counter fraud and internal audit for the Council. Paul is responsible for the development of a medium-term financial strategy. Paul is also a Non-Executive Director of the South West Audit Partnership.


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Paul Blacker – Non-Executive Director

Paul joined Gloucestershire County Council in March 2016 as their Head of Financial Management and is now the Director of Finance. Previously he has held senior finance roles both in the UK and New Zealand as well as Director of Leisure and Culture at Swindon Borough Council.

Peter Williams – Non-Executive Director

Peter joined Forest of Dean District Council in 2006 as Head of Planning, previously having worked at district, county and unitary authorities in South Wales operating in both rural and urban environments. In 2008 he became a Group Manager at the Council and in 2015 took up a Strategic Group Manager post with responsibility for the Council’s outward facing services. In 2017 he was made Head of Paid Service for the Council, acting as the lead commissioner for services to the Council.

Mike Hammond – Non-Executive Director

Mike is Stroud District Council’s Head of Community Services which manages the partnership between the Council and Ubico. He has been with the Council for over 30 years and has been responsible for Facilities Management and Emergency Planning. Following promotion to Head of Service Mike joined the Board of Directors in 2019


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The Executive Team

Gareth Edmundson – Managing Director Gareth has a strong track record of delivering transformation programmes, savings and commercial opportunities. He has developed extensive knowledge of Local Authority Trading Companies and is experienced in communications and public affairs. Gareth joined Ubico as Managing Director in May 2017 having previously worked for two London Boroughs. Since joining he has led a series of change programmes. This has included a Board Effectiveness Review to ensure company governance is best-placed to deliver future growth, the implementation of new company values and the development of commercial investment proposals that will build on the existing operational strengths and deliver greater returns to stakeholders.

Beth Boughton – Operations Director Beth has led Ubico Operations through significant expansion whilst continuing to meet service level targets and leveraging economies of scale to provide best value to shareholders. Responsible for all operations across the company and for maintaining the quality and cost effectiveness of services, Beth provides overall strategic leadership to ensure health and safety standards are met, business risk is mitigated and policies are understood and adhered to. Prior to Ubico Beth worked for Cheltenham Borough Council and Shanks Waste Management.

John Hays – Commercial Director John has a wealth of experience gained with FTSE100 companies, local authorities, central government departments and other organisations in the UK and overseas. A qualified accountant, he has held strategic management positions in a range of industries. Immediately prior to joining Ubico John had worked in consultancy and interim management for 16 years. John joined Ubico as Commercial Director in February 2016 and has led the restructure of corporate services to create an organisation ready for the next phase of the company’s journey. He has redesigned the performance monitoring function to refocus on strategic indicators and risks and overseen the work to achieve national benchmark accreditations in Health & Safety and ISO14001 & 45001 certification for environmental management.


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Role profile

Purpose of the role

The Chair will oversee the performance of the Board, ensuring its effectiveness in all aspects of its role and set a Board agenda, which is primarily focused on strategy, performance, value creation and accountability, ensuring that issues relevant to these areas are reserved for Board decision. It is the role of the Chair to ensure that the Non-Executive Directors receive accurate, high quality and timely information and reports to enable them to effectively monitor all aspects of the organisation’s business. The Chair is also to ensure the Board has effective decision-making processes, is fully apprised of the organisations strategic direction and has the opportunity to debate and contribute to major proposals and decisions.

Key responsibilities

Strategic direction – to provide a creative and informed contribution to strategy formation, giving a wider view of external factors affecting the Company and its business environment, and act as a constructive critic in looking at the objectives and plans devised by the Executive Management Team. Monitoring performance – to monitor the performance of Executive Management Team in terms of the progress made towards achieving the approved Company Business Plan and delivery of the services to the Shareholders. Communication and stakeholder engagement – to maintain good communications with the Shareholders and to help connect the business and Board with the broader stakeholder community, including people and organisations which can assist the Company in achieving its objectives. Risk – to ensure that financial controls and systems of risk management are robust and defensible. Audit - to ensure that the Company presents a true and fair reflection of its actions and financial performance to shareholders, and that the necessary internal control systems are put into place and monitored regularly and rigorously.

Requirements of the role

The key requirements of the Non-Executive Directors are:

• To take corporate, team and personal responsibility as a Board member

• To offer constructive criticism and challenge and any other contributions to Board discussions and decisions which he/she may constructively make to the Executive Management Team.

• To contribute positively to the development of key strategic documents, including the Business Plan and any other material and significant issues facing the Company.

• To monitor performance and support the Executive to drive continuous improvement.


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• To communicate effectively with the Shareholders and ensure that their objectives are met and provide a wider community perspective on the operating environment of the Company through regular communication

• To ensure that the Company is operated in a safe, legal, efficient and environmentally sustainable manner.

• To ensure that the obligations to members and other stakeholders are understood and met.

• To promote equality of opportunity and embrace diversity in the way the organisation goes about its work.

Skills and experience required by the Board as a whole:

• Knowledge and understanding of the development and monitoring of organisational or business strategy.

• Understanding of the processes of planning financial control, performance management and assurances that deliver the Company objectives.

• Credibility with internal and external stakeholders.

• Ability to understand complex strategic issues, to analyse and to resolve difficult problems.

• Ability to work as an effective member of the Board, whose members are all equally and jointly responsible for its decisions.

• Awareness of the need for accountability to the Shareholders and ability to engage with a broad stakeholder community.

• A working knowledge of Local Government

Specific Company law duties All Directors must act in accordance with their statutory duties under the Companies Act 2006. Directors should be aware of the following duties: To promote the success of the Company - All Directors must act in the way they consider, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the Company for the benefit of its shareholders as a whole. In doing so, a Director must have regard (among other matters) to:

• the likely consequences of any decision in the long term;

• the interests of the Company's employees;

• the need to foster the Company's business relationships with suppliers, customers and others;

• the impact of the Company's operations on the community and the environment;

• the desirability of the Company maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct; and

• the need to act fairly as between the shareholders of the Company.

Reasonable care, skill and diligence - A Director has a duty to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence exercised by a reasonably diligent person in similar circumstances with;

• the general knowledge, skill and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person carrying out the functions of by the Director in relation to the company (an objective test); and

• the general knowledge, skill and experience that that director has (a subjective test);


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• the ability to challenge constructively, and accept challenge where appropriate.


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Person specification

As part of Ubico’s Board Effectiveness Review a skills audit was completed of the existing Board to identify areas that the Board should strengthen. Areas identified were as followed:

• Commercial management & business development

• Performance management & measurement

• Industrial sector knowledge of environmental or fleet operations, including health & safety & compliance

• Procurement and management of Ubico’s external suppliers

• Customer services and digital transformation

Knowledge and experience

• Track record of strategic leadership and achievement in complex organisations

• Experience of delivering commercial success and identifying new business opportunities

• Experience of devising and delivering strategic change and a track record of motivating and leading teams

• Experience of management and understanding of strategic financial and management information

• Experience of working effectively with a wide range of stakeholders

• Experience in one or more of the following areas would be desirable

o Environmental Operations including Health & Safety & Compliance

o Fleet, Transport Management

o Procurement & management of external suppliers

o Customer services & digital transformation

o Company governance

Skills

• Ability to contribute to discussion and debate at meetings with a willingness to challenge constructively and express opinions while accepting accountability and the collective decision making of the Board

• Ability to consider the wider strategic context of the organisation in discussion and decision making

• Ability to absorb and evaluate a wide range of complex material

• To passionately represent and promote the organisation building relationships across a complex stakeholder and governance environment


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• An awareness of the needs and aspirations of current and potential customers

Personal attributes

• Affinity and commitment to our organisational values and ethos

• Enthusiastic approach – with a desire to make a positive contribution

• Open and supportive of others

• Is entrepreneurial, open to change and encourages innovation and creativity

• An engaging style, with the gravitas for an ambassadorial role

• Personal and professional credibility that will command confidence across a wide range of stakeholder interests


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Governance and leadership structure

.

Board of Directors

Gareth Edmundson Managing Director

John Hays Commercial

Director

Financial Control & Contracts

Strategy, Business

Development, Performance

Beth Boughton

Operations Director

Environmental Services

Operations

Quality Assurance, Health & Safety,

Training

Fleet Operations & Workshops

Compliance Function

Marketing & Comms


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Key terms and conditions

The role

Board Chair

Location

Gloucestershire & West Oxfordshire

Board payment

£6,000

Time commitment

The Company anticipates a time commitment of 6-12 days per year. This will include attendance at Board meetings, the AGM and potential board away days. There may be a greater initial commitment to ensure familiarity with the company and its operations. There may be an occasional need to attend emergency Board meetings. In addition, you will be expected to devote appropriate preparation time ahead of each meeting.

Meeting schedule

Board meetings are held approximately every two months. An AGM is held each year which again you will be expected to attend. By accepting the appointment, you confirm that you are able to allocate sufficient time to perform your role.

Travel

All Board meetings will be held in Gloucestershire & West Oxfordshire. Board meetings are often held at the National Star College near Cheltenham which is an easily accessible location for partners.

Induction/learning and development

A full day of induction will be provided to familiarise successful candidates with the Executive and Senior Management, Company Governance and Shareholders.


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Key dates and the selection process

Closing date: Friday 4 October at 12 noon

We will be in touch with candidates on 10th October 2019 to advise on outcome of application

First interview: 15 October 2019

Longlisted candidates will be invited to an interview with both a panel from Ubico and Campbell Tickell This will take place at The National Star College, Ullenwood, Cheltenham, Glos GL53 9QU

Final interviews: 28 or 29 October 2019

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview with Ubico panel. This will take place at The National Star College, Ullenwood, Cheltenham, Glos GL53 9QU

If you are unable to attend on any of the identified dates for interview, please do speak to Campbell Tickell before making an application.


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Media advertisement


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Telephone 020 8830 6777 Recruitment 020 3434 0990

[email protected] www.campbelltickell.com @CampbellTickel1

chair recruitment pack - campbell tickell · understanding of the demands, skills and nuances of...

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