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CWC Director Carl Welham has managed the corporate communications functions of several large public sector organisations.  Gaining media experience in BBC radio as a producer of on-air social issue campaigns, Carl then spent 19 years at a number of local authorities across the country.

He has run the communications function at Nottingham City Council, Reading Borough Council, Sheffield City Council and Buckinghamshire County Council.

These are challenging roles that have ranged from managing high profile emergency and crisis communications to the strategic job of crafting authentic reputations for organisations and places.  

Carl;s most recent senior communications role was Interim Assistant Chief Executive at the London Borough of Hackney – managing their corporate communications and consultation function from 2009 to 2012.  His current work in East London in a very high profile part of London led to winning the CIPR Communicators of the Year Award as well as a host of awards for place branding and communications excellence.

He is currently working as a consultant to London Borough of Hackney in the Business Investment Manager role.  This involves making the most of the borough's Olympic Legacy and managing inward investment into the borough.  As part of the role he has been closely involved with Hackney House - pop up 500m2 expo and conference centre that showcased Hackney's creative and tech companies during 2012 and will now tour the key tech festivals around the globe starting in Austin Texas South by South West Festival.  The Hackney House website can be seen here

His work over the years has given him an expertise in public relations, crisis management, reputation building for leaders and organisations, marketing and digital media expertise.  He is now gaining expertise in business relations, economic development and inward investment.  He has also reconfigured the services to deliver excellent communications and deliver cashable savings.

In Sheffield and Buckinghamshire Welham also managed Customer Services – managing the strategic and practical management of dealing with those councils’ thousands of customer contacts per week.

Carl is former Chair of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Local Government Group and Member of the CIPR. 

He is Executive Committee Member of LGcommunications – a voluntary body representing professional communicators across the public sector.

Carl launched CWC ltd in January 2010 to enable him to continue to work in strategic roles in large public sector organisations while developing services and products for the sector with business partners such as the Communications Journal - a free website for public and voluntary sector professionals.

Veredus Interim Management: delivering interim director level management of corporate communications functions within the public sector.

Newsquest: Editor of the Communications Journal, a free to use online magazine with news, features and communications jobs from public and voluntary sector organisations.

VMA Enhance: Development of communications training.

Tribal: Recruitment media interviews and technical assessments for Chief Executive and Director of Communications posts within local government.

Penna: Technical Support with Director of Communications recruitment.

Broadgate Mainland: Delivery of presentation training to account handling staff

Pitney Bowes: Support with tendering processes

CWC Director Carl Welham has worked for the following Public Sector Organisations

Nottinghamshire County Council: PR Officer

Nottingham City Council: Communications and Public Affairs Manager

Reading Borough Council: Head of Marketing and Public Relations

Sheffield City Council: Head of Communications and Customer Service

Buckinghamshire Head of Customer Service and Communications

London Borough of Hackney: Interim Assistant Chief Executive Communications and Consultation

Carl Welham Communications Ltd                                                                 January 2010

Managing Director

Public Sector Consultancy

London Borough of Hackney                                                                   April 2012 - 

Interim Business Investment Manager

I am working with the council's Regeneration Delivery team on business investment into Hackney - a vital role to capture the economic legacy of the Games.  The work involves working with businesses who want to grow or locate into the borough.  Hackney is one of the top ten boroughs for economic growth and the role is about stimulating that growth.  One way we are doing this is through the pop up business venue Hackney House which ran throughout the summer of 2012 and is now taking businesses to key marketplaces overseas.

London Borough of Hackney                                                                   Sept 2009- 2012

Interim Assistant Chief Executive

Managing the council’s internal and external reputation and engagement with a diverse community.  Managing the communications and marketing of the borough to prepare for the 2012 Olympic Games. Winner of 3 LGC Awards including Employee Engagement and Place of the Year 2010.  Successfully managing the transition to a leaner organisation  – delivering significant savings while improving the quality of the communications service.  Leading partnership communications work with Olympic, London and local authorities in the run up to the 2012 Games.

Private Sector Consultancy                                                             January 2010 – present

Veredus: Interim Management: delivering interim director of corporate communications and consultancy for the public sector (see Hackney above.)

Newsquest: Editor of the Communications Journal, a free to use online magazine with news, features and jobs for communications professionals working in the public and voluntary sectors.

VMA Enhance: managing internal communications through times of change course developed for clients and communications managers.

Tribal: running media and technical interviews for a range of posts including Chief Executives and Corporate Directors.

Penna: technical interviews for Corporate Director of Customer Services and Communication.

Broadgate Mainland: delivery of presentation and pitching for business training for staff.

Pitney Bowes: Tactical support for tenders.

Career History prior to CWC

Buckinghamshire County Council                                                   March 2004- May 2009

Head of Communication and Customer Service

Reporting to Director for Resources and Corporate Management Board, responsible for high level corporate management of all County Council communications and customer service functions.  Managing 80 staff and £2.5m budget.  Key achievements in this role:

·               Successfully led the Communication and Customer Services functions to achieve unprecedented levels of customer satisfaction.  Took Buckinghamshire County Council to third highest rated council with second highest climb in satisfaction in three years

·               Key player in developing relationships with districts and other public sector partners under the Pathfinder for Enhanced Two Tier Working arrangements. 

·               Delivered several partnership projects including the development of the Buckinghamshire e-Portal, joint council tax leaflet, developing a joint magazine, setting up a joint one stop shop for customer access and developing a case for joint contact centre arrangements.

·               Created an in-house design and print agency to manage corporate branding and deliver 20% cost savings across all council spend

·               Devised and managed corporate road shows with Chief Executive and Council Leader to explain corporate aims to front line staff.

·               Managed all corporate communications functions including: media relations, branding, campaigns, internal comms, consultation, council newspaper and core publications, high level PR advice.

·               Board member to develop and then managed the council’s 60 seat contact centre and partnership services one stop shop with a local district council.

Sheffield City Council                                                                        July 2002- March 2004

Head of Marketing and Communications

Reporting to the Chief Executive, responsible for the management all corporate communications for the City Council: media, marketing, promotions, tourism, design, internal communications.  Also ran the City’s award winning one stop shop First Point.  Managed 85 staff with £2.5m budget.  Key achievements in this role:

·               Created and managed a new Marketing Board for the city chaired by editor of local evening newspaper.

·               Launched new tourism service and championed city centre regeneration.

·               Ran public consultation on city centre developments with key partners and developers which resulted in public approval for controversial development projects.

Reading Borough Council                                                                   June 1999- July 2002

Head of Marketing and PR

Managed corporate communications: media, marketing, web, internal communications.  Key achievements in this role:

·               Launched city status bid under the banner of Living Reading – bringing in partners and funding from private sector.  Campaign galvanised promotional activity in the town.

·               Managed emergency response to Paddington rail crash – international media interest and community support to victims and families.

Nottingham City Council                                                                    June 1996- June 1999

Head of Corporate Affairs

Achievements in this role:

·               Led communications through transition from district to unitary status for the City Council.

·               Launched Our Style is Legendary city marketing initiative.

·               Led on all major PR and media issues including High Court action against a film company found illegally filming children in council care.

Nottinghamshire County Council                                                            1993- 1996

Senior PR Officer

Media management of key aspects of council activity including challenging national Education policy.

BBC Local Radio                                                                                     1988- 1993

Actionline Co-ordinator BBC Radio Nottingham and Campaigns and Training Manager BBC Radio WM

Writing and Social Work                                                                        1984- 1988

Set up and ran touring theatre company.  Also worked as nursing assistant and residential social worker.

Education                                                                                                1981- 1984

University of Bradford, 1981-1984: BSC (Hons) Economics with History

Professional Leadership                                                           

·               Currently Executive Member of LGcommunications, a public sector communications professional lobbying and development body.  I Chair a Commission that has researched and published The Chief Executive’s Challenge – a report into what the leadership in councils want from excellent communications.

·               Chair of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Local Government Group 2000-2003.  I led this professional group running training and national conference events.  I raised the profile and status of local government communicators across the industry and turned the group to profit.

Core skills as a senior leader in corporate communications

●            Leadership and strategic development of corporate communication and customer services

                        - I headed both functions at Sheffield CC and Bucks CC and corporate comms at another two

●            Engagement of staff, the public and partner organisations

                        - managing effective change through effective engagement for several upper tier councils

Measurable improvements in customer and resident satisfaction

                        - took Bucks CC to 2^nd highest rising County Council score for satisfaction

●            A multi-agency, partnership approach in communication and customer services

                        - delivered communications and customer access strategies across 5 councils in Bucks

●            Leadership, motivation, development and restructuring of services and teams

                        - have proved that small core teams can realise the highest corporate ambitions

●            Project management to deliver improvements in quality and efficiency savings

                        - set up in-house private sector agency to reduce spending by 20% year on year

●            Media and presentation training skills up to board level in public and private sector settings

                        - conducted media interviews for Coventry CX recruitment, run PR agency presentation skills

●            Proactive reputation and brand management and the ability to manage crises at all levels

                        - have positively raised the profile of all the authorities and localities where I have worked