Judith Armstrong, Millennium Point

Judith Armstrong leads Millennium Point Property and the Millennium Point Trust. She joined Millennium Point in 2012 as finance director and after three years was promoted to chief operating officer, overseeing the team tasked with delivering successful and profitable events in the building. She is chair of Eastside Forum, a platform for stakeholders in the region. Before coming to Millennium Point, she spent eight years at DHL where she became finance director at the age of 29. While there, she sat on the Women in Leadership board, supporting and promoting women into senior positions.

Deborah Cadman, West Midlands Combined Authority

Birmingham born and raised, Deborah Cadman was appointed chief executive of the West Midlands Combined Authority in June. She was previously chief executive of Suffolk County Council. An economics and politics graduate from the University of Birmingham, she was awarded the OBE in 2006 for services to local government. She has also served as chief executive of the East of England Development Agency and St Edmundsbury Borough Council.

Deborah Cadman, chief executive of West Midlands Combined Authority
Deborah Cadman, chief executive of West Midlands Combined Authority

David Carter and Monica Fogerty, Warwickshire County Council

David Carter is joint managing director of Warwickshire County Council with Monica Fogerty. He is also resources strategic director at the council, responsible for all key service areas which ensure the smooth running of the council, including finance, customer service, HR, physical assets and law and governance. She leads the council's Communities Group which brings together the business units responsible for education and learning, community safety, public health, transport and economy. A business graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, she was formerly assistant chief executive at the Warwickshire council and before that was head of change management.

John Crabtree OBE, Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands

John Crabtree was appointed by the Queen as Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands in January, making him her representative in the region. He is a former president of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and director of Advantage West Midlands and has been leading the review of Birmingham City Council - the Birmingham Independent Improvement Panel. The ex-partner at Wragge & Co is a former West Midlands Businessman of the Year and UK Lawyer of the Year as well as a former High Sheriff. He chairs the deaf-blind charity Sense and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City University.

Colin Diamond CBE, Birmingham City Council

Colin Diamond was appointed executive director for education at Birmingham City Council in 2015, tasked with turning round education services in the city post-Trojan Horse and rebuilding confidence in the city's education department. He was previously deputy education commissioner working under Sir Mike Tomlinson and is a former director of children and young people's services at North Somerset where he spent eight years and was head of academy education advisers at the Department of Education until 2014. He is a trained counsellor in child psychotherapy.

Julia Goldsworthy, West Midlands Combined Authority

Devolution expert Julia Goldsworthy was appointed director of strategy at the West Midlands Combined Authority in the summer. She was previously a senior adviser with professional services firm PwC where she led its market approach to devolution in England. She was a special adviser to the Treasury during the Coalition Government where she focused on public service reform and public spending.

Julia Goldsworthy, director of strategy at the West Midlands Combined Authority
Julia Goldsworthy, director of strategy at the West Midlands Combined Authority

David Jamieson, West Midlands Police

Former teacher, MP and Government minister David Jamieson is the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner. The Solihull-born former Transport Minister in the Tony Blair government has responsibility for setting policing priorities in the region, deciding the West Midlands Police budget and holding the Chief Constable - whom he has the power to appoint and dismiss - to account. In 2016, he successfully lobbied the Government to change the law on offensive weapons, with so-called zombie knives being banned from sale. He is involved with several charities including Cricket Without Boundaries which promotes HIV/AIDS education of children in Central Africa and combats FGM.

Jacqui Kennedy OBE, Birmingham City Council

Jacqui Kennedy is corporate director place at Birmingham City Council, having worked for the council for the whole of her career. She is currently responsible for environmental health, trading standards, licensing, pest control and markets. Ms Kennedy also has responsibility for the Birmingham and Solihull coroner service. One of her biggest challenges has been handling the consequences of the Birmingham bin strike and seeking ways to streamline the refuse collection service. She received an OBE in 2008 for services to local government.

Phil Loach, West Midlands Fire Service

Phil Loach is chief fire officer at West Midlands Fire Service, which is the third largest fire and rescue service in the UK and one of only two fire services in which all 38 stations are full-time. He was appointed in 2014 and is also a governor of West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Mr Loach has held a number of senior posts with West Midlands Fire Service including head of emergency response, operations commander for central Birmingham and assistant chief fire officer - operations.

Stella Manzie, Birmingham City Council

Stella Manzie CBE was appointed as interim chief executive of Birmingham City Council in March. With masters degrees from Cambridge and Birmingham, she came with a track record of turning round failing local authorities, having been the Government's choice to sort out crisis-hit Rotherham after the child grooming scandal. Between 2008 and 2011, she was a senior civil servant in Alex Salmond's Scottish Government and she has been chief executive of four local authorities including Coventry City Council. She has one of the most challenging jobs in local government, with bin strikes, equal pay claims, re-organisations, redundancies and cost-cutting all on her to-do list. She is a visiting fellow of the Open University Business School.

Waheed Nazir, Birmingham City Council

Waheed Nazir is Birmingham's corporate director of economy and is a member of the city council's corporate leadership team. He has been responsible for the Big City Plan in recent years and has been one of the driving forces behind schemes such as the Curzon HS2 plans, the Snow Hill Masterplan, the Metro extension and the Birmingham Smithfield development. He has worked at the city council for more than 15 years in a variety of economic roles and has played a significant part in funding successes.

Waheed Nazir, corporate director of economy at Birmingham City Council
Waheed Nazir, corporate director of economy at Birmingham City Council

Julie Nugent, West Midlands Combined Authority

Improving skills in the region is a stated priority for West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, so Julie Nugent's appointment as director of productivity and skills is an important one. She joined the WMCA from the Warwickshire-based Design and Technology Association where she was chief executive. She has particular expertise in financing further education and has led on developing new funding systems for the Skills Funding Agency and the Learning and Skills Council.

Sir John Peace, Midlands Engine Partnership

Sir John Peace is the man tasked with ensuring the Midlands is able to power ahead with a vision to be the beating economic heart of the country. He leads the Midlands Engine, a partnership of business, academia and local authorities aimed at driving up growth in the region. As such, he is one of the most influential people in the Midlands business community. He joined the board of Standard Chartered in 2007 as deputy chairman and was appointed chairman in 2009. He stepped down last December. He has a strong financial services and retail background. In 1980, he was one of the founders of CCN systems, a pioneer of credit scoring and risk modelling. CCN also provided credit card processing services to financial and retail organisations. CCN went on to become Experian, providing information and analytical tools to clients in 90 countries.

Neil Rami, West Midlands Growth Company

Neil Rami is chief executive of the Centenary Square-based West Midlands Growth Company - formerly Marketing Birmingham - which operates the city's leisure and business tourism programmes and the inward investment programme Business Birmingham. He has responsibility for attracting investment in to Birmingham and growing its tourism and visitor markets. He is a member of the British Tourism Industry Group, a member of the University of Birmingham Court and a governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Martin Reeves, Coventry City Council

Coventry City Council chief executive Martin Reeves was interim chief executive of the West Midlands Combined Authority until Deborah Cadman was appointed in June. He became chief executive of Coventry City Council in 2009, having previously worked for Bedfordshire County Council. He is a governor on the board of Coventry University and the first honorary president of LARIA (Local Authorities Research and Intelligence Association). He leads the digital leadership network of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives. In 2014, he was ranked 32 in the Local Government Chronicle's list of the 100 most influential people in local government.

Anne Shaw, West Midlands Combined Authority

Anne Shaw was appointed by West Midlands Mayor Andy Street to the post of director of network resilience at the West Midlands Combined Authority. One of her briefs is to cut down on congestion, working with Highways England, Network Rail, the Department of Transport and local authorities to ensure that congestion is tackled. Until her appointment in the summer, she was assistant director for transport and connectivity with Birmingham City Council. She has had responsibility for managing and improving the city's road network since 2010.

Anne Shaw with West Midlands Mayor Andy Street
Anne Shaw with West Midlands Mayor Andy Street

Laura Shoaf, Transport for West Midlands

Laura Shoaf is managing director of Transport for West Midlands, the transport arm of the West Midlands Combined Authority. She has responsibility for the combined authority's transport strategy, integrating the regions roads, rail, bus and tram systems. She was previously strategic director for transport on the now-dissolved West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority. Before that, she was director of transport for the Black Country and head of strategic planning at the Black Country Consortium. She has a Masters in urban planning from New York University.

Dave Thompson, West Midlands Police

Queens Police Medal holder Dave Thompson took up his role as Chief Constable of West Midlands Police at the beginning of 2016. Before that, he was Deputy Chief Constable, overseeing the force's change programme. He leads the police National gangs portfolio and the Criminal Use of Firearms portfolio, leading the UK's response to gun crime. He is also the NPCC lead for finance. He has said his strategic priority is to take a more preventative approach, rather than reactive policing. The Liverpool University law graduate has served at every rank in the police service, starting as a constable with Greater Manchester Police.