Helen Bailey succeeds Martin Cresswell as iMPOWER Chief Executive

iMPOWER has named Helen Bailey, the Chief Operating Officer of Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, as its new Chief Executive. Bailey takes on the role on the 1st August 2016 and succeeds Martin Cresswell, who has led the public sector consultancy for over eight years.

Founded in 1999, iMPOWER is a management consulting firm dedicated to the UK’s public sector, with a focus on the local government. The business advisory supports clients with advisory insights and execution capacity in the field of, among others, public policy, adult social care, healthcare, innovation and digitisation of public sector delivery models.

Since 2007 the consultancy, based in London, has been run by Chief Executive Martin Cresswell – under his leadership iMPOWER has grown from a small business into a consultancy with nearly 50 employees. Following eight years at the head of the firm, Cresswell, who prior to joining iMPOWER spent eight years with Deloitte Consulting and KPMG Advisory, has decided to transition into the role of Vice Chairman of iMPOWER’s Board. He will be replaced at the helm by Helen Bailey, an experienced professional with near two decades in public services.

Bailey currently serves as Chief Operating Officer at MOPAC (Mayors Office for Police and Crime), a position she took up in November 2012. Prior to that, she has held positions as Chief Executive of Local Partnerships, Director of Public Services at HMT and Chief Executive of Islington Council. She spent around six years as the top officer at the London borough from August 2002, during which time the council has shot up the CPA ratings from 'poor' to 'good'. She started her career with Greater London Council, after which she worked for two years as a Consultant at accounting and consulting firm PwC.

Commenting on her new challenge, effective per the 1st August, Bailey says she is “delighted to be joining iMPOWER” at a time which she describes as “an important moment” in the firm’s history. “Having grown and developed extensively under Martin Cresswell, I know that the foundations upon which I build are solid. iMPOWER’s work in recent years has been particularly powerful, taking demand led thinking from the fringe into the mainstream and leading the call for a profound rethink of the way we work with people to deliver change in public services.”

Bailey remarks that she will continue to pursue the strategy introduced under Cresswell’s leadership, adding however that she believes the consultancy enjoys the potential to strive for further development. “The organisation must now aim higher still. I am passionate about public service and I look forward to taking iMPOWER into the future, growing the organisation and supporting our clients to make public services fit for the communities they serve.”

Cresswell comments he couldn’t have wished for a more capable and accomplished individual than Helen Bailey, stating “Helen’s experience, with near two decades at the very top of public services, make her the ideal candidate. Helen will help iMPOWER to grow further and continue its mission of making public services fit for the 21st century.” In his new role Cresswell will spend more time working on the more client-facing and commercial endeavours of the consultancy.

Last year iMPOWER was highly commended by the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) for a Change Management project it delivered with Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council.