Speakers' biographies
Mary Clifton
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Mary Clifton was born and brought up in “Herriot” country in North Yorkshire. She qualified as a Social Worker in 1982. Mary has worked in both Lincolnshire and Devon in a variety of posts at both operational and managerial level, in almost every area of social work. In 1998 she was appointed County Manager Mental Health for Lincolnshire C.C. Social Services. In 2001, Mary was appointed as Director of Care for Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Trust with responsibility for the strategic management of operational services, also ensuring a social care voice at management team and Board level. Mary was appointed as Adult Social Care regional change agent for the East Midlands region in April 2006 but was appointed as Director of East Midlands Regional Development Centre on 1 November 2006. Mary is passionate about making a positive difference to people who use services and believes in the power of the service user and carer voice. She is committed to the benefits of working in partnership including with the community and voluntary sector and believes much can be achieved as long as the service user and carer are kept at the centre of thinking and planning.
Rob Gee
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Performance poet, comic and reformed psychiatric nurse, Rob Gee combines elements of theatre, comedy and literature in his poetry. Fast, furious and very funny, Rob uses inventive wordplay, whiplash couplets and motored rhythm to tap into the world of chaos and adventure that lurks behind the veneer of everyday life.
Rob has appeared across the globe at festivals and venues including those in Sydney, Canada, Holland and Scotland. He has recently combined his performance poetry with leading health projects aimed at younger children and involving poetry and comedy sketches. Last year Rob appeared as part of Leicester Comedy Festival's "Doctor, Doctor!" arts and health conference and composed a poem based on the day's discussion and presentations.
At this year's annual East Midlands Public Health conference, Rob will be capturing presentations, questions, comments and discussion and will compose and perform a specially written poem based on the day. Be careful what you say! Rob is listening.....!
Nik Marks
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Nic Marks is head of the centre for well-being at the New Economic Foundation and has led the well-being programme at nef since 2001. Nic is a recognised expert in the field of well-being research and undertakes innovative research in the use of well-being indicators in public policy environments. Nic has expertise in relation to individual, social, economic and environmental indicators of well-being and has previously applied his work in policy fields as diverse as sustainable development, health and social care, education, culture and the arts, and employment. Nic has experience of devising methodologies to measure well-being, statistical and analytical skills, and a proven ability to interpret findings in a way that makes sense for policy makers, practitioners and the general public. He also has a particular interest in how objective and subjective measures can be used alongside each other to create national and local accounts of well-being and in how we can best increase well-being within our environmental limits.
Nic is regularly asked to attend speaking engagements and occupies a number of advisory positions as a result of his pioneering research. He is an advisor to the Government of Bhutan, working with the Centre for Bhutanese Studies, on how to construct indicators for assessing Gross National Happiness (GNH). Nic has also been invited by the Office of Science and Innovation within the Department for Trade and Industry to act as an advisor on well-being as part of the UK Government’s Foresight Programme, a programme designed to provide challenging visions of the future to inform current policy making.
Nic has a degree in Management Studies from Cambridge University, a Master’s degree in Operational Research from Lancaster University and a postgraduate diploma in Change Agent Skills and Strategies from the Human Potential Research Group at the University of Surrey. He is also a qualified psychotherapist and a member of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies - ISQOLS
Jane Todd
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Jane Todd became Regional Director of GOEM in October 2002 where she oversees a budget of more than £500 million and a staff of more than 200. GOEM is the hub of central government in the East Midlands bringing together under one roof 10 Government departments and delivering programmes on behalf of those departments. It also integrates policies and influences policy and strategy development with other regional players. Jane and her staff are responsible for reducing crime and unemployment in the region, enhancing learning, health and housing conditions and promoting social inclusion as well as increasing competitiveness, economic growth, enterprise and opportunity. Since joining GOEM Jane has introduced an effective business planning and performance management system and developed regional coordination of Government services in the region.
Jane joined GOEM from Nottingham City Council where from 1999 to 2002 she was Director of Development and Environmental Services, responsible for seven departments including planning, transport and regeneration. During this period the council won beacon status for town centre management and transport authority of the year 2002. Prior to this she was Director of Development Services for two years. During this period she established Nottingham Regeneration Ltd – a highly successful private/public sector regeneration company. She was also responsible for various high profile town centre regeneration projects including the Lace Market and canalside developments.
From 1992 to 1997 Jane was Assistant Chief Executive at the council. Responsible for strategic policy relating to anti-poverty, environment and community safety issues. She managed the City's transition to Unitary status which was achieved smoothly and without the recriminations between authorities experienced in some other cities.
Jane joined the City Council in 1983 as Voluntary Sector Officer for the Urban programme with responsibility for developing many of the centres of the city’s black and minority ethnic community. Before joining the city council she lectured in adult education at the University of Nottingham.
In 2004 Jane was made a special professor at the University of Nottingham Business School, where her role includes delivering lectures and advising students on research proposals.
She has lived and worked in Nottingham for more than 20 years and has three children, Hannah, Matthew and Joseph. Her interests include motorcycling and she is learning to tango.
Dr David Walker
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David is the Regional Director of Public Health for the East Midlands and was previously Acting Regional Director of Public Health for the North East. He was also Director of Public Health for County Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority until it merged with Northumberland Tyne and Wear on July 1 2006.
David trained in medicine in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and has worked in the North East since qualifying in 1987 – apart from three spells abroad. These included two years as visiting scientist at the Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta, USA. While there he developed new analytic tools and contributed to the health protection programme for the Olympic Games held in the city.
Nottingham-born David, 43, worked as a physician in infectious disease medicine before specialising in public health. He grew up in Aspley and Wollaton and attended Nottingham High School before studying medicine in Newcastle.
He has been published widely in the fields of infectious disease epidemiology, risk management and data analysis methodology.