Robert is an experienced Leader, Chair and Non-Executive Director. He has held a number of high profile non-executive leadership roles across a wide range of national, regional and local organisations.

He is a specialist in leading transformation and change, in consumer issues and stakeholder engagement and in managing governance and risk.

As Managing Director of his own Farming and Equestrian company for 26 years he understands business and the importance of a strong commercial focus.

Robert’s roles have included:

• Chair, Consumer Council for Water (CCW)
• Head Commissioner, Independent Commission on Civil Aviation Noise
• Deputy Chair, the Environment Agency
• Leader, Kirklees Council
• Chair, Leeds City Region
• Chair, West Yorkshire Combined Authority Scrutiny
• Deputy Chair, Local Government Association
• Chair, West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority

In his career Robert has led a major internal culture change at CCW, established a new Independent Commission on Civil Aviation Noise and turned Kirklees in to one of the leading Councils in the Country.

As an experienced Peer Reviewer for the LGA and Peer inspector for the Audit Commission Robert specialised in reviewing Councils with significant challenges.

Serving as a Councillor for 26 years, he worked with the police at neighbourhood and Borough level.

In his spare time, he enjoys walking the family dogs and sport. Robert and his family are season ticket holders at Bradford City.

John was elected as the Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia on 5 May 2016. He has a broad background in both the private and public sector. In 2004, John was elected as a Wyre Forest District Councillor. In 2007, he became the authority’s youngest and longest serving leader. John was also elected as a Worcestershire County Councillor in 2005 and has held many roles within the County Council.

He has worked in private business, as well as in the High Security Prison system as an intelligence officer. John holds a BSc (Hons) in Business Information Systems from Liverpool John Moores University and one of his commitments is to improve technology within West Mercia Police.

Amongst other things, his role is to hold the Chief Constable to account and to ensure their police force is delivering an efficient and effective service that meets the needs of the public.

Katy was raised and schooled in Sussex before graduating from Aberystwyth University. She still lives in mid-Sussex, is married to Kevin and has two adult sons. She was a successful business woman before entering politics and retains a keen interest in innovative business start-ups especially green technologies.

Katy is in her third term as Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Sussex. She was first elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2016 and 2021.

The PCC’s role is to hold the Chief Constable of Sussex Police to account for the performance of the Force, effectively making the police answerable to the communities they serve.

Katy is responsible for setting the strategic direction and priorities for Sussex Police through the Police & Crime Plan. This includes setting the police budget and local police precept – the amount residents pay for policing in their council tax.

She also has a statutory duty to commission support services for victims of crime and to deliver community safety initiatives including restorative justice and crime reduction grants.

Katy brings a genuine passion and commitment to make a difference and her work to support victims of crime has won her praise from successive Home Secretaries and Prime Ministers. Katy was also nationally recognised for founding the award-winning Sussex Youth Commission in 2013 and the Sussex Elders’ Commission in 2015.

Katy is a former Director of the Board of the College of Policing and former advisor to the editorial board of the Guardian Public Leaders Network. She is currently Chair of the Sussex Criminal Justice Board; Chair and National Spokesperson of the Association of Police & Crime Commissioners Retail & Business Crime Portfolio and Roads Policing Portfolio; and former Chair and a non-Exec Director of the national Police ICT Company.

In June 2019 she was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours and she served as APCC Chair from July 2019-July 2020

David Skaith was elected the first Mayor for York and North Yorkshire on Thursday 2 May 2024.

Jo Coles was nominated by York & North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith, to be appointed Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire and Crime.

On Wednesday 12 June 2024, this was confirmed by the North Yorkshire Police Fire and Crime Panel and Jo took up her new role on Monday 8 July 2024.

The Chair of the NPCC, Chief Constable Gavin Stephens has worked nearly 30 years in policing, first joining Cambridgeshire Constabulary in 1993 and then Surrey Police in 1996, where he has been working for over 20 years, serving in every rank up to the role of Chief Constable.

He was initially based in East Surrey on neighbourhood policing, and went onto roles in serious and organised crime, professional standards and local policing.

On a national level, CC Stephens played a major role in developing and modernising neighbourhood policing, and he led the implementation of the Neighbourhood Policing Guidelines in 2016. Before his appointment, he was the Chair of the NPCC Finance Coordination Committee, as well as the national Communications Advisory Group.

Gareth is the current General Secretary of the Chief Police Officers Staff Association, having served 33 years as a police officer.  He started his career with Essex Police and worked in a variety of roles of which a significant number were in the specialist crime arena.

After 23 years, and having successfully completed the Strategic Command Course, Gareth joined Norfolk Constabulary as an Assistant Chief Constable for local policing, protective services and royalty protection.

Gareth then joined Suffolk Constabulary where he served as both the Deputy Chief Constable and Chief Constable, retiring in 2019. During his tenure, he was Chair of the NPCC Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Co-ordination Committee, Investigations Portfolio and Homicide Working Group.

Following retirement from Home Office policing, Gareth was appointed as a senior civil servant and joined the Ministry of Defence Police as their Chief Operating Officer. He is also a lay member of the University of Suffolk Research Ethics Committee.

Gareth was awarded the Queens Police Medal in the 2020 New Years Honours List and was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of Suffolk in February 2020.

David, an accountant by background, has very extensive senior public and private sector experience having held four positions of chief executive in local government and being Business Development Director for Deloitte's outsourcing arm.

For the past 15 years, he has been concentrating upon advising organisations experiencing governance failures including, on occasions, carrying out sensitive and complex investigations in the NHS and local government, often producing public reports.

He has held a number of non-executive roles including with central government departments and in the private sector. He has been a member of the Audit Committee of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. In addition, he has been a Non-Executive Chair of a large acute NHS trust.  Currently David is Chair of the Smaller Authorities’ Audit Appointments, the body approved by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to appoint auditors to a range of small public bodies. He also sits on the council of the whistle blowing charity Protect.