New Acting Chief Executive for Rochdale Borough

Linda Fisher has been appointed Acting Chief Executive at Rochdale Borough Council from 1 June and will lead the organisation until a recruitment process is undertaken to appoint permanently to the Chief Executive position.

The move follows the departure of Jim Taylor later this month as he moves to take up his new role in Salford.

Linda Fisher, has worked at the council for five years and has been Deputy Chief Executive since March 2013. 

She said it is a real privilege to be taking on the role of Acting Chief Executive and she is looking forward to the new challenge:

“The council is already performing well so my job, working alongside the leadership team , elected members, staff and partners, is to ensure that we continue to improve for the benefit of our residents.We should all take any and every opportunity to spread the word about how the borough is a great place to live, work, invest in and visit.”

Linda has 20 years of local government experience including councils in Stockport and Shropshire. She has held the role of Chief Legal officer in other councils and was previously the Executive Director over Planning and Regulatory Services at Rossendale Borough Council. During her time in Rochdale she has led major projects including bringing Highways, Property and ICT Services back into the council from the Impact Partnership, leading the first three phases of council savings programmes, leading on the legal work for the Building Schools for the Future Investment programmes, Town Centre Regeneration and the Housing Stock Transfer. Linda moves from her current role managing HR, Legal, ICT, Coroners and Registrars, Community Safety, Libraries and Customer Services.

Council Leader Colin Lambert said:

“Linda is an extremely capable and experienced individual and I am very confident in her abilities to manage these new responsibilities. She has a significant amount of experience and local government expertise, particularly over the last five years. I have every confidence she will play a critical role in helping the council move forward while we appoint a new permanent chief executive.”

Recruitment for a new Chief Executive is due to commence after a meeting of full council on 4 June when the plans will be agreed.