Membership

Simon Henig has been Leader of Durham County Council since 2008, guiding the council through its transition to unitary local government. He is Chair of both the Association of North East Councils and the County Durham Partnership. At national level, he is Deputy Chair of the People and Places Board of the Local Government Association. He is a Principal Lecturer in Politics at Sunderland University and has authored several books on the subject.

Councillor Martin Gannon was born in County Durham but has lived in Gateshead for over forty years. He is married with a daughter. He was first elected as a councillor in 1984. In 2010 he was appointed as Deputy Leader and then Leader in May 2016. He is actively involved in a number of major national bodies, including the Local Government Association. Locally he represents Gateshead on various regional bodies. Prior to taking up the role of Deputy Leader he was a Regional Officer for GMB Trade Union from 1987 to 2010.

Previously the Chief Executive Officer of Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD), Andrew is a leader in subsea engineering and in recent years has been awarded three Queen’s Awards for Industry. He is also Trust Board member for the International Centre for Life. Andrew has been awarded as North East Business Executive of the year, EY Entrepreneur of the Year and EEF’s UK manufacturing champion.

Leader of South Tyneside Council, Iain has been an elected Member since 1988 and chairs and sits on a number of regional committees. Previously he was Chief of Staff to the Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party. In 2001, he was appointed Chief Executive of Sovereign Strategy, public affairs consultancy.

Cllr Miller was appointed Leader of the Council in May 2018. He was first elected to the council in 2006 to represent Washington South ward where he is also school governor.

Before becoming Leader, Cllr Miller was the Cabinet’s portfolio holder for Health, Housing and Adult Services. Cllr Miller is particularly passionate about mental health as the basis for good overall health and wellbeing and he is a Health and Mental Health Champion for the city. He is a member of City Hospitals Sunderland Foundation Trust’s Council of Governors and Chair of Age UK Sunderland. He also represents the council and city on a number of bodies and organisations including the North East Combined Authority Leadership Board and North East Local Enterprise Partnership.

As Leader, Cllr Miller’s focus is continuing to work in partnership on the city’s economic regeneration, building on progress in relation to housing and infrastructure development and skills and employment opportunities.