Council makes two Chief Officer appointments

South Ayrshire Council has appointed two new Chief Officers to their revised senior management structure.

Following a recruitment and selection process, Councillors appointed Wendy Wesson as Chief HR Officer and Kevin Anderson as Assistant Director - Corporate Policy Strategy and Performance.

Both positions were newly created following approval of a revised management structure at the Council's meeting of 6 March 2024.

Wendy will direct and manage all HR and Payroll operations across the Council and ensure compliance and implementation of our people management strategies.

Wendy has over 25 years' experience working in Human Resource Management.  She began her career in Finance at British Aerospace, Prestwick, prior to taking up a position in their HR Department. Wendy spent 15 years working at British Aerospace/BAE SYSTEMS, then worked briefly in HR for the Higher Education sector.  She then moved to South Ayrshire Council in 2002, where she has held various HR positions over the last 22 years.  These roles have included Senior HR Advisor, HR Co-ordinator, and HR Service Lead. Throughout her career, Wendy has enjoyed covering every aspect of Human Resource Management, in particular, employee relations, where she is dedicated to developing a positive working culture and building supportive relationships across the organisation.

Kevin will support the Depute Chief Executive & Director of Education to ensure ongoing improvements within the Council's best value framework and implement local and national policy in line with the National Performance Framework.

Kevin has 18 years' experience working in a local authority setting.  In 2006 he joined South Ayrshire Council as a Housing Policy Officer.  Then, in 2008 he became Co-ordinator for Housing Policy and Strategy, until he was seconded to the Council's Business Improvement Team in 2015.  In 2016, Kevin took up the opportunity to manage the Place Directorate's Transformation Programme at North Ayrshire Council. He returned to South Ayrshire Council 16 months later to the position of Housing Policy and Strategy Manager. Since 2018, his role has expanded significantly, with Kevin also having responsibility for Community Planning, Corporate Strategy and Performance, Equalities and Sustainability and Climate Change.  

Both Wendy and Kevin have recently commenced their new roles.

South Ayrshire Council's Chief Executive, Mike Newall, said: "I'm delighted that Wendy and Kevin have become part of our Chief Officer structure.  Wendy's valuable HR experience means she will bring immeasurable knowledge to the role. Kevin has a wealth of local authority experience across a range of services, which will allow him to excel in his new post.  I'd like to welcome them both to our senior management team and I'll look forward to working with them to realise our ambitions in their areas of expertise."

Leader of South Ayrshire Council, Councillor Martin Dowey, said: "Both Wendy and Kevin have many years of local authority experience in their respective disciplines.  It's great to see them appointed to these new posts, which finalise our revised Chief Officer structure."