Contract Management Capability Programme Conference 2024

The event has now finished. For information on next year's conference please contact richard.waft@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Gareth Rhys Williams was most recently Chief Executive Officer of PHS Group, a leading provider of outsourced workplace services in the UK. Gareth is an experienced CEO and Non Executive Director, with a consistent record of reinvigorating and reinventing listed and private equity backed companies through creative growth strategies. He has a strong record of driving transformational change in large, complex and federated organisations.

Before joining PHS, Gareth was CEO of Charter International, the FTSE 250 engineering group, until its successful sale to Colfax Corporation in 2012. Prior to that, he was CEO of Capital Safety Group Ltd, since sold to KKR, and CEO of Vitec Group plc, the supplier of broadcast and photographic equipment and services.

Clare has over 20 years’ experience of working within government across Commercial,Finance and Business Change. Clare is a Commercial Director and a CCAB qualified accountant.

Clare has been instrumental in leading the Ventilator Challenge, part of theGovernment’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On joining the Cabinet Office in 2017, Clare was responsible for preparing governmentdepartments for the collapse of Carillion and the transfer of service delivery to newproviders. Following this, Clare led a multifunctional team to develop the Sourcing Playbook,and subsequent suite of Playbooks.

In Clare’s current role as Director for Markets, Sourcing and Suppliers, Clare is responsiblefor the development and implementation of the Construction, Consulting, DDaT andSourcing Playbooks and the Strategic Supplier Relationship Management Programme,Strategic Partnering Programme and Crown Representatives Programme.

Clare was awarded an OBE in the 2019 New Year’s Honours.

Dr. Laura Gilbert is the director of 10DS, the data science and analytics team in Downing Street, director of the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (i.AI), joint Chief Analyst for the Cabinet Office and SRO for the AI for Public Good program.

Her teams provide fast-paced modelling and analysis to support policy making and delivery, deliver expert data and AI solutions into public services, and run a radical transformation agenda promoting the better use of evidence, data and technology in government decision making. 

She also created and spearheads a broader program of innovation, digitisation and radical upskilling in central government called Evidence House.

She holds a doctorate in Particle Physics and Computing, is a Visiting Professor at LSE, and holds fellowships of the Institute of Physics and the Institute of Analytics.

Laura previously worked in defence intelligence, quantitative finance, and for nearly a decade was CTO of a medical technologies company, Rescon, bringing it from start-up to SMT to acquisition before exiting and joining government in 2020. 

In her role, Zuzanna acts as an ambassador and advocate of efficient and effective contracting through achieving high-performing and trusted relationships.

Zuzanna joined WorldCC from Virgin Media with extensive experience in procurement, where she led teams specialising in commercial and all aspects of contract management. Her innovative approach and ability to think outside the box led to successful implementation of business changes yielding multi-million cost savings and revenue enhancements. Her prior career included experience in the financial services and aviation sectors: she has a Masters degree in Finance.