Peter has had a varied career with over 40 years working strategically and operationally in the Public Sector. Starting out as a Chartered Civil Engineer and working in various roles, always championing improvement and efficiency. Currently Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement at Manchester City Council since 2019 which was preceded by 7 years delivering a collaborative procurement programme for Greater Manchester and 5 years supporting a range of collaborative and transformational projects in the North East of England. As chair of the LGA’s Procurement National Advisory Group and the iNetwork Connected Procurement and Commissioning Workstream, Peter provides a link between national policy makers and the NW region’s procurement practitioners. Currently focussing on using progressive procurement to address inequalities and prioritising the needs local residents, Peter is looking forward to maximising the opportunities provided by the Procurement Act and the National Procurement Policy Statement whilst also devising ways to ensure that the Council’s suppliers match our zero carbon ambitions.

Lorraine leads STAR Procurement which is a very successful, high performing public sector shared service that is leading collaborative change and transformation through procurement and Social Value. STAR supports four Greater Manchester Councils and now two Liverpool City Region Councils that joined STAR in 2023. Lorraine has led STAR for almost seven years and in 22/23 they supported the retention of 78.9% local spend within Greater Manchester for her four partner Councils. STAR have continued to improve the Social Value captured as added value through procurement securing 38.5% accumulatively of the collective contract value since April 2019. The National Social Value Taskforce is a ‘coalition of the willing’ of public, private and voluntary sector representatives who act as advocates and creators of this ‘Social Value Movement’. Lorraine has been part of this since its formation in 2017 as was appointed as Chair in June 2023. Lorraine received a national award ‘Best Council to do Business With’ historically which she received at No.10 Downing St. She personally contributed to the improvement of Public Contract Regulations 2015 and Lord Young’s Reforms as she attended a Select Committee in the House of Commons to respond to a Public Procurement Review. Lorraine was also highly commended in Leadership at the National Social Value Conference 2020 and STAR won an award for embedding Social Value into the procurement processes in 2021.

Johnny has led a number of PUBLIC's government consulting and advisory projects, including working with the Dutch government to design a GovTech strategy, and the Cabinet Office on its civil service reform programme. With expertise in procurement of technology and innovation, he sits on the UK government procurement advisory panel, and has led procurement transformation projects with a number of European governments. Before PUBLIC, he worked with a number of universities on behavioural science and startup-related projects.

Grahame joined BiP Solutions in 2003 as Production Director with responsibility for the multi-disciplined media and production department, including Content, Research and Distribution. Prior to that, he worked in various senior editorial and publishing roles for the media company EMAP plc. Grahame was appointed Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the BI Division in May 2012 and became Sales & Marketing Director in May 2016 with overall responsibility for driving revenues through private and public sector sales, marketing and events teams. In January 2017, Grahame was appointed Managing Director of the Media and Marketing Solutions division of the BiP Group. In this role he assumed overall responsibility for two of BiP Group’s recent acquisitions – Pro Mark Media and Ingenium – as well as BiP Solutions’ events and training portfolio. Following a restructure of BiP Group in April 2018, Grahame was appointed Sales and Marketing Director for the Business Intelligence and Public Sector business units, before subsequently being appointed Director of Public Policy, Research and Communications in 2023.

Gemma Waring is a qualified bid writer, trainer, and coach. Gemma has worked in the sector for 20 years and her career has been marked by exceptional achievements due to her determination to succeed and her passion for empowering others. Gemma has a long-standing relationship with PASS as one of its leading consultants and works with many of its highest profile clients. Gemma’s enthusiasm for the procurement sector is infectious, propelling her to stay abreast of industry developments and generously share her knowledge, including being a key player in the roll out of the Procurement Act 2023. Gemma's dedication recently earned her the prestigious title of Runner Up in the APMP UK's Annual Awards in the Supplier of the Year category and seen her continuously develop her own skills as an advocate of life-long learning. Gemma orchestrates success in public sector tendering and procurement projects – securing new business and successful outcomes across the board. Notable accomplishments include bid writing endeavours for blue-chip companies, securing multimillion pound contracts, working with Scottish Government on a national training campaign, and securing successful outcomes in complex multi supplier / multi lot frameworks and DPSs. In her role as Lead Trainer and Skills Coach for the Bid Coordinator Apprenticeship, Gemma also runs multiple cohorts, shaping training content, and assessing learners for long term development and supporting new entrants to the sector to grow and flourish.