Chief Executive and Executive Directors

Tom joined Norfolk as Executive Director for Commercial and Environmental Services in September 2013. He became Head of Paid Service in December 2018 and Chief Executive in June 2023.

Previously Tom has worked for a number of county, city and unitary councils including Kent, Lancashire and Liverpool.

Paul joined the Council Spring 2021. His remit covers a range of corporate services, including HR, Communications, Intelligence and Analytics, and Transformation.

Previously, Paul was Deputy Chief Executive at Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust, with a portfolio that included Operational Director for a range of clinical services. He led a range of centralised services including strategy and planning, transformation, HR and communications.

Sara’s role is a key statutory one, leading a department which combines children’s social care with support to deliver excellence in education countywide.

Sara is a social worker by profession, with 32 years of experience delivering services to children and young people.  She has held a number of senior roles over the last 10 years, leading social care, education and community health services.

Sara was the Director of Children Services for three-and-a-half years with Dorset County Council and led a successful bid for £2m from the Department for Education’s social care innovation fund, to rethink social work.  In April 2017, Sara took on the additional role of adult and community services. 

Sara spent four years as elected director on the board of ADCS (2011-2015).  She advised ministers in the production of the 2004 Children Act, contributed to the publication ‘Narrowing the Gap’ and was part of the expert group for prevention and early intervention, producing the publication ‘Grasping the Nettle’.

Grahame is the Interim Executive Director of Community and Environmental Services.

Grahame’s remit ranges from libraries to museums; highways to Fire and Rescue; recycling centres to corporate property. These wide ranging services are all provided by the Community and Environmental Services teams. The common factor with these services are that they all impact on local communities, business and visitors to Norfolk every day. They are based right across the county, delivering direct to local communities. Many of these services are universal and accessed by everyone as part of their day to day lives. For example, everyone relies on the highway network for moving around sustainably including walking, cycling, travelling by bus or making sure others are able to visit, and to receive goods and services.

Grahame has been with the Council since 2004 and has held a variety of roles within Community and Environmental Services, including more recently as Director of Highways, Transport and Waste. He is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Chartered Manager. Before joining the Council, Grahame worked for various Civil Engineering Consultants in London and Norwich.

Debbie Bartlett is the Executive Director of Adult Social Services whilst James Bullion is on secondment.