Roger Marsh

Northern Leader, Government and Public Sector

Roger is the Office Senior Partner and leads PwC’s Government and Public Sector practice across the North. Also he is a member of the UK Firm’s Supervisory Board, an elected governance body acting on behalf of the partners of the firm of some 15,000 staff and £2.5bn of annual revenues.

Before taking up his current role in the firm, Roger served at the heart of Government during a full time secondment to the Cabinet Office. From January 2007 to late 2009, served on the executive board (chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell) as Director-General of Strategic Finance and Operations. The principle objective of his role was to improve the operational and financial performance of the department.

Having had that unique experience in the very heart of Government, Roger brings to the North unparalleled first hand insight and knowledge of what ‘efficiencies’, ‘reconfigurations’ and ‘policy redefinitions’ really mean for public services and the public sector

In 2011, Roger led the publication of Rebalancing the economy: prospects for the North, in association with the London based think tank The Smith Institute. By focusing on the government’s pledge to rebalance the economy, the report calls for a fair deal for the North by developing stronger delivery structures and sufficient investment resources to tackle long-standing regional disparities.

Contact details
Email: Roger Marsh
Tel: +44 (0)113 289 4365

Stuart Howie

Director, Corporate finance

Stuart leads PwC’s government & public sector Corporate Finance team in the North. He has over 15 year’s experience of advising both the public and private sector organisations, particularly around economic development, inward investment, and infrastructure financing.

Stuart has advised on some of the UK’s largest regeneration projects and in recent years has been working closely with both the public and private sectors to develop new ways to finance much needed investment to unlock economic growth. Stuart led PwC’s work with the Core Cities Group that called for the introduction of Tax Increment Financing principles and supported the Group’s submission to Government on the Local Government Resources Review. Stuart is a regular conference speaker on financing regeneration and economic development and an innovator in his field.

Stuart is currently advising the Leeds City Region on the establishment of a Revolving Investment Fund, a key plank of its City deal. The Fund will finance investment in those sectors where commercial lending and investment availability has been worst hit by the credit crunch.

Contact details
Email: Stuart Howie
Tel: 0113 289 4811

Peter Chambers

Northern Leader, Local Government

Peter has been a partner with PwC for six years, and has more than 20 years experience of providing professional services to the public sector. He leads PwC's Government and Public Sector Assurance team in the North West, providing audit and advisory services to organisations across the local government, healthcare, education and housing sectors.

As well as being engagement leader for a number of external and internal audit clients across these sectors, he also leads a portfolio of advisory engagements, including a wide range of financial advisory services to local government, with a particular focus on new service delivery structures. Other areas of expertise include support to NHS trusts applying for NHS foundation trust status; board development for public sector organisations, finance function reviews, and financial governance reviews.

Contact details
Email: Peter Chambers
Tel: 0161 247 4311

Ian Looker

Northern Leader, Education

Ian is a qualified Chartered Accountant who has 20 years auditing experience in the Public Sector in the Yorkshire region. He leads our higher education assurance work nationally, from a base in Yorkshire, being part of our leadership team for the sector. Ian holds the Government Internal Audit Certificate, having led our internal audit work at a wide range of organisations including Higher Education Institutions, Local Authorities, Housing Associations and Further Education Colleges.

His broader experience includes:

• Leading our internal audit work at a number of institutions, ranging from larger research intensive universities (such as the University of Leeds, the University of Sheffield and the University of Hull) to smaller institutions (such as the University of York St John).
• Carrying out numerous institutional based advisory assignments, including examining governance effectiveness, data audit, investigations into control in subsidiary organisations; and institutional mergers. A recent example being his work with UCAS.
• Leading our work in considering the strategic options for two institutions experiencing financial difficulty.
• Leading our work examining the reporting of access arrangements to the Office for Fair Access.
• Leading our student data assurance work on behalf of HEFCE and SFA Member of the Universities UK SORP Board for the education sector.
• Other clients include Rotherham Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Barnsley NHS Foundation Trust, Natural England and Anchor Trust.

Contact details
Email: Ian Looker
Tel: 0113 288 2019

Irving Warnett

Northern Leader, Health

Irving has over 10 years CEO experience in distribution business, eight years with 3i and over fifteen years consulting advisory experience with PwC. He specialises in business reviews, turnaround strategy and operational restructuring across a broad range of mid-cap plc, private and public sector – specifically Health and Education.

Within PwC he leads the Northern NHS/Public Sector operational Restructuring business as well as being cross-Firm Market leader for PwC’s NHS service lines.

Contact details
Email: Irving Warnett
Tel: 0113 289 4074