Tim Johnson

Chief Executive
City of Wolverhampton Council

Tim is Chief Executive of the City of Wolverhampton Council having been appointed to the role in July 2018. Prior to this, he was the council’s Deputy Managing Director and Strategic Director of Place where his portfolio of responsibilities included city development, city housing, city transport, city environment, corporate property and commercialism. Tim is an experienced strategic local government director, specialising in place shaping, organisational change management and community regeneration. He has a proven track record of developing and delivering complex, innovative projects and programmes and has overseen a regeneration programme which has £3.7 billion of public and private investment either on site or planned in the city. In the five years he has worked at the City of Wolverhampton Council, Tim has played a major part in the transformation of the city and the council. This was nationally recognised in June 2017 when the City of Wolverhampton Council won a record four awards at the prestigious MJ Local Government Achievement Awards 2017 including Local Authority of the Year, Most Improved Council and Senior Leadership Team of the Year. Tim has over 20 years’ experience in local government working for Liverpool City Council, London Borough of Hillingdon, Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council and Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council before joining the City of Wolverhampton Council in May 2013. He represents City of Wolverhampton Council on a number of external forums across the region and city including the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), Association of Black Country Authorities and Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and as Chair of the Board of Governors at the City of Wolverhampton College.

Sarah Middleton

Chief Executive
Black Country Consortium Ltd

Sarah is the Chief Executive of Black Country Consortium Limited (BCC) and has been since its incorporation in 2006. Sarah joined the Consortium Partnership in October 1999 and has been central in developing the Black Country Sub-Regional partnership, its 30 year vision, Economic Strategy and Spatial Strategy, including joint approaches on Planning, Investment, Economic Intelligence and the Black Country Education and Skills Strategy. Sarah qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and previous roles include Deputy Chief Executive for East Mercia Chamber of Commerce (including responsibilities as General Manager for Business Link Walsall) and Chief Executive of Walsall City Challenge. 

Chris Keogh

Director of Development & Operations
Court Collaboration

Chris graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Business Management in 2008 before taking on roles in recruitment and events management. Chris returned to his studies in 2012 to undertake a Masters Degree in Real Estate at the University of Reading. Chris joined Court Collaboration in the summer of 2013 after graduating from Reading with a distinction.

In his role as Director of Development & Operations is responsible for the effective management of the organisation and development process to ensure that both the business’ and investor’s goals are achieved. Chris identifies new development opportunities and works closely with investors to assess viability ahead of purchase. Chris’ role includes site identification, financial and development appraisal, acquisition, planning and identifying and securing exits.

Lucy Blasdale

Development Director
Homes England

Lucy Blasdale is Homes England Development Director for the Central and West Area. She currently manages a team of c70 staff and is responsible for the delivery of all the Homes England land holdings across a geography which stretches Lincolnshire Wash across to the  Welsh Border as well as stretching down to Devon and Cornwall.

Lucy holds membership of both the RTPI and RICS membership and has led Home England activity across a number of high profile projects.

Lucy is recognised within the industry for her straight talking can do approach. She has also acted as a career mentor to a number of people both within and outside the organisation and regularly speaks at events to encourage more young people to consider careers in the construction industry. Previous winner of the Homes England National Award for Inspirational Leadership