Carolyn Grace Downs CB (born 25 February 1960) is chief executive of

Brent Council Brent London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Brent in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. It is based at Brent Civic Centre in Engineers W ...

, London. She is the principal policy advisor to the council and senior manager with responsibility for operational issues and overseeing the council's annual expenditure of around £1 billion.

Biography

Downs has an MA in Library and Information Studies from UCL and began her career working in a council library. Her career has included top jobs in several local councils. From 2003 to 2009, Downs was the first female chief executive of

Shropshire County Council Shropshire County Council was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Shropshire in England. History The Council came into its powers under the Local Government Act 1888 on 1 April 1889 and was known as Salop County Council from for ...

. She had worked at the Council since 1999 and was previously a corporate director, which included having responsibility for Environmental Services. During her tenure, the Shropshire County Council became the highest performing county council in the UK. She then worked as director general of corporate performance at the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

, a position which included being seconded to the

Legal Services Commission The Legal Services Commission (LSC) was an executive non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Justice which was responsible for the operational administration of legal aid in England and Wales between 2000 and 2013. Overview The LSC was re ...

in March 2010 to take over as chief executive after Carolyn Regan resigned. She was appointed chief executive of the

Local Government Association The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national membership body for local authorities. Its core membership is made up of 339 English councils and the 22 Welsh councils through the Welsh Local Government Association. The LGA is p ...

in September 2011. She was awarded Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

in the 2011

New Year's Honours list The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

. In 2015, she was appointed as chief executive of Brent Council. Under Downs' leadership, Brent became LGC's Council of the Year and London Borough of Culture in 2020. The programme included funds to support local people and organisations to produce cultural activities. Downs has spoken out on the need for housing reform, social care, and poverty issues.

References

Living people Civil Service (United Kingdom) Chief executive officers Companions of the Order of the Bath Local government in the United Kingdom London Borough of Brent Alumni of University College London 1960 births {{UK-gov-bio-stub