Geoff Fordham, BA (Hons), Founder and Director of GFA Consulting, has worked in the field of economic development and urban policy for over 20 years. He has a First Class Honours Degree in Government and worked in journalism, research and as a trainer before moving into consultancy, where he has handled an extensive range of assignments for national and local government, the private and voluntary sectors. He has also been Visiting Professor at Birkbeck University of London.
Andrew Harrison, BA (Hons), DMS, MBA, has been a director since January 1992. He has worked for the past 20 years in the fields of economic development and regeneration. Based in Birmingham, he is the GFA lead on work in the Midlands. He has handled a wide range of assignments all over the UK. He has experience in all areas of neighbourhood renewal and regeneration – with particular interest in change management, and supporting the translation of evidence into practical strategies. He is an associate of OPUS, and Tavistock Consulting Service. He is a member of ISPSO.
Rachael Fordham, BSc (Hons), co-founded GFA in 1991 and, since leaving the DTI, has worked in both management and consultancy functions at GFA. She now works mainly in London and the South East of England.
Beverly Cook has over 25 years’ experience of working across the public sector in health primary, further and higher education and local government. She has a range of ‘hands on’ experience of project and programme development and delivery which has led to a good understanding of issues in strategy development and evaluation. She has worked in higher education and in the private financial sector; in health authorities in Islington and Haringey, and in Haringey Council, where she developed partnership working between Haringey Council and the health sector.
Elizabeth Dean has worked as a consultant for more than twenty years for local authorities, local strategic partnerships, health authorities, government departments and NGOs. Her expertise is in research and evaluation and her project work has involved consultations with senior managers, employees, service users and community groups. Her experience covers large and small-scale surveys, focus group work and one-to-one structured interviews. She has designed and led consultations for organisation reviews, service evaluations and for identifying user needs. Clients have included housing associations, trade unions, community foundations and Citizens Advice Bureaux.
Chris Wadhams, based in the West Midlands, is a specialist in community regeneration and social housing, especially the link between both of these in neighbourhood management. He has worked extensively for the Housing Corporation and registered social landlords developing their housing management services.
Shawn Frazer has a Masters in Occupational and Organisational Psychology and specialises in research, evaluation, training, and community development and has helped develop a number of vocational (NVQ) and other qualifications in Management and Leadership, Community Justice, Housing, Sports Development, and Health and Social Care. Shawn has developed and delivered capacity building and training in parenting skills, for a black fathers support group, as well as diversity and inclusion events, for the voluntary, public and private sector.
Bernadette Beckett has proven expertise in delivering multi disciplinary projects and implementing change successfully to deliver the Modernisation Agenda both for the NHS and Local Authorities. She has successfully worked with all stakeholders to find new ways of working across boundaries to involve the user in improving service delivery. Bernadette has worked for three years for the Commission for Patient & Public Involvement in Health (CPPIH), most recently as Area Director, co-ordinating activity both within London and the East of England. Before CPPIH, Bernadette worked for a Local Authority where her work included ensuring effective community participation in the development of corporate and local strategies, plans and best value reviews.
GFA works in partnership with a variety of consultancies and academic institutions just some of which are listed below. We have a flexible approach to finding the right team for each assignment. This is particularly the case for national, multi-annual assignments where it often makes sense to pool specialist expertise and use local knowledge wherever possible.
GFA is part of the consortium led by Sheffield Hallam University’s Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) which has been evaluating the national New Deal for Communities Programme since 2002. CRESR has also worked with GFA on a study of mixed communities for CLG
GFA has also been part of a consortium led by SQW Ltd evaluating the effectiveness of the Government’s neighbourhood management pathfinders. Other partners in this included The European Institute of Urban Affairs, The Cities Research Centre at the University of the West of England, The Local Government Centre, University of Warwick the University of Cambridge Department of Land Economy, Ipsos MORI and NOP. We are currently working with SQW in their evaluation for CLG of participatory budgeting. See www.sqw.co.uk
The Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) draws on the expertise of staff with national and international reputations to engage with current policy agendas in the Centre's core areas of social, urban, and housing policy. CRESR works with central and local government clients, development agencies, regeneration partnerships, charitable trusts, and research bodies to deliver high quality and cost effective research, advisory and consultancy services. http://www.shu.ac.uk/cresr
We have collaborated with EDuce on the Leadership & Partnership Development Programme in the West Midlands, and various evaluations for ODPM and CLG.
Inspira Consulting have been our partners on the Raising Our Game programme in Birmingham, and a range of assignments supporting the development and performance management of Local Area Agreements.