Ray Smith

Ray has been leading Local Government digital technology projects since 2001 when he was contracted by the Leicestershire Rural Partnership to lead the 'Digital Information and Services' programme on behalf of Leicestershire County Council. The programme was supported by a grant of £1.2M European funding to investigate ways in which technology could be used to help address rural isolation and to provide 'joined up' digital service delivery in Leicestershire and Rutland.

Working with the LeicesterShire Gateway Partnership Ray facilitated a fully integrated service delivery infrastructure that includes county, district, parish and town councils and is designed to reduce the length of the 'customer journey' by joining up digital service delivery across the three tiers of local government. This has made services more accessible and reduced the workload for all tiers by ensuring that the customers are directed to the organisation that provides a particular service to them for where they live.

Ray say's that "encouraging customers to 'self-serve' (rather than using telephone or face to face channels) will greatly improve the efficiency of local government by reducing the cost of service delivery". Ray is passionate about 'joined up local government' and the need to remove duplication and overlap, his friendly, self-confident and enthusiastic personality coupled with his vision and strategic leadership have enabled him to successfully complete many partnership projects.

The picture shows Ray presenting at the 2017 UKLC user group event. Members of UK Local Councils are invited to attend regular events to share best practice and network with other clerks to exchange views.

Ray was a Parish Councillor at Glenfield (2012 - 2019) where he has chaired the finance and communications committees. He understands what it's like on 'your side of the table' and the pressures that you work under. Being involved in a busy parish council has helped Ray understand how a good website can help the Councillors become more efficient and effective.

Recent Employment History 2commune Limited (March 2012 - Present) Strategy and Development Director. Responsible for business strategy, product development and management of partnership projects.

Leicestershire County Council (July 2007 – February 2012) Development & Community IT Programme Manager. Management of IT development teams and project managers. Responsible for managing the authorities development portfolio and programme of community IT projects.

Leicestershire Rural Partnership (February 2001 – July 2007) Programme Manager. Managing a programme of partnership IT projects in a complex multi agency environment including organisations across the public, private and voluntary sectors, required extensive communication with stakeholders. Gained extensive knowledge of local service delivery organisations (including county, districts, parishes, police, voluntary groups etc.) across Leicestershire & Rutland.

Previous Experience Prior to working in local government Ray worked in the commercial sector including: Managing director of a software house and as a Systems Consultant for GEC where he worked with major retail multiples (Sainsbury, Asda, Morrisons and Tesco).

Qualifications HND Electronic Engineering, BA First-class honours Computing Science, Prince 2 Practitioner, Managing Successful Programmes Practitioner, ILM5 Institute of Leadership & Management.

Membership of Professional bodies British Computer Society (MBCS) – Member Engineering Council – Chartered Engineer (C.Eng).

Personal details Ray is married with two children and is interested in travel, photography and music.