26th November 2025

Chief Executives — Stockport MBC (2010 → present)

  1. Eamonn BoylanJan 2010 → Apr 2017 (approx.).
    Sources: council/press profiles and interviews giving appointment as Chief Executive in January 2010 and his move to GMCA in 2017. Built Environment Networking+1
  2. Pam SmithSeptember 2017 → December 2021 (left to take up Chief Executive role at Newcastle City Council in January 2022).
    Sources: Stockport press/appointments and Newcastle press confirming Pam Smith started at Stockport in Sept 2017 and was recruited to Newcastle (appointed Jan 2022). Digital Leaders+1
  3. Caroline Simpson20 December 2021 (appointment approved) → June 2024 (left to become Group Chief Executive at GMCA/TfGM).
    Sources: Stockport Council news announcing her appointment (Dec 2021) and media reporting her move to GMCA in 2024. Stockport Council+1
  4. Michael CullenJune 2024 → present (Nov 26, 2025).
    Sources: Stockport / local press announcing Michael Cullen as the council’s new Chief Executive in June 2024 and Stockport senior leadership pages listing him as Chief Executive. Stockport Council+1

Notes on Chief Exec dates: sources consistently show Eamonn Boylan’s start as January 2010 and that he left Stockport in 2017 to join the GMCA. Pam Smith is repeatedly described as starting in September 2017; Caroline Simpson’s appointment was approved 20 Dec 2021 and Michael Cullen’s selection was announced June 2024. Where press says “appointed” I’ve used that date; for transitions you’ll sometimes see a council meeting approval date and a slightly different employment start date — I’ve used the public appointment/approval dates unless a source states the individual’s first working day.


Monitoring Officers — Stockport MBC (2010 → present)

Monitoring Officer is the council’s statutory legal adviser; these posts are sometimes held by the Borough Solicitor / Head of Legal and may have deputies or interim holders. Public records for Monitoring Officer appointments are patchy; below is a best-effort list from council pages, agendas, LinkedIn and public FOIs. I’ve flagged where exact start/end dates aren’t published and given the sources I used.

  1. Jane Scullionnamed as Monitoring Officer in public FOI material around 2011 (former Monitoring Officer referenced in 2011 FOI correspondence).
    • Evidence that Jane Scullion was a former Monitoring Officer appears in an FOI/public record discussion from 2011. Exact start/end dates not publicly listed in the documents I found. WhatDoTheyKnow+1
  2. (Other / un-catalogued officers, early 2010s) — public meeting packs and governance docs from early-mid 2010s refer generically to “the Monitoring Officer” but do not always name a person in the agenda front sheet. Where a name appears in older agenda packs it may be buried in scanned PDF pages rather than a single staff list; I could not find a single, comprehensive public roster with every named Monitoring Officer for every year between 2010–2017. Contentful+1
  3. Patrick Arran (interim)Jan 2018 → Sep 2018 (interim).
    • Patrick Arran’s LinkedIn/public profile shows an interim role as Head of Legal & Democratic Governance / Monitoring Officer at Stockport (Jan–Sep 2018). This is explicitly referenced in his public profile. LinkedIn
  4. Vicki (Victoria) Bates2018 (joined Stockport) → present (Monitoring Officer / Assistant Director, Legal & Democratic Governance).
    • Stockport Council senior leadership pages and meeting speaker profiles list Vicki Bates as the Council’s Monitoring Officer (Assistant Director / Strategic Head: Legal & Democratic Governance / Monitoring Officer); multiple council pages and job adverts list her in that statutory role and she is shown as Monitoring Officer in public meeting papers in recent years. Public mentions indicate she joined Stockport Council in 2018 (joined the authority after working in legal practice) and is currently the Monitoring Officer. Exact appointment start date (day/month) is not published in a single easily-locatable press release; the council senior leadership pages and webcast speaker page show her as the Monitoring Officer. Stockport Council+1
  5. Deputy Monitoring OfficersMichelle Dodds, David Hopkins (and others) appear in public materials as Deputy Monitoring Officer or head of legal teams across the 2010s–2020s. Their names show up repeatedly in meeting packs and LinkedIn entries; they typically serve alongside the Monitoring Officer. Exact start/end dates for deputy posts are not always published centrally. LinkedIn+1

Council Leaders –

David Goddard (Baron Goddard of Stockport)22 May 2007 → May 2012 Wikipedia+1
Sue DerbyshireMay 2012 → May 2016 Wikipedia+1
Alex Ganotis24 May 2016 → 21 May 2019 Wikipedia+1
Elise Wilson21 May 2019 → 19 May 2022 Wikipedia+1
Mark Hunter19 May 2022 → 20 May 2025 Wikipedia+2Wikipedia+2
Mark Roberts20 May 2025 → present