College appoints new Chief Executive

Louise Foster | Friday, July 24, 2009

Communities and Local Government News Release

Fire Minister Shahid Malik today announced that Kim Robinson has been appointed as Chief Executive of the world renowned Fire Service College at Moreton in Marsh.

Mr Malik also announced the appointment of two non-executive members of the College management board: Bill Griffiths as the new Chair and Martin Bryant as a board member.  

Kim Robinson joins the College from a business development role at BAE Systems.  He has extensive leadership and change management experience across a range of organisations in both the private and public sectors.  

Bill Griffiths is currently Executive Chair of the Forensic Science Service and a non-executive director at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and within the Department for Work and Pensions.  He is an experienced finance director and business manager with a broad international background at Unilever and ICI.

Martin Bryant, currently an interim non-executive board member at the Fire Service College, has a commercial background with Boots and BP together with extensive experience of the public sector as Director of Strategy at the Home Office and Chief Executive of the Shareholder Executive in 2006/7; and non-executive directorships at the Government Office for the East-Midlands and the East Midlands Development Agency.

Welcoming the appointments Fire Minister Shahid Malik, said:

"The Fire Service College is a world class training facility at the heart of the Fire and Rescue Service.  The provision of high quality training is essential to building a Service which has the skills to meet the challenges of the twenty first century.  I look forward to working with Kim, his team and the Management Board to secure a bright future for the College. 

Kim Robinson said:

"I am delighted to be taking on the leadership of the Fire Service College at this important and challenging time.  I look forward to building on both the College's reputation to ensure it remains at the heart of the Fire and Rescue Service and the work already achieved to make the College financially sustainable."

Kim Robinson takes over from Sally Sheen, acting Chief Executive since July 2008; and Bill Griffiths from Neil Kinghan, interim Chair of the College Board since August.  The Department is extremely grateful to Sally and Neil for providing leadership and direction for the College during a challenging year and strengthened partnerships with the Fire and Rescue Service.

The Fire Service College, established over 40 years ago, provides a wide range of operational training for fire and rescue personnel from both the UK and other countries.

 Notes to Editors

These posts have been filled by open competitions.

 A photograph of Kim Robinson is available.

Kim Robinson's early career was in the Armed Forces, where between operational appointments which included the command of an Army Regiment, he spent a number of years working within the Ministry of Defence.  On leaving the Army, he became a business unit director within the Defence business of Thales, a global technology company.  In 2005 he joined telecommunications company Uniworld Communications Ltd, and during his four years as Managing Director led the company through a period of significant change.  Most recently, he has led a business development team within BAE Systems.

Kim Robinson takes over from Sally Sheen, who has been acting Chief Executive since July 2008, when the previous Chief Executive Gill Newton retired.

Kim Robinson and Bill Griffiths are expected to take up their appointments in the early autumn.

Martin Bryant will continue as a substantive non-executive director when his interim appointment ends on 30 September 2009.

The Fire Service College in Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire, was established as the national training facility for the Fire and Rescue Service in 1968.  The College has a key role in operational and resilience training, centred on its unique fireground training site which offers a range of rigs and scenarios focusing on incident command, specialist operational and national resilience training.  Since 9/11 (2001) it has developed a new resilience training capability, including its urban search and rescue (USAR) training rig, the only one of its kind in the UK.  It has a worldwide reputation.  In 2008-09 it delivered nearly 50,000 student training days and was named Best Provider of Training and Education 2008 at the National Training Awards.

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