Town Deal Board governance

Adrian Andrew

Deputy Leader of Walsall Council and Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Councillor Adrian Andrew represents the Pheasey Park Ward. 

He is vice-chair of the council's Personnel Committee and a member of the Standards Committee.

Shaun Darcy

Shaun is Director of Finance, Corporate Landlord and Assurance at Walsall Council.

Shaun is delighted to be supporting the Council’s Transformation Programme and savings delivery and taking forward the Corporate Landlord Model and the revised Strategic Asset Plan to include all Council services, regeneration and housing.

Ray Flynn

Ray is currently the Associate Director for Place at the University of Wolverhampton. 

Prior to this, he held senior economic regeneration and development positions in local and regional agencies.

Mark Lavender

Mark is Head of Programme Management within the Resources & Transformation directorate of Walsall Council. 

He is currently responsible for establishing and administering a number of significant accountable body and secretariat roles, including the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership and the Town’s Funds for Bloxwich and Walsall.

Jatinder Sharma OBE

Midlands-born Jatinder is principal and chief executive of Walsall College. 

He is a champion of the vital role that skills and training play in the development of the economy and regeneration of Walsall and the Black Country. He is a board member of the Association of Colleges and a member of the Walsall Proud Partnership. He represents further education on the Department for Education (DfE) Principals’ Reference Group.

Rupert Fairfax

Rupert has been the MD and owner of Fairfax Saddles Ltd for over 30 years. 

Fairfax Saddles Ltd employs around 100 staff at their premises in Bloxwich and exports to over 30 countries. The company won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2018 for its innovations in saddlery design

Manjit Jhooty

Chair of the Board 

Manjit is the CEO of Jhoots Group. His expertise is consolidated through successful building of relationships with other key partners and professionals in the industry.

Robert Judson

Rob was appointed as Chief Executive Officer, HomeServe Now in June 2020, following 18 months as Global COO for HomeServe Membership. 

n 2011 Rob moved to HomeServe North America and assumed responsibility for the service delivery network, contact centre operations and customer experience across North America as EVP Customer Experience.

Tarra Simmons

Tarra has worked at Midcounties Co-operative for over 30 years. 

Having undertaken many roles around the people and organisational development agenda and she is now the General Manager in charge of Cooperative Social Responsibility. This includes community grants, colleague and member engagement and running campaigns.

Karl Woodward

Karl is a Procurement Director who strives to develop within his own organisation and through engagement with the supply chain. 

He has established a unique collaboration between 14 recruitment companies working together to deliver high quality personnel. By establishing relationships within the local community and universities, he has promoted the development of young people and small businesses.

David Benge

David is the acting Joint Chief Officer at One Walsall, the voluntary sector infrastructure provider for Walsall. 

Having spent 24 years in financial services, David has worked in the voluntary sector for the past 20 years (6 in Walsall). He is an advocate for the vital role the sector makes in supporting local communities to thrive and prosper.

Kevin Davis

Kevin is Chief Executive Officer of The Vine Trust Group, a pioneering third sector organisation based in Walsall that prepares young people for life. 

He has an ability to empower consensus across the public, private and third sector. He serves his local community as a third sector champion with success in the development of responsible business and faith inspired organisations.