Phil Rook has been appointed as the chief financial officer (section 151 officer) at Worcestershire County Council.
He succeeds Michael Hudson, who left Worcestershire in March to become executive director of resources at Cambridgeshire County Council. Hudson worked at the authority for five years and after his role at Worcestershire was director of finance at Wiltshire Council from October 2010 to April 2018.
Rook is due to start as s151 at the authority next week. He is currently the director of resources at Worcestershire Children First, which is a company responsible for delivering children’s services across the county.
On his appointment, Rook told Room151: “I joined Worcestershire Children First, which is a wholly owned company of Worcestershire County Council, in June 2019, following a long career in local government finance and various senior finance roles across different organisations in the South West.
“I am really looking forward to working with colleagues and elected members across the council for the benefit of our residents in a challenging time for local government.”
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Before joining Worcestershire Children First, Rook was finance director at local authority trading company Tricuro from July 2015 to June 2019, and before that worked in various roles at Dorset County Council.
Rook has also worked as an independent audit committee member for both the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner since September 2022.
Stephanie Simcox has acted as interim chief financial officer at Worcestershire County Council since Hudson’s departure.
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