Debbie Ward ready to take up role as Dorset County Council's chief executive

Debbie Ward will lead the local authority which has a budget of more than £670million and employs around 15,000 staff across the county.

She is stepping up from director for adult and community services and takes over from David Jenkins who is retiring after 13 years in the post on a salary of £164,306. With experience of working for unitary, district and London borough councils, she will lead the council at a time of huge change in the public sector as purse strings are tightened.

The mother of two started her career as an environmental health officer and has experience of a wide range of services including housing, community safety and social care.

She was corporate director of housing and community care at Reading Borough Council before taking up her director’s role in Dorset in May 2010.

“I will take up the job with enthusiasm and a clear sense of responsibility for the leadership I will need to show as we rise to the significant challenges of the coming years,” she said.

Mr Jenkins, who was the longest serving chief executive in Dorset, arrived in 1989 as deputy county solicitor, taking the top job in 1999.

He said: “It has been a great privilege to have been chief executive of the county council in this very special county for the last 13 years.

“I am delighted to be passing on to Debbie Ward, who I know will do an admirable job of taking the council forward in the next stage of its development.”

Council leader, Cllr Angus Campbell, paid tribute to both, saying Mr Jenkins had “served the county splendidly” and Debbie Ward will “continue the tradition of outstanding chief executives serving Dorset County Council and the people of Dorset”.