Will McLean

Will McLean has extensive career experience of working across the public and private sectors in Wales. He has worked at a senior level at local, regional, and national government and has experience of working and leading peer work.

He is currently Strategic Director, Learning, Skills and Economy at Monmouthshire County Council. In this role he leads the county’s 35 schools and a range of other services to support children and young people as well as leading Economy, Employment and Skills area. Prior to taking on the responsibility for the education service he was the programme director for the authority following a critical inspection report. The authority came out of special measures and received a positive report in 2020. During his tenure, the authority has delivered a £90m programme of new school builds and also rationalised and modernised its provision for children with additional learning needs, particularly those with emotional and social behaviour needs. He also leads the Authority’s Emergency Planning service. He has led a range of corporate services in Monmouthshire including strategic planning, performance management, policy development and democratic services.

Before his arrival in Monmouthshire, he led a programme of public service reform in the Welsh Government. The focus of his role was to promote greater collaboration across the Welsh public service.

His experience of local government was formed working for the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) as a corporate improvement lead. This role involved supporting local authorities across Wales become more adept at facing leadership challenges and ensuring that good governance was the centre of their work. He co-managed the Welsh Government’s intervention board in an authority as it recovered from a highly critical social services review.

During his time at the WLGA he established and led a series of financial and corporate peer reviews. These had the aim of assessing authority’s preparedness for the financial challenges of the medium term and the transformational capability of the organisation.

His career started as a public service specialist in PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He worked in both assurance and advisory services across England and Wales.