John Tizard

John Tizard (born 1954, in Colchester) is Director of the Centre for Public Service Partnerships at Birmingham University.

The Centre has been established to:

•be the leading source of authoritative, evidence based advice on public service partnerships for government, the wider public sector, the third sector and the corporate sector, academics and other stakeholders•undertake and actively disseminate leading academic research on an international basis on public service partnerships and other forms of strategic alliances between public sector organisations; and those organisations and the business and third sectors•act a major link between the academic, policy and practitioner communities•offer a forum for dialogue and debate between the sectors on the best ways to deliver effective outcomes through partnership

The Centre is a joint initiative between the University’s Business School and its School of Public Policy. The Centre will work with others to challenge orthodoxy, identify successes, understand what works and why and propose new solutions. It will focus on practical advice and guidance drawn from rigorous research.

John took up this appointment in January 2008. Previously he was Group Director of Government and Business Engagementat for The Capita Group plc for Capita. He supported Capita's public and private sector market facing businesses; its public services strategy; and its management of the associated regulatory, legislation and policy issues . He was an executive adviser to the CBI’s Public Services Strategy Board and chair of its Public Services Employment Advisory Group. Previously he has worked in the public sector and charity fields and he has risen to prominence as a proponent of cross-over between the public and private fields.

Prior to joining Capita in 1997, he worked in the voluntary sector and latterly was Director of Strategy and Policy at Scope.

John has had over 18 years' experience as a Labour county councillor and was for eight years the joint leader of Bedfordshire County Council. He resigned as a councillor in the spring of 1999 in order to concentrate on his work at Capita. He has had board experience with the NHS (community care trust), police authority, school governing body (as chair), a national housing association, and voluntary sector, as well as serving on local government committees at a European level.

John Tizard is a Trustee of the Adventure Capital Fund.