Member Article

Newcastle man lands leading role with global agile consortium

Agile Business Consortium, the not-for-profit body which champions Agile business thinking, has appointed Geof Ellingham as its new Chair.

Based in Newcastle, Geof has spent 30 years in technology and education, and now runs his own Agile business consultancy.

Prior to this he was Head of IT at Your Homes Newcastle, which is responsible for managing council homes for Newcastle City Council.

An early convert to Agile as a developer in the 1990s, Geof says he rediscovered this enthusiasm acting as Agile coach for the Council’s digital transformation programme.

He takes over from Steve Messenger who, alongside Chief Executive Mary Henson and the board, has overseen the growth of the Consortium, and the birth of the Agile Project Management (AgilePM) training course and qualification.

Commenting on his appointment, Geof Ellingham said: “Businesses face an unparalleled period of change, so this is the right time for us to bring business agility to more organisations.

This means both developing innovative new products and services, and building new relationships with like-minded individuals and groups in the business agility arena.

“Organisations, whether in the private or public sector, need to have access to a comprehensive toolkit of Agile products and guidance that can help them transform how they operate, and respond to the day-to-day changes they are experiencing.

“A huge thank you must go to Steve Messenger whose stewardship and guidance has helped lay such solid foundations for the Agile Business Consortium, and who was instrumental in the creation of AgilePM, the world’s most popular Agile project management framework.

“His legacy to the Agile community is enormous, and it’s a privilege for me to follow him and champion the take-up of business agility globally.”