Kathy O’Leary is the Chief Executive of Stroud District Council in Gloucestershire. She has worked in Local Government for over 35 years, for councils in Hampshire, Surrey and, since 2018, Gloucestershire. Kathy studied at the Universities of Leeds and Liverpool. She is a geographer by background and a town planner by profession, which sparked her early interest in place shaping and working to address and adapt to climate change. She was attracted to Stroud’s strong independent spirit, green credentials and fabulous natural environment well before the Sunday Times identified it in 2021 as the best place to live in the UK. Stroud District Council was in the first handful to declare a climate change and ecological emergency and is working towards the challenge of achieving a carbon neutral district. Kathy has experience of working in a politically complex environment as Stroud District Council has been No Overall Control since 2012, and is now a minority Green administration working in a committee system. She is working with her third female Leader, the first was a Labour councillor and the other two both Green Party councillors. Kathy is the Solace spokesperson for the Environment and Climate Change portfolio and is the South West Chief Executive lead on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.