Jill Helen Barrow (born 26 April 1951) is a British company director and former

public administrator Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

. She was the chief executive of

Lincolnshire County Council Lincolnshire County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county; the latter additionally includes North Lincolnshire and No ...

from 1995 to 1997, and the first woman to be chief executive of any

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county councils are special purpose ...

in England.

Early life

Jill Helen Barrow was born in Hertfordshire on 26 April 1951, the daughter of Philip Eric Horwood and Mavis Mary, ''née'' Handscombe."Barrow, Jill Helen"
''Who's Who 2017'' (A & C Black; online edition, Oxford University Press, November 2016). Retrieved 13 November 2017. She received a Certificate of Education from the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

in 1972, and then completed a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA) degree at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

in 1980, before returning to Durham and completed a

Master of Education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum an ...

(MEd) course in 1983.

Career

Barrow was a teacher in secondary schools and further education colleges between 1972 and 1986, when she began working in education management and inspection, finally as Head of Policy and Planning at

Cumbria County Council Cumbria County Council was the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Cumbria in the North West of England. Established in April 1974, following its first elections held the previous year, it was an elected local government body re ...

's Department of Education."News in Brief"
'' Herts and Essex Observer'', 22 November 1990, p. 12. In January 1991, she took up the post of Deputy Director of Education at

Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county; the non-metropolitan county excludes Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock which ...

, serving until 1993. In 1993, she was appointed Director of Education at

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Surrey, England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1974 the Conservative Party has held the majority. The leader ...

. There, she managed a department of 10,000 staff and a £314m budget (£665.8m in March 2025 prices), at a time when the county council were implementing changes to the Age of Transfer, which threatened the viability of several small village schools.

Lincolnshire County Council

In 1995, Barrow was appointed Chief Executive of

; she was the first woman to become the chief executive of a

in England.Bonner, Mar
"Meet Our Record Maker"
''

Lincolnshire Echo The ''Lincolnshire Echo'' is a weekly British regional newspaper for Lincolnshire, whose first edition was on Tuesday 31 January 1893, and is published every Thursday. It is owned by Reach PLC and it is distributed throughout the county. The ...

'', 2 August 1995, p. 8. She was appointed by the Labour–

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

coalition that had controlled the county council since

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. Her appointment coincided with a wider reorganisation of officials instigated by he county council's leader, Rob Parker of the Labour Party, which, in the words of the academics Steve Leach and David Wilson, was to "redesign the organisation to respond to the reordered priorities f the new coalitionand ... ensure that top staff were in post who were in tune with the new political agenda."Parker considered Barrow to be a "successful" appointment. She held regular meetings with Parker while also maintaining the relationship between the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups. The

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

took control of the county council in the 1997 local election. Barrow left her role in December 1997,"Top Role Is Advertised"
''

'', 7 September 1998, p. 2. in a move which was reported to have "surprised" staff and many councillors."Council Boss 'Secret Deal'"
''

'', 3 January 1998, p. 2 In a statement drafted jointly with the council, she said she was leaving to pursue consultancy work. The move was "controversial", according to the ''

''; the leader of the Liberal Democrat Group raised concerns about the reasons for her sudden departure and the potential cost of severance payments, while one Labour councillor called for an inquiry. According to Parker, who remained the leader of the Labour group on the council, the Conservative leadership, headed by

Jim Speechley William James Speechley (1936/7 – 19 April 2021) was a British politician. He was a Conservative Party councillor in Crowland and leader of the Lincolnshire County Council. He was appointed a CBE in 1992, which was later stripped after his 2004 ...

, began a "scorched earth" policy of removing coalition appointees from the council's executive. At the time of her departure, the cost of Barrow's departure was kept secret but it was later revealed that Barrow was given a severance payment amounting to £160,000.

KPMG KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...

"Misuse of severance powers"
, ''Lincolnshire County Council: Report in the Public Interest'' (KPMG, 2 May 2002), p. 11. Retrieved 13 November 2017. Auditors later found this payment to be unlawful, Peter Hetherington
"Lincolnshire Tories in disarray"
''The Guardian'', 6 October 2004. Retrieved 13 November 2017. also commenting on the "absence of justification for payments of such magnitude". Speechley was forced to resign as leader in 2002 and was jailed in 2004 over a separate incident, while his successor as leader,

Ian Croft Ian Mitchell CroftDavid Bowles, who had been a whistleblower in the Speechley scandal."Ex-leader banned from authority"
''BBC News'', 31 March 2006. Retrieved 12 November 2017.

Later career

After Barrow left Lincolnshire CC, she worked as an associate fellow at Warwick University Business School. She was appointed Chief Executive of the South-West of England Regional Development Agency, serving between 1999 and 2001. She was a Board Member for England on the National-Lottery-funded

New Opportunities Fund The National Lottery Community Fund, legally named the Big Lottery Fund, is a non-departmental public body responsible for distributing funds raised by the National Lottery for " good causes". It is the largest community funder in the UK and ...

from 1999 to 2004. Barrow was then a director at the consultancy firm GatenbySanderson until 2006, when she took up a directorship at the leadership consultancy company Big Blue Experience.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrow, Jill Living people 1951 births 21st-century English businesswomen 21st-century English businesspeople Alumni of Durham University Alumni of the Open University