The chief executive of Harrogate Borough Council has been appointed an Order of the British Empire in Her Majesty the Queen’s new year’s honours.
It is in recognition of Wallace Sampson’s services to business and the community in Yorkshire.
Mr Sampson joined Harrogate Borough Council at the beginning of August 2008. He has worked in local government for over 35 years.
He started his local government career with Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council and has also worked at Chesterfield Borough Council, Kirklees MBC and City of Braford MDC.
At Bradford MDC, he was strategic director customer services and assistant chief executive for regeneration and the environment, where he helped to support regeneration programmes in some of the most deprived communities.
Wallace is passionate about public service delivery and the need to work within partnerships to join up service delivery. He has previously led work to create one stop shop services in Kirklees and in 2004 developed what was at the time England’s largest multi-agency one-stop shop in Bradford.
He has devoted his career to public service and over the years he has worked extensively with partners to ensure a strong focus on customers, residents, businesses and visitors to the district.
This is reflected in a number of external responsibilities to Harrogate Council.
He chairs the Harrogate district Public Services Leadership Board and is a member of the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership Executive Board.
He is lead chief executive for the Leeds City Region LEP ‘clean energy’ priority and he is also lead local authority chief executive in Yorkshire and Humber for energy and low carbon.
Wallace Sampson OBE, chief executive, Harrogate Borough Council, said:
I am absolutely delighted to receive this award. It is a real privilege, and I am flattered to have been nominated.
The news is still sinking in. I suspect it will become ‘real’ when I attend the investiture ceremony.
In receiving this recognition, I would also wish to pay tribute to the support that I have received from councillors, colleagues and partners over the years.
Councillor Richard Cooper, leader of the council, said:
Wallace has dedicated his life to public service, and this is much-deserved recognition of that.
Anyone who has met Wallace knows that he is dedicated to providing services which improve and enrich people’s lives.
In Harrogate, he has done that for over ten years but has a distinguished career in other councils prior to that.
But Wallace is much more than a Chief Executive.
He is an enthusiast for everything he does, a role model to others, someone who makes things happen and sees solutions where others see problems.
And to top all of that he is a thoroughly nice person.
I am thrilled for Wallace and his family. It’s great news for the start of 2020.
