HMRC finalises top team with appointment of 3 Directors General (including one they poached from the ATO)

HMRC’s new top team has been finalised, with the appointment today of three Directors General, and following the recruitment of two Executive Committee members earlier this year.

It is the result of an extensive recruitment campaign that considered candidates from within the Department and the wider Civil Service, as well as the private sector and internationally.

The new appointments are:

Jennie Granger, currently Second Commissioner at the Australian Tax Office, appointed as HMRC’s new Director General (DG) for Enforcement & Compliance

Ruth Owen, currently Work Services Director and Deputy Chief Operating Officer at the Department for Work and Pensions, appointed as DG for Personal Tax

Nick Lodge, currently Personal Tax Change Director and HMRC Change Director, appointed as DG for Benefits & Credits for the next 15 months

Earlier this month, Edward Troup was named as HMRC’s Tax Assurance Commissioner, and Jim Harra took over as DG for Business Tax in February 2012.

The creation of the new Executive team has seen two internal promotions, two appointments from elsewhere in the Civil Service and one international recruitment. It means that HMRC’s top team now has four members with deep tax knowledge and another with experience of large-scale customer service operations. This is in addition to the experience and expertise that remains with the Corporate Function Directors General.

It is expected that all five recruits to the Executive Committee will serve as HMRC Commissioners, which means they will be responsible for providing leadership to the Department as a whole, and for delivering the objectives and targets set by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

HMRC Chief Executive Lin Homer said: “I’m delighted to have completed the important task of assembling a new top team. Jennie Granger, Ruth Owen and Nick Lodge are exceptionally-experienced and expert public servants and it’s a pleasure to welcome them on to ExCom.

“The new top team strikes an ideal balance between a fresh, outside perspective and deep understanding of tax and experience of HMRC’s work.
“The appointments made this year fill critical roles in succession to Dave Hartnett, Mike Eland, Stephen Banyard and Steve Lamey, and we are planning a handover that will capture the knowledge, skills and experience of our retiring DGs.”
Jim Harra is already in post, Nick Lodge will take up his new role in early August, Edward Troup in late August, Ruth Owen will join HMRC in early September and Jennie Granger is expected to be in post by October.

More detailed bios are shown below:

Jennie Granger

Jennie has been a Second Commissioner (currently Law) with the Australian Tax Office (ATO) for ten years. Most of her career has been in a range of senior positions within the ATO and Australian Civil Service, previously serving on secondment as Deputy Secretary to the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and for seven years as Second Commissioner Compliance.
Jennie has wide experience and is regarded as an expert in both domestic and international tax administration and is a member of the International Monetary Fund Panel of Tax Administration Experts. In 2009 she was awarded an Australian Public Service Medal for ‘outstanding public service in administration of taxation in Australia and internationally’, in part for bringing greater openness and transparency to ATO compliance activities.
Jennie is also a part-time member of the Clean Energy Regulator and, as part of the Australian Public Service’s Top 200, contributes to the strategic leadership of the APS through a range of committee memberships and activities. She is also a member of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Law School Advisory Committee.

Ruth Owen

Ruth is currently Work Services Director and Deputy Chief Operating Officer at the DWP. She was previously Chief Operating Officer in Jobcentre Plus and has operated at Board level for more than seven years, balancing both strategic and delivery roles. Ruth started her career in the civil service as a National Insurance Inspector and has wide-ranging experience within DWP on policy, projects and Minister’s private office. She has spent two spells in the private sector on secondment, most recently in PC World in 2005-6. Ruth has spent the last year as Head of Profession for Operational Delivery in DWP.

Nick Lodge

Nick is currently Personal Tax Change Director and HMRC Change Director and has held a range of other senior management and project roles within HMRC, including Director for Debt Management & Banking, Programme Director for Tax Credits and Child Benefit and Director of Customer Contact. In his early years, he worked in policy, HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office. He joined the Inland Revenue in 1990 after ten years in retail banking.