Susanne Millar

Susanne Miller, who is currently chief officer of Glasgow’s Health and Social Care Partnership, will replace Annemarie O’Donnell, who announced earlier this year that she was stepping down from the biggest local government role in Scotland after more than 30 years working for the city.

It is anticipated Ms Miller will start to take on some of the duties of chief executive almost immediately, with a full handover complete before Annemarie retires in early May.

 Ms Miller has spent her entire career working in social work and social care services in the city, then moving into work in integrated health and social work service. She started her career in residential care for older people, then working with vulnerable children and families.

After holding strategy and planning roles, she became the head of children’s services and head of homelessness and asylum services.

In 2012, Ms Miller became assistant director of social work services in Glasgow, then chief officer for planning, strategy & commissioning for the newly-formed Glasgow City HSCP, promoted in 2019 to the chief officer role within the HSCP, leading the team of 13,000 staff working across health and social work.

Commenting on the appointment, leader of the Council Susan Aitken said: “We were lucky to have a really strong set of candidates demonstrating the real breadth of talent we have in the city, with deep personal commitment to improving the lives of Glaswegians. I’m very grateful to all of them.

“However I’m delighted that we have appointed Susanne Millar, who will bring dynamism, energy and passion to the chief executive’s office.

“Susanne has been a superb chief officer of Glasgow HSCP, driving real reforms which have delivered outcomes such as a major reduction in rough sleeping and a transformation in our approach to supporting vulnerable children and families.

“She comes with a deep understanding of the damage inflicted on so many Glaswegian households by austerity and the urgency of lifting people out of poverty but that alone does not define her vision of Glasgow.

“She also knows that there are incredibly positive things happening within Glasgow’s economy right now; with record levels of investment, and that our shared challenge is to mobilise partnerships across the city to translate that into better lives and places for all Glaswegians, especially those who need it most.

“My experience of working with Susanne over the past few years has already shown me what an impressive person she is and I’m really looking forward to continuing to work with her as she takes this next step in her career and builds on the very strong legacy that Annemarie leaves behind her.”

Susanne Miller added: “I’m both delighted and really honoured to take on this role. I’ve known and worked closely with Annemarie for many years, and I think everybody understands she’s going to leave very big boots to fill - but I can’t wait to get started.

“As a Glaswegian, I’ve been privileged to spend my whole career working for the people and the communities of my hometown.

“I’ve enjoyed working with a really dedicated team at the Health and Social Care Partnership and I couldn’t be more proud of them and the job they do for the city, day in and day out. “