Martin Parlett has been appointed as the new Head of the Programme Management Office. He assumes office on
Monday April 1, 2019.
A leader in the field of portfolio and programme management, Martin is currently managing the establishment of the Enterprise Portfolio Office together with the portfolio and programme management framework, for a significant and complex government subsidiary in the UK, with an annual budget in excess of £2bn. Martin marries strategic vision and business understanding, to build and sustain motivated teams with the appetite and momentum for change.
Calling upon his expert communication and stakeholder engagement skills, Martin creates meaningful visions for programmes and portfolios, building coalitions of confidence from internal, regulatory and government stakeholders.
He has led the authorship of major capital and programme business cases, approved by BEIS and HM Treasury. He has established a new way of understanding and reporting project and programme delivery within the broader context of Enterprise strategy and government outcomes; he is able to integrate business intelligence aspects to articulate a holistic context to inform proactive senior decision making. Before his current role, Martin was responsible for the programme management integration for one of the UK’s highest risk and hazard reduction programmes, establishing best practice arrangements.
Prior to his work in the nuclear sector, Martin worked as a campaign manager for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential
campaign in Virginia, establishing new strategic approaches and communication initiatives that were adopted at the
national level. His efforts were recognised in a personal letter of thanks from the future President. This experience
influenced Martin’s academic work in the fields of politics, communication and race studies, and he published his first book “Demonizing a President: The Foreignization of Barack Obama” in 2014. In the UK, he is a trustee and director of a charity focused on alleviating acute social need and homelessness, as well as being a Chair of Governors. In 2018, Martin was named as one of the Confederation of British Industry’s ‘35 Under 35’, and serves on its committee.
Martin received his MA from the University of Oxford, where – together with his wife Lydia – he received an Oxford Leadership Prize. He was subsequently awarded a Canadian Rhodes Foundation Scholarship for his postgraduate research at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Martin holds qualifications in Managing Successful Programmes (MSP), the Management of Portfolios (MoP), and Portfolio, Programme and Project Office Management (P30).
Martin’s wife, Lydia, a secondary school educator, and their daughters Arabella (3) and Cordelia (1), look forward to participating in island life. When asked about this new opportunity, he said, “It is with great pride and enthusiasm that I accept the position of Head of Programme Management Office for the Government of Montserrat. This role emerges at a threshold moment for the Emerald Isle, and I look forward to building a dynamic and strategically-driven PMO to maximise the Government’s return on investment, whilst enabling the effective execution of transformational programmes for the benefit of all Montserratians. I look forward to collaborating with colleagues
across government departments and beyond to build a sustainable path for successful project, programme and portfolio delivery on the island, building confidence for new investments in the future.”
