Ron Simpson BEM C Mgr FCMI CFCIPD M Ed
Accredited Community Advocate (BTEC)
Chair - Leics and Rutland Association of Local Councils (LRALC)
Trustee and Chair - Community Heartbeat Trust
Executive Director - Community Heartbeat Trust (Solutions) Ltd
Chair and Trustee - CPRE Rutland and Lincolnshire
Member of Uppingham Town Council
Founding President of the Rotary Club of Uppingham
Former Regional Director of the Local Government Management Board
Ron Simpson has over 58 ears public, private and social enterprise management and leadership experience as a community leader, senior manager and volunteer. In Leicestershire he is noted for being the very first in the county to achieve Investor in People status. In Rutland he is known in business circles for being one of the first to achieve the national standard of ‘chartered manager’.
During his period of service as East Midlands Regional Director of the Local Government Management Board (LGMB), Ron was the regional accountable local government lead on employer/employee relations, best management practice and leadership development matters. He also acted as UK lead on public sector re-entry into the European Social Dialogue in Brussels. Ron has extensive experience of vocational qualifications and competence based assessment and, prior to his relocation to the East Midlands, was a Director of the North East Regional Management Centre, the organisation which developed the UK’s first ever competence based distance learning MBA. His own Masters degree is in the field of Equality in Education.
Ron has contributed to the capability and economic performance of a wide range of community and business organisations, including his local Town Council, and is acknowledged as the joint founder and source of energy behind the award winning community partnership Uppingham First. With its Rural Broadband and High Speed Wifi project, this partnership won the East Midlands 2010 Action for Market Towns Award and was regional runner up in the 2010 Enterprising Britain Award. In 2013 the partnership won a further AMT award for the ‘best idea to promote local businesses’ with the Uppingham Webcam Project. In 2014 the partnership achieved one win and three judges’ commendations in the regional Towns Alive Awards and reached the Earls Court final of the 2014 Revive and Thrive competition where judges said Uppingham should have been a member of the judging panel rather than an entrant. In 2015 British High Street Awards Ron’s entry secured a top five market town placing for Uppingham High Street. In January 2020 Ron launched 'UppShop a Cashless Society supported by Rotary, the Co-op Commmunity Fund, Barclays Bank and IT company ClockedIn. In February 2023 Ron drafted and submitted the shortlisted Uppingham First entry into the Let's Celebrate Towns national awards.
Following a successful public referendum and the 'making' of the first Uppingham Neighbourhood Plan its External Examiner Report stated that “The UNP contains ground breaking policy, is the successful result of a major and sustained local business and community effort, and contains some exemplary approaches to neighbourhood planning.”
Ron retired in 2013 as Regional Chair of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) where he was given an Outstanding Contribution Award for his Institute work. In the same year he retired as Treasurer of the (now) GMB Credit Union where he helped, over a five year period, to turn a loss making social enterprise into a profitable organisation paying a market leading dividend. Ron is a Chartered Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the Chartered Management Institute. Until 2010 he was also a voluntary sector representative on the East Midlands Regional Assembly. In 2007 Ron was elected Founding President of the newly created Rotary Club of Uppingham, the first in Rutland to admit women members. In 2011 he, together with his wife, Margaret Simpson BEM, was appointed as the Club’s very first Paul Harris Fellow.
In April 2015 Ron’s work with the Uppingham community was recognised with an award from the High Sheriff of Rutland following a nomination from the Leader of Rutland County Council. In June 2015 Ron was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the Birthday Honours List. In October 2015 Ron was announced as the 2015 winner of the prestigious Rutland BIZ Club Award. At the inaugural East Midlands Women's Awards in October 2017, Ron was awarded a lifetime achievement award for his work supporting women's development. In May 2018 Ron was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development for his exceptional 20 year service to human resources and people development.
In October 2019 Ron was appointed Vice Chair of CPRE Rutland and in July 2021 as Chair of the charity. In April 2025 Ron was elected as the inaugrual Chair of the newly formed, CPRE Rutland and Lincolnshire charity.
Following a number of years working with the Community Heartbeat Trust (CHT) to develop an extensive network of defibrillators in the market town of Uppingham in Rutland, Ron was appointed as a charity Trustee in 2021. At the March 2023 AGM of CHT Ron was appointed its National Chair. In March 2024 Ron was appointed as a board director of Community Heartbeat Solutions Ltd which operates from very pleasant rural offices in Suffolk. He is now leading a restructuring of the company and charity to meet the latest charity commission guidelines. In July 2025 Ron was appointed Executive Director of Community Heartbeat Solutions Limited to complete this work.
In late 2024, at the age of 78, Ron stepped back from a number of his many roles in the Uppingham community to concentrate on the further development of his national and regional charity and council work. An exception is his support for a project to transform Uppingham Post Office into a Community Benefit Society (CBS).
In June 2026 Ron was elected as Chair of the Leicestershire and Rutland Association of Local Councils (LRALC) and as the company's representative on the National Association of Local Councils (NALC).
In his early career Ron was a teacher, community centre leader, university lecturer and trainer. He was first elected as a local councillor at the age of 21 and appointed as a Magistrate in 1985.
Tel: 01572 823465 Mobile: 07710 328469 E-mail and Data Enquiries to: rons@clara.net
Publications include:
CHT Annual Report 2026
CPRE Rutland and Lincolnshire Annual Report 2025
Uppingham 2025
Uppingham Neighbourhood Plan - (Lead Author and Design) - January 2014
A Winning Plan – Councillor Magazine - October 2014
Uppingham Neighbourhood Plan – Local Council Review - November 2014
Engaging Young People in Neighbourhood Planning - April 2015
How to start a Business Forum - August 2015
A guide to Neighbourhood Planning for Parish Councillors (A contributor) June 2017
(A Locality/NALC publication)
Uppingham Town Centre & Business Zones Plan (Lead Author) - August 2017
Uppingham Antiques, Arts, Books and Creative Crafts Trail (ABC Trail) August 2018
Uppingham Community Emergency Plan 2018 - September 2018
Uppingham Household Emergency Card - September 2018
Uppingham Neighbourhood Forum 2018 Review
Neighbourhood Planning Guide to Better Design 2019 - MHCLG/Locality (A Contributor)
Website updated 19.6.2026