Exceptional council staff who have made a significant difference to residents, colleagues and services have been celebrated at the annual Brent Excellence Awards.
Held on Thursday 8 October in Brent Civic Centre’s Grand Hall, the awards recognised remarkable contributions across Brent over the past year, highlighting the people and teams whose work is helping to improve services and make a difference to residents.
Ryan Hamilton in his role as Innovation Lead for Digital Strategy was named Employee of the Year for his vision and leadership in creating The Base, Brent’s new innovation hub. Ryan turned an ambitious idea into a space where staff can test new ideas, share knowledge and develop creative solutions to complex challenges. His work is helping to change the way the council approaches service improvement, transformation and problem-solving.
The Complaints Team won both Team of the Year and the Collaboration Champions Award, after navigating major management changes, a sharp rise in workload and increasingly complex cases. Through strong teamwork and resilience, the team maintained service standards, improved processes and continued to provide high-quality support to residents and colleagues.
Among the other winners, Jahirul Choudhury, Robert French and Sarika Hirani received Above and Beyond Recognition awards, while Ed Shaw and Rahulan Rajendran were recognised in the Bold Ideas category. Matt Koller and Will Holt received Change Catalyst awards, and Katie Shevas was named a Collaboration Champion.
Ozgur Dogus, Nomusa Machila and Jessica Morgan-Ray won Early Careers awards, while Louisa Housen, Omari Gayle and Thomas Mabey received Community Impact awards. Maya Shah O’Callaghan received the Environmental Leadership Award, and Helen Spedding and Amy Williams won Inclusive Leader awards.
Melissa Brackley and Zorba Emelonye received Leadership awards. Service Impact awards went to John McKinley, Naziur Choudhury, Katie Turner and Amelia O’Keefe, alongside the Carpenders Park Lawn Cemetery Response Team, the STS On-Site IT Team and the Policy and Subsidy Team.
Colleagues marking 25 and 40 years at Brent were also honoured with Long Service Awards, recognising their decades of commitment, knowledge and public service.
