Sir Richard Leese grew up in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. After graduating in Mathematics at the University of Warwick, he worked as a maths teacher before moving to Manchester to take up a post as a youth worker. He was employed in various roles including youth work, community work, and education research between 1979 – 1988.
Elected to Manchester City Council as a Labour councillor in 1984, Sir Richard then became its leader in 1996. He was awarded a CBE in 2001 and then a knighthood for services to local government in the 2006 Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
Sir Richard was one of the signatories to the city-region’s health devolution deal with Government in 2015. He chaired Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership from March 2020 until becoming chair of NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care. Since its inception, Sir Richard chaired Manchester’s Health and Wellbeing board, which plans health and social care services for the city. He was also chair of Manchester, Salford, and Trafford Health Action Zone, which brought together partners to tackle health inequalities.
Sir Richard is a strong advocate for addressing the wider determinants of health and is resolute that partnership working is key to this and in paving the way for wider public service reform.