Rory Love, a Trustee at Workforce Development Trust (WDT) has been recognised for his service to public and political life with the award of an OBE in the New Year’s Honours List

A councillor on Folkestone & Hythe District Council, Rory has been involved with the Workforce Development Trust since 2015 and was previously a board member for Skills for Justice from 2012.

Rory said: "This is a huge honour, and an unexpected one. Most personal achievements in life are as a result of teamwork. I’ve been very fortunate to work with some outstanding teams of people in my public and political roles. As well as colleagues in local government, this includes exceptionally talented staff and visionary Board Members at the Workforce Development Trust. It is a privilege to serve as a WDT Board Member and Trustee.”

Rory has served for more than 30 years as an elected councillor, holding several senior roles in that time – including the Leader of the Council. Currently, Rory is the Council’s Cabinet Member for Customers, Communications, and Digital Delivery, and is one of the longest serving councillors. His professional background is in banking, where he worked as a customer services manager, before moving to a UK-wide development and training role. He now runs his own consultancy. His background in training and development matches many of WDT’s areas of specialism.

In addition to serving as a local councillor, Rory has also held other unpaid roles in local government: the regional local government employers’ organisation, South East Employers; the National Association of Regional Employers; and the Kent Resource Partnership. He formerly served as the Deputy Chairman of the Kent Probation Board.

WDT CEO, John Rogers said: “We are delighted to see that Rory has been recognised for all of his hard work over the years. We are very aware from his work with WDT how committed and dedicated he is towards public service and are very grateful for all his contributions to our work as a not-for-profit organisation”