Nita Clarke

Nita Clarke is the Director of the Involvement and Participation Association (IPA), Britain's leading organisation delivering workplace support for good employment and industrial relations.   She was vice-chair of the MacLeod Review on employee engagement and continues to work with David MacLeod on the new national Employee Engagement task force, launched by Prime Minister David Cameron in March 2011.

She was appointed as Vice-President (employee relations) by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development in January 2012, and is a visiting Fellow at Kingston University Business School.  She was also a member of the Mutuals Task Force established by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude in 2011.

She was formerly the adviser on trade unions to Prime Minister Tony Blair, working as assistant political secretary in the Political Office at 10 Downing Street from January 2001 to June 2007.  Her role included liaison with individual unions and the TUC, developing national policy in areas such as the two-tier workforce and work-life balance, supporting ministers by trouble-shooting in industrial disputes.  Nita was a senior official with public services union UNISON from 1992 -2001.  She is the author of the report, The way forward: trade unions and the third sector, commissioned by ACEVO.

Nita was awarded the OBE for services to employee engagement and business in the Queen's birthday honours list 2013.