Janine Brown, joint director of partnership and commissioning, Sandwell Primary Care Trust

Employer: Sandwell Primary Care Trust
Age: 51
Time in job: Two and a half years
Salary range: £70,000-£80,000

Janine Brown qualified as a nurse 30 years ago and moved into general management about 13 years ago. By 2003, she had become a director of one of the Sandwell primary care trusts and, when that was reorganised, she moved to her present position as joint director of partnership and commissioning for Sandwell Council's children and young people's services.

Because of her background in health, she is still employed by the primary care trust but many of her colleagues are employed by Sandwell Council. Her role is to develop and commission a range of services such as those dealing with teenage pregnancy. Often, the focus is services that would otherwise fall between different agencies. "Our job is really working with service providers to work out what the strategy is, what gaps there are, best practice and service redesign," she says. "My team goes out and makes sure that everyone is working together and looks at what we need to change."