Neil Okninski

Neil Okninski joined Local Partnerships in September 2013, having previously spent over 15 years advising on PFI/PPP transactions.

His time in financial advisory was spent predominantly working for local authority clients in the schools, social housing, and emergency services sectors, with a primary focus on Wales and the South West of England.

Neil also spent time on secondment at the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO, now DE&S) and in the Middle East, developing business plans for the Qatar Foundation.

At Local Partnerships, Neil has worked across a number of business areas, always with a focus on supporting local authority clients while engaging at departmental levels.

Having led a programme of operational savings reviews on Home Office PFI projects, Neil then spent time building our bespoke financial model as part of feasibility work for local authority renewables projects under the Green Growth Wales (now the Welsh Government Energy Service) programme. He subsequently acted as the Welsh Government’s Finance Lead on the Mutual Investment Model (MIM) branch of their Sustainable Communities for Learning programme.

Neil now serves as our relationship lead with the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) PFI Centre of Excellence, as well as supporting individual authorities across all sectors.

Neil remains particularly proud of his role supporting the Welsh Government and all 22 local authorities in both developing the WEPCo model and the subsequent delivery of MIM educational facilities — a significant achievement ahead of what may yet become a new era for PPP in the rest of the UK. The lessons learned from this programme continue to inform ongoing operational PFI support.