There's a saying in Stockport town hall, said half jokingly, that working at the council is a passport to the corridors of power in Manchester.

It's only a half joke because two recent two chief executives at Stockport council both went on to lead the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).

One of those was the late Eamonn Boylan, a man credited as being an architect of change for the city-region.

The other was Caroline Simpson, whose career saw her lead the transformation of Stockport town centre into one of the country's best corners to live and work.

Simpson joined the GMCA in 2024, and is reportedly set for a job leading the Number 10 of the north, part of Andy Burnham's plan to wrestle power away from London and bring some of it to Manchester.

Sources in Greater Manchester say Simpson is the perfect person for the job which would sit at the heart of a Burnham government and has been tipped to 'rewire' the British state as we know it.

"What Caroline brings is that she's a fantastic networker, and she's very warm," said David Meller, a councillor who worked closely alongside Caroline Simpson in Stockport.

"She brings an attitude where she's really outcome driven, and I think that's why she's worked really well with Andy Burnham. She's all about delivery."

Councillor Meller was first elected in 2018 and went on to serve as cabinet member for regeneration in Stockport, just as the town's transformation was really picking up speed.

Caroline Simpson was appointed Stockport council's chief executive in December 2021, having previously served as deputy.

She took over leading Stockport council at a time when the borough had been under no overall control politically for a decade.

In fact, it was only this May at the local elections that the Lib Dems swept to power and gained a majority grip of the council.

So Caroline Simpson worked in an environment where relationships, compromise, and consensus was perhaps the most important part of her job – all traits which would be hugely important in the heart of government.

Coun Meller said: "She just wants to get the best outcome for people and the organisation that she's working for, and to make progress and deliver."

The Labour councillor believes it was Simpson's record in Stockport which helped her progress to the GMCA, along with a knack for overcoming problems.

He added: "She would drive a very hard bargain to deliver what's needed, and deliver it well.

"I think she's canny enough to deal with the politics of going into a job like Number 10, I think she can see that in order to get stuff through you have got to work to build consensus and look for common ground across the political divide, and that's only going to help her.

"She led on much of the regeneration and the MDC [mayoral development corporation], she was on top of things and across the detail, rarely anything would ever slip past her.

"Do not underestimate her either, she has that record of delivery."

Caroline Simpson has enjoyed a varied career in and out of public service. She studied Japanese and business at John Moores University in Liverpool, a city which she admits she 'really wanted' to stay in after graduating.

As it happened, she applied for a job at the Granby Toxteth taskforce, an initiative set up after riots in inner-city Liverpool.

Speaking to We Built This City podcast about the experience, Simpson said: "It was a really small project that was about connecting the business community along the waterfront in the south of the city, with the community, particularly with schools.

"That lit the fire in my belly really, about how actually connections in communities, particularly the voluntary sector and the business sector coming together for the good of a place, it sounds a bit tripe but it really did light something in me, and I absolutely loved it, and then worked in regeneration, development, placemaking, public service all my career."

She admitted in an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service last year she almost fell into a career in the public service.

"Like most young people, I fell into my first job which happened to be in the public sector. It was when I started to really work hard and feel very committed to what I was doing.

"I am a proud public servant. I'm absolutely an advocate for a rewarding career in public service where you can end a very, very busy day genuinely knowing you've made an impact. It sounds a bit twee, but you have had an impact on people's lives. That's massively rewarding."

Regeneration jobs followed in the Black Country and Warrington, before a move to a Staffordshire housing association, and then on to Cheshire East council.

In 2016, she became Stockport council's economic growth director. Six years later, she was named its chief executive.

She took on the role of leading Stockport council as a £1bn regeneration scheme was getting started.

This was powered through what is known as a mayoral development corporation (MDC) – a partnership between local leaders and the mayor of Greater Manchester, which was then Andy Burnham.

MDCs have spread around Greater Manchester in recent years, and have been praised as a model for success – and one that some think could be a blueprint for towns across the UK in an Andy Burnham government.

Caroline Simpson crossed the River Mersey in 2024 to join the GMCA, a move which also put her in charge of managing the day-to-day operation of the Bee Network.

It's a role that saw her working closely with former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who pledged to bring buses back under local control and delivered on his promise.

While Burnham has been lauded for the work, especially capping the price of single fares at £2, its success really depended on Caroline Simpson, who worked away quietly behind the scenes to get it done.

And listening to Simpson speaking about her work in Greater Manchester, it's easy to understand how she may be closely aligned with Burnham in many areas.

Manchesterism – that idea about putting the interests of people and place above all else – comes up in much of her thinking.

"I think it's very much building on what has been done over decades in Greater Manchester, that has always thought about people and place together," she said on the We Built This City podcast.

"It's never been about shiny buildings for the sake of it, it's always been about how we create prosperity for our residents.

"I think the next decade and the absolute core of the Greater Manchester strategy, is to make sure that growth reaches every part of Greater Manchester first and foremost."

Simpson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service last year that Andy Burnham was 'brilliant to work with', praising his 'energy' and 'ambition', the latter of which she said she shares.

The Good Growth Fund too is an area where Caroline Simpson has been credited for driving forward.

In late 2025, the first pot of cash from the fund, £400m, was approved to flow into 17 development projects across the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester.

The idea was to keep private investment pouring into the city, taking away some of the difficulties of construction costs and inflation that could be barriers to growth.

It is a move which Simpson has spoken about 'fuelling' Greater Manchester's success, and the enormous transformation that has taken place in some parts of the region in the past few decades.

The importance of good growth is one that Andy Burnham has repeatedly turned to as well. After his pitch at the People's History Museum in Manchester this week to rebalance power all across the UK, he tweeted: "Good growth in every postcode and hope in every heart."

New data released by think tank Centre for Cities recently found that Manchester grew faster than the rest of the country over the last decade.

The city powered ahead of civic rivals, with an economy which grew by more than 34 per cent between 2013 and 2023, ahead of other 'top performers' such as Bristol, Leeds, and Newcastle.

Caroline Simpson played a key role in that success, first at Stockport, and at the GMCA.

As the old saying in Stockport town hall goes, the borough has become a well trodden path to Manchester, as Simpson herself has been part of.

That journey could soon see her directing the heart of government in the Number 10 of the north.

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