Thank you, Keith McCallum

This is Blog no 54

Colleagues in the Consultation Institute and throughout the public engagement and consultation community will today be saddened by the news of the death of   Keith McCallum.

He joined the Institute in January 2016 with a principal brief to look after the financial and commercial side of the business. He became the classic ‘back-room-boy’ ensuring that the business operations ran smoothly, and that the Institute’s unique know-how and leadership was disseminated and deployed to hundreds of clients. With unassuming diligence and professionalism, he conscientiously led its activities between 2019 and 2022, and was respected by everyone in the field.

“He succeeded largely by developing and maintaining a great relationship both with the team in Biggleswade and the wider Associate community. He had the priceless gift of being able to talk with anyone and secure their confidence within seconds. Institute members, clients, colleagues – even the tCI Board, all saw Keith as a friend, not just a business colleague.”

These words come from the citation used by the Institute when awarding him its Fellowship in 2022. All its previous Fellows had been public consultation experts who had provided years of advice or training. But Keith’s expertise was in making things work – and he had learnt so much about client needs and anxieties that, in a quiet unobtrusive way, he provided real leadership – especially during the periods of home-working and the challenges of covid lockdowns.

On a personal basis, those of us who knew Keith recognised the immense fortitude of someone battling ill-health for years. Never once did I hear him complain and his supreme optimism and good humour saw him through successive periods of innovative treatment and therapies at Addenbrookes, Cambridge, Oxford and latterly in Scotland.

We extend to Lynda, his daughters and their families, our heartfelt condolences for a loss of a wonderful man whom we will also hugely miss.

Rhion H Jones LL.B

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