Nick Roberts, IMT group manager, partnerships and collaboration at Surrey County Council, was today elected as president of local government ICT representative body Socitm.

Roberts takes over from Mike Halliday, head of IT at Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, who has held the post for the past year.

In his acceptance speech, Roberts said that he wanted to build on the work that Socitm had done in the past year to help to guide the process of council compliance with the Public Services Network.

He said: “At no time previously can I recall so much camaraderie to deal with a challenge.”

Roberts said that his presidential themes for the coming year would be defining the needs of members and building capability to achieve them, building a strong technical vision and developing a “clarity of voice”.

Nadira Hussain, One Oracle programme manager at London boroughs of Havering and Newham, was re-elected as vice president, while Geoff Connell, director of IT at the same two councils, and Nick O’Reilly, director of information systems at Derby City Council, were elected as vice presidents for the first time.

Roberts joined Surrey in 1992 as an IT account manager, with responsibility for the IT department’s relationship with highways, trading standards, fire and rescue, probation and magistrates courts.

He is also programme director for the Surrey and Berkshire Public Services Network “Unicorn”.

Since 2005, he has chaired the southern region of Socitm’s national advisory council, the largest of the organisation’s regions.

Between 1992 and 1996 Roberts studied information technology and social science at the Open University.