Nottingham Business School Business Leaders · 2026-05-19 · 24 min
Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 81 Kate Butler - Leaders must be curious SUMMARY Kate Butler is the deputy managing director of Via East Midlands. She is also an expert on the complex challenge of maintaining Britain’s crumbling roads. As a senior executive at Via, she oversees an £87 million turnover and a workforce of 700 staff dedicated - among many other things - to filling Nottinghamshire’s potholes. In episode 81 of the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast, she offers a candid look at the "sharp end" of public service, managing a daunting £400m maintenance backlog amidst tightening financial constraints. Reflecting on a career that has spanned more than a dozen different roles at Nottinghamshire County Council, Kate explains how she transitioned from an international banking graduate training scheme, to become a cornerstone of local infrastructure planning. She tells Honorary Visiting Professor Mike Sassi that effective leadership in the public sector is defined by transparency and the ability to assess competing regional needs.
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