Marvin Rees

Marvin Rees
2nd Mayor of Bristol
Assumed office
7 May 2016
Preceded by George Ferguson
Personal details
Born Marvin Johnathan Rees
April 1972
Nationality British
Political party Labour

Marvin Johnathan Rees (born April 1972) is a British Labour Party politician. Since May 2016, he has served as Mayor of Bristol.

Early life and education

Marvin Rees was brought up in Bristol, partly in Lawrence Weston and Easton, by his British mother and Jamaican father.[1][2] He obtained a Masters in Political Theory and Government at the University of Wales in Swansea, and also a Masters in Global Economic Development at Eastern University (United States) in 2000.[1] Later he completed the World Fellows Program at Yale University.[3] During a fellowship he assisted Tony Campolo, an advisor to President Bill Clinton.[1]

Community involvement

Rees is the Founder and Programme Lead at The Bristol Leadership Programme, a two-week program that will help a dozen people annually from impoverished backgrounds to reach their aspirations.[4][5] He was also a member of the Bristol Legacy Commission which dispursed its funds and ceased operating in April, 2012.[6][7] and a former Director of the Bristol Partnership whose goals are to make Bristol's prosperity sustainable, reduce health and wealth inequality, build stronger and safer communities, and raise the aspirations and achievements of young people and families.[8]

Career

Rees has worked in diverse areas throughout his career. He was a freelance journalist and radio presenter at BBC Radio Bristol & Ujima Radio.[9] He was the Communications and Events Manager at Black Development Agency (now Phoenix Social Enterprise), an agency devoted to empowering individuals and communities through opportunities to work abroad.[10]

Marvin Rees was employed in the city of Bristol as the Programme Manager for race equality in mental health issues at NHS Bristol.[11] His experiences in the United States included work as an outreach assistant at the Sojourners Community and as a Youth Co-ordinator at Tearfund.[12]

Political career

In 2012, selected by an individual ballot of Labour Party members in the city, Rees defeated four other candidates including the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labour group in Bristol and a former Member of Parliament.[3]

On 5 May 2016, Rees was elected Mayor of Bristol. He received 56,729 voted in the first round and 12,021 transfer votes in the second round, meaning that he received 68,750 votes overall.[13][14]

Rees' term of office started with a £60 million budget deficit to 2020, and in August 2016 Rees instigated a voluntary severance programme aimed at reducing 1,000 from the council's 6,970 employees.[15]

Personal life

Marvin Rees, who describes himself as the mixed-race son of a Jamaican father and white single mother,[16] is married with three children and lives in Easton in Bristol.[17][18]

References

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