WARWICKSHIRE County Council's chief executive Ian Caulfield is to retire in July.
Mr Caulfield, who was awarded the CBE in the Queen's millennium Birthday Honours for services to local government, has been at the council for 27 years, 18 of them as chief executive.
Married with three sons Mr Caulfield was born and bred in Liverpool where he was a classmate of one of the city's most famous sons, Sir Paul McCartney.
He began his career with Liverpool City Council and had stints in Lancashire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire before coming to Warwickshire.
Mr Caulfield leaves following an audit commission report which classed Warwickshire County Council as "excellent".
He said: "It's something we thought we were and now it's been publicly acknowledged and that's a tribute to the hard work of the staff and their ambition to do their best."
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