Paul McGarry has been the Head of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s (GMCA) Ageing Hub since 2016 and is now Assistant Director of GMCA’s Public Service Reform Directorate. Paul has worked in local government since 1993, working on aging projects since 1997, setting up the Age Friendly Manchester Programme at Manchester City Council in 2009. Under Paul’s leadership, in 2010 Manchester became the first UK city to achieve World Health Organization (WHO) age-friendly status. Paul was a founding member of both the WHO’s Global Network and the UK Network of Age-Friendly Cities andCommunities. Paul is a research fellow at Manchester University. He has been awarded the “United Nations Healthy Ageing 50” title for his work as a leader in the field. Paul was also awarded the “Outstanding Achievement Award” by the British Society of Gerontology for his ‘significant and lasting contribution to gerontology’. In June 2024, Paul contributed to a book with colleagues from Manchester University’s Urban Ageing Research Group called “Re-imagining Age-Friendly Communities: Urban Ageing and Spatial Justice”.