Member Board of Trustees

• Jul 2022 - Present

Retired - seeking volunteer consultancy

• Nov 2021 - Present

When you work in the charity sector you never have time to volunteer - I'm looking for a trustee level challenge to utilise my diverse, proven expertise When you work in the charity sector you never have time to volunteer - I'm looking for a trustee level challenge to utilise my diverse, proven expertise

About to retire from

• Oct 2021 - Nov 2021

Executive Director

• Apr 2017 - Oct 2021

Chief Executive Officer

• Mar 2008 - Jul 2016

Makaton is the leading specialist language programme in the UK supporting speech and language development. Used globally through partnership arrangements, it has 1,100 licensed tutors and approximately 100,000 users in the UK alone. I was appointed to take the charity from a small founder managed business to a major force in its field, a direct condition of significant social investment funds from Futurebuilders England. Selected Achievements: • Transforming the charity initially from a language developer to a service delivery charity and finally to a market-led social enterprise. • Boosting the charity’s finances through brand enhancement, customer focused products and by winning more than £400k grant funding, counteracting as much as possible the budgetary cuts in the charity’s key markets: education, health and social care. • Scaling the charity’s infrastructure for growth, successfully relocating it to larger, fit-for-purpose premises, introducing improved governance and board support, financial management, proactive customer service, digital marketing, user led products and services, and rigorous project management systems. • Successfully delivering two reorganisations in line with strategic change: a) Developing the management and staff team skills, improving productivity and building project-responsive capacity including volunteers, reducing staff expenditure by 16% while increasing the range of services and products delivered. b) Growing the number of tutors delivering training and support from 400 to over 1,100; expanding the use of Makaton in education, health and social care; empowering families in home use and encouraging practitioner and family led innovations. • Adding value through UK and overseas partnerships, such as enhancing the charity’s relationship with the BBC on the award-winning Something Special television programme (and spin-offs). Show less

Commercial Director

• Apr 2004 - Nov 2007

This was my first executive leadership role in the third sector. Connect is a charity created to help adults dealing with acquired communication difficulty (aphasia) after stroke. This was a new role which allowed me to bring my commercial skills to a charity. Selected Achievements: • Raised more than £1m at a key event organised at the National Portrait Gallery which led to securing the interest and significant support by a prominent foundation which encouraged other funders. • Built profitable partnerships with stroke care units across the country, enabling the sale of thousands of copies of the Stroke Handbook, at £25 per copy. • Expanded all commercial training and publishing activities supported by enhanced marketing and direct sales. increasing income and reputation. • Raised the charity’s fundraising capacity by building a new team, and diversifying its methods. • Successfully delivering the Acting Resourcing Director role during the incumbent’s maternity leave, including closing the Annual Accounts and writing the Trustees’ Annual Report. Show less

Director of Taxonomies and Languages

• Jun 2002 - Apr 2004

LexisNexis provides digitised legal research, business research and risk management. Selected Achievements: • Successfully leading a $5m project, part of global platform, re-categorising LexisNexis data store. • Building the model after extensive research with Product Managers to discover accurate, evolving client requirements, meeting their research needs. • Flexing the size of my international team (UK, USA, Australia) from 4 to 70 then to 34 as the demands of the project were completed and evolved. • Securing internal technical resources under demand from other parts of the business, asserting the programme’s right to the access it needed. Show less