BOARD OF TRUSTEES - Pen Portraits
The following pieces were written by the Board members themselves and are listed in alphabetical order.
Ahmed Al-aagam
Ahmed is an enthusiastic young social entrepreneur, he was born in Aden – Yemen and moved with parents and brother to Sheffield in 2000. To develop his language he immersed himself in the voluntary sector for the last 7 years in various roles, to mention a few, leading youth projects and assisting at a community event. He is very passionate about helping others in creating community impact, volunteering and believes that being on the VAS board is fitting with his passions.
Les Baker
Qualified accountant who has worked in local engineering businesses (James Neill, Stanley Tools) and took early retirement in 2000. Since then he has been involved in the following charities with local connections: Sheffield Crossroads Ltd (carer agency) – director; CBA Projects Ltd (homeless charity) – director (until June 2007); Johnnie Johnson Housing Ltd (housing association) – director.
Professor Rhiannon Billingsley
Rhiannon was appointed as Sheffield Hallam's Pro Vice-Chancellor for the new portfolio of Regional and Public Health Development in September 2005. Her remit is to act as the University's key link to the region and to public health infrastructure. She also carries responsibility for developing the University's strategy with regard to Diversity and inclusivity. Rhiannon is a Governor of Northern College, and a Board Member of the following organisations: Sheffield PCT, Sheffield First for Health & Wellbeing, Sheffcare, South Yorkshire Coalfields Trust and Phoenix Sports. She is a Member of both the Council of Deans and the European Council of Deans, and the DfES Community Cohesion Group.
Patricia Bint
Patricia Bint is Practice Manager at Watson Esam Solicitors in Sheffield, specialising in marketing and people management. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and a graduate of the Institute of Export. Patricia has more than 25 years experience within private industry and not for profit organisations in the UK and abroad, working in France, Germany, Holland and Belgium as well as UK. She has worked with SRB and ERDF funds on behalf of South Yorkshire businesses and implemented same and has experience of income generation and marketing and managing projects which benefit the members of multi faceted, local, national and international organisations such as Chambers of Commerce and Business Links. Patricia has extensive experience of event organisation in UK and Europe and speaks French.
Wendy Bussey
Wendy works for Groundwork Sheffield, where she is the Green Space & Business Manager- responsible for developing programmes that integrate the economy with the environment. This includes facilitating links between academic institutes and the private sector, promoting sustainable construction and developing initiatives which improve green spaces. Wendy manages a small team who deliver projects ranging from green roofs to ethical investment. Prior to joining Groundwork, Wendy worked for SCEDU (Sheffield Community Enterprise Development Unit) where she supported social enterprises and small start-up businesses.
Peter Clarkson
Peter Clarkson is a Sheffield solicitor who specialises in advising charities and social enterprises. He is a member of the Charity Law Association and has acted as trustee of several charities including the Association of Charitable Foundations, the national umbrella body for grant-making foundations. He first joined the VAS Board in 2002.
Prof David Chapman
If elected as a trustee of Voluntary action Sheffield I will be able to offer many years experience in business strategy and marketing at all levels, practical, academic and consultancy.
Having been born and brought up in Sheffield as an engineer I have spent most of my life in the city, but lived away for some 10 years and subsequently travelled extensively as part of my employment. For the past 25 years I have been associated with Sheffield Hallam University as an academic in the management area. One of my areas of special interest has been the not-for-profit and charity sector. In the recent past I have been a trustee of MedicAlert and ROSPA and I am currently a trustee of the Chartered Institute of Marketing educational trust. Professionally my career moved into marketing and in 1998 I was elected chair of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the world’s largest professional body for marketing practitioners and my role in the institute gave me considerable experience of working in voluntary organisations.
Kate Housden
Kate Housden works for NAVCA (National Association of Voluntary and Community Action) as its Local Partnerships Manager responsible for the Improving Local Partnerships Project. The ILP project aims to provide local voluntary, community and infrastructure organisations (LIOs) with the skills, knowledge and understanding to be confident, inclusive and effective representatives of the local. In her capacity as ILP project manager Kate works with a wide range of Government departments and agencies and manages a programme of pilot developments in localities across England. Kate has been involved in the development of many new governance structures including Sheffield First (LSP), Early Years and Childcare Partnership, the Social Inclusion Board, and the Children’s Fund Board.
Sarfraz Hussain
Sarfraz has held various senior posts in the Citizens Advice Bureau service, most recently as Chief Executive of an inner city bureau in Sheffield. Sarfraz is currently Director of Blue Mountain Housing Association, a small and developing BME association in Stoke-on-Trent, working across North Staffordshire. Sarfraz has also worked as freelance trainer and development consultant on refugee, equality and diversity issues for Citizens Advice nationally. From 2002-2005 Sarfraz was the board champion for legal and governance issues at a medium sized arts and educational charity working with young asylum seekers and refugees in Stoke-on-Trent. Sarfraz also sits on the board of the Federation of Black Housing Organisations and as a Non Executive Director of Stoke-on-Trent Primary Care Trust.
Luke Kenny
Luke began working in the sector as a Training Consultant specialising in Social Housing Tenants issues, giving him a solid understanding of the sector and the problems facing small groups as the majority of his work was with newly founded Tenants and Residents Associations. Through this work, he became involved with Voluntary Action Sheffield. He is currently employed as the Age Concern Community Link Worker for the Darnall area.
Jane Leathley
Jane has been involved in the local voluntary and community sector since the early 1980s, as a volunteer, a committee member and a paid worker. She has worked for various organisations over the years including a welfare rights advice centre, a housing co-op, a regional tenants organisation, and an environmental education charity. She has also been involved in campaigning, and was Branch Secretary for a voluntary sector union branch for six years. She joined the South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau in 1995 and became the Bureau Director in 1999. She left the Bureau in 2005 and is currently studying full time for an MSc in Information Management at the University of Sheffield.
Roy Love
Roy Love came to Sheffield in 1978 to work as an economics lecturer in Sheffield City Polytechnic. Between then and 1993 when he left what had then become Sheffield Hallam University he had also lived and worked as an economist in Kiribati and Botswana. In the mid-1990s he and his wife co-managed a small charity conference centre/guest house in the English Lake District. This was followed by an academic year in Lesotho then several years back in Sheffield in part-time lecturing, and subsequently a further spell in Botswana which ended in March 2003. During these overseas contracts he became involved with local voluntary organisations, both on a hands-on role and as committee member. For a number of years he was also a volunteer advice worker at Pitsmoor Citizen's Advice Bureau in Sheffield and is familiar with the range of social problems faced in a city like Sheffield. Through this work he also has a certain lay knowledge of employment, consumer rights, immigration and social security issues. He has previous experience of being a trustee/director and has acted as treasurer. He continues to lecture part-time, engage in consultancy and to write and research.
Evelyn Milne
Evelyn has worked in local government, voluntary sector, private sector and the NHS. She worked in inner London (mostly in the voluntary sector in Kings Cross, Hackney and Tottenham) for 13 years. She moved to South Yorkshire in 1994 to work as Rotherham Health for All Co-ordinator, then as Head of Social Policy Research for Rotherham MBC. Since 1998 she has worked as Head of Regeneration and Partnership for Sheffield City Council.
Jim Monach
Dr Jim Monach is a freelance consultant/trainer in mental health, evaluation research and infertility. His original qualification was in sociology and his professional training and experience in psychiatric social work. Jim has extensive experience as a researcher, consultant, lecturer, trainer and service provider in the field of mental health. He currently directs a post-qualifying programme in mental health for social workers. He has played leading roles with a number of voluntary organisations in the fields of mental health and infertility, including Board Member/Vice Chair, VAS; Chair/Trustee Sheffield MIND; Chair, National Accreditation Board for Infertility Counselling; Chair, Assisted Conception Unit, Ethics Committee; Chair/Trustee, British Infertility Counselling Association; Executive member, Sheffield Civic Trust.
David Packer
David Packer first became associated with VAS through the Volunteer Bureau when his company (Whitbread) gave him leave of absence to help organise the World Student Games in 1990/1. He joined the Volunteer Bureau Management Committee in 1993 and the main Board in 1999. He is now retired and is chair of the Personnel Subcommittee of the Board.
Tim Plant
Tim is Chief Executive of The Cavendish Centre – who provide personal and supportive care to people with cancer. He has been involved in voluntary and community life in Sheffield for more than 20 years as a charity trustee, school governor, in health pressure groups and previously in local politics. He has recently been involved in working with VAS on the Health Compact and has more than 30 years experience working as a senior manager and planner in the NHS and Social Services. In recent years Tim has been Chief Executive of Sheffield South West PCG and Project Director for NHS LIFT in Barnsley, delivering much needed new primary care facilities to ex mining communities.
Ben Richardson
Ben is a student at the University of Sheffield studying a PhD in Politics. He began volunteering 5 years ago, helping out in after-school computer clubs, and now works with SOVA, as a mentor for children.
Beryl Seaman (Chair, since December 2004)
A social worker by qualification Beryl worked for many years for Sheffield City Council - mainly in hospital social work. She became a Sheffield magistrate in 1986 and through that became involved in the governance of Probation. She was the appointed Chair of SY Probation Board 2001-2005 and was the national chair of the Probation Boards' Association between 2001-2004. She is now a board member of the Legal Services Commission, Ofsted and the Commission for Social Care Inspection. She is also a governor of Hallam University and a Trustee of the Camelot Foundation
Jacquie Stubbs
Jacquie works for Inclusive Living Sheffield, which is an organisation run and controlled by disabled people. She also chairs Partners for Inclusion, which is the Sheffield partnership for people with physical, sensory and cognitive impairments (the partnership has recently won a Community Care Award). For several years Jacquie has served on the Board of Governors at Northern College and on the Board of Within Reach, an organisation which promotes sports and performing arts for disabled people. Although her main area of interest is disability issues (She was secretary of the Disabled Peoples Forum until the organisation folded), she has been involved with Sheffield’s voluntary sector for many years, including the former Community Health Council.
John Vear
John’s background is in the Manufacturing Industry. He has business experience in design and implementation of (large) computer systems; logistics (including planning, production control and distribution); project management. His experience in the voluntary sector includes being a ‘serial Treasurer’; past posts include Treasurer of Quaker Meeting House and of Victim Support Sheffield. Currently he is Treasurer of VAS, Sheffield Carers Centre and CRESST.
