Senior management team
- Chief Executive: Srabani Sen
- Director of Engagement and Support: Paul Soames
- Director of Resources: Ian Gaweda
- Director of Fundraising and Communications: Clare Lemon
President
Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green, Children's Commissioner for England
Patrons
- Nick Crean
- Georgina David
- Henry Hoare
- Francesca Martinez
- Lady Morris of Kenwood
- Nigel Nicholls
- Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne
- Roy Noble MBE
- Vivienne Parry
- Lord and Lady Rix
- Jane Root
- Philippa Russell OBE
- Dr Richard Smith CBE
- Claire Tomalin
- Elinor and Dafydd Wigley AM
- Professor Lord Winston
Trustees
Paul Streets OBE – Chair
Paul was appointed chair of Contact a Family’s board of trustees in December 2011. He is Director of Public and Patient Engagement and Experience at the Department of Health, and has held numerous senior positions in the public and charity sectors over a career spanning more than 30 years including:
- CEO of the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) from 2005 to 2009
- CEO of the Health Development Agency from 2003 to 2005, with responsibility for delivery of public health policy within England
- CEO of Diabetes UK from 1998 to 2003 where he led the transformation of the charity from the British Diabetic Association to Diabetes UK, making it one of the most successful and influential health charities in the UK.
In 2003 he was awarded an OBE for services to people with diabetes. In his current role within the Department of Health and across the NHS, Paul leads on ensuring services work to improve the experience of both patients and carers as well as improving the public’s engagement in their own health.
David Pink - Vice Chair
David Pink joined the UK Council for Psychotherapy in May 2009 as Chief Executive. He has dedicated his career to improving the quality of public services and developing and shaping those services around the needs of service users.
He began his career in health policy and went on to work for the government in setting up ‘NICE’ (National Institute of Clinical Excellence). He was also chief executive of the LTCA (Long-Term Conditions Alliance). David’s interest in improving public access to psychotherapeutic support continues in his role as chief executive of UKCP, where he is working with the psychotherapy profession towards charting a new future for psychotherapy, psychotherapists and their clients. As co-chair of the UKCP Diversity, Equality and Social Responsibility Committee he is committed to the national role of the charity in addressing issues of equality and diversity throughout psychotherapy services. David is also a board member of a national disability charity.
Peter Phillips – Treasurer
Peter Phillips is a chartered surveyor by profession. Having advised Contact a Family in regards to lease renewals at their former premises in Victoria, he was co-opted onto the previous finance committee by Harry Marsh in 1990 and served on that committee for many years before becoming a trustee in 2001. He now chairs the business affairs committee as trustee/treasurer. He has assisted running a local PHAB club since the mid 1980's. His wife's young nephew died from a rare liver related leukaemia in the early 1990's. Peter is also trustee to two other smaller charitable trusts.
Phil Conway
Phil is the father of an 11-year old disabled boy Shaun. The experience of being Shaun’s dad compelled Phil to seek to get involved in the disabled children’s sector.
He has a professional background in international business, having worked for IBM for 20 years in various international roles, in particular management, strategic planning, marketing and business transformation. He spent four years working in IBM Asia Pacific HQ, based in Tokyo.
Phil leads a new social enterprise "Cool2Care", aimed at supporting families with disabled children. The organisation was established in 2007 and helps families find support. He campaigns regularly on behalf of disabled children via public speaking engagements, newspaper and radio. Phil has a BA in Mathematics from Oxford University, and an Executive MBA from London Business School. He is married with two sons and lives in Surrey, UK.
Kevin Geeson
Kevin joined the Confederation in October 2009 and has recently been appointed as Chief Operating Officer, before joining the Confederation Kevin was Chief Operating Officer at Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). Kevin’s senior career has largely been in public sector organisations including the Metropolitan Police Service and Guildford College of Further and Higher Education. In addition he has worked in the private sector and for some years as a freelance management consultant.Kevin is a Fellow of the Charter Association of Certified Accountants (FCCA), and has a Masters in Business Administration (MBA). Kevin has held various trustees roles in voluntary sector organisations, and is currently the Treasurer of the Institute of Fundraising.
Bradley Theobald
Bradley Theobald became a trustee of the Lady Hoare Trust in 1998 and subsequently joined the board of Contact a Family following the merging of those two organisations in 2004. Bradley has personal experience of disability and the issues that this may raise in the family context by virtue of having an inherited disability which resulted in using a wheelchair. Bradley's interest and enthusiasm for the work of the organisation and his role as a trustee arises from his first-hand experiences as a member of a close-knit family navigating the trials and successes of incorporating disability into day-to-day family life.
Bradley works as a solicitor, specialising in corporate law in the London office of a large US law firm. In this role, he has advised numerous boards of directors in relation to a wide variety of commercial situations and offers this experience and legal outlook to Contact a Family through his work as a trustee.
Jo Tanner
Jo Tanner has been a trustee of Contact a Family since its merger with the Lady Hoare Trust in 2004. She brings to the board her experience of public affairs and media relations. Jo is currently Director of Communications with the Freight Transport Association and was previously chief executive of the Coalition for Medical Progress.
Dr Kay Caldwell
Dr Caldwell worked for many years as a nurse in the NHS (and now as the Head of the Institute of Nursing and Midwifery at Middlesex University). She saw at first hand the impact of a disabled child on the lives of families, both in terms of the challenges faced by families but also by the contribution that disabled children can make to their family and society. Kay joined Contact a Family as a Trustee to try and make a difference by enabling families to be heard and their needs to be met to ensure that disabled children and their families are full participants in their communities.
Jolanta Lasota
Jolanta Lasota’s career began in commercial marketing. In the voluntary sector, she has worked for Shelter, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, I CAN and the Governance Hub. At I CAN she worked with children with communication disabilities and their families. She was the founding Chief Executive of the charity Turn2us, for people in financial need, and is now a consultant in the third sector. She has a passion for enabling disabled people to live a happy life and has personal experience of supporting a child with special needs.
Lynne Hill
Lynne Hill is a policy director at Children in Wales. Her areas of responsibility are disabled children, including the young disabled persons network, early years and childcare, young carers, parenting, including the Children are Unbeatable campaign, and information services.
Lynne has represented Children in Wales on the development of the Play Policy, the Childcare Advisory group, the National Service Framework for Children and the Parenting Action plan. Recent work has included the development of a Quality Assurance scheme for 0–5 year olds, and securing the contract to develop Early Support in Wales.
Caroline Vaughan
Caroline comes from a science and business background working in bio-technolgy and small company development. For the last fifteen years she has been a non executive director or trustee of a number of organisations in the private, public and charitable sectors. In the charitable sector Caroline has been involved with several trusts ranging from a helpline for family problems in Surrey, to a grant giving charity for people with health or financial problems in London and an educational grant giving body, as well as Contact a Family. She is also a member of a medical research ethics committee. Her expertise is many at the overall financial and corporate governance level.
Sheila Messider
As the mother of a disabled child she says she found support from other parents and the information available from Contact a Family invaluable. These are the main reasons why she wants to support the work of Contact a Family. Her daughter is now 18 years old, and as a family they are using direct payments to pay for the support she needs so that Sheila can study for an MA in Social Work. She hopes to then return to working with families of disabled children or disabled young adults in the often challenging transition period into adult services.
John Phillipson
John has worked as chief executive at the North East Autism Society since August 2005. His experience in child care is wide and varied, having worked as a care worker and social worker before moving to manage an extensive range of services. John was an Assistant Director of Child Care with Barnardos for eight years, managing services for children with disabilities, educational projects and youth work. He was Manager for Special Education Needs in north Tyneside council before becoming Head of Children’s Services in 2000. In 2002 John became Director of Social Services in north Tyneside, where he remained until joining the North East Autism Society. John enjoys his current role and the diversity that it involves. He has been a trustee with Contact a Family since 2005 and is very proud to be associated with the organisation. He is passionate about the rights of children with disabilities and about support for them and their families.
Reuben Parkinson
Rueben is a long-standing member of Contact a Family Ealing and has served on their management committee and was Chair for three years. He has extensive knowledge of policy issues such as education and short breaks. He is the father of four children, three of whom have disabilities.
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