My passion is to help and support people, and to make society a safer and fairer place to live. I have always held Citizens Advice in high regard, quantified by personal experience of exceptional service when I needed help in the past. It doesn’t take much to see why I am delighted to be joining the team and I am really excited to be part of a charity which clearly helps and supports so many people in Coventry.

Throughout my career I have ensured that all of my roles have centered around working with communities and grassroots organisations. In my previous position as Chief Executive of Neighbourhood and Home Watch Network, I increased membership from 3.8 million households to 8.7 million covering England and Wales within the seven years under my leadership.

I absolutely believe that working successfully with communities and volunteers depends on partnerships and strong engagement with a variety of stakeholders. However, we know that government policy and reform can have a huge impact on local people. I previously worked with central government regarding social action and crime prevention issues, and I plan to continue that on behalf of Coventry Citizens Advice regarding social policy reform.

I have previously built strong and sustainable links with the private and public sector which provided additional resource to the charity and raised the profile with local and national media campaigns funded by corporate partners. Securing more diverse and unrestricted funding to deliver our charitable objectives is a top priority over the next 12 months and beyond.

My focus will be on ensuring that we maintain the quality of our services and I am here to provide the help and support needed to ensure that the organisation is in the best possible place moving forward. I will be looking at how we communicate and engage internally with staff and volunteers in an open and transparent way and working closely with the senior management team to deliver this. I will be looking externally at our existing partnerships and at how we can create new partnerships to help us deliver the best possible services for the people of Coventry and beyond.

Outside of work, I love the outdoors and enjoy walking, camping and music. I try and combine these at least once a year by going to music festivals with my children. I was born in Leicestershire, but my maternal side of the family come from Coventry, so have affiliations with the city, along with the county.

I went to university in Hull and gained a degree in Criminology and Social Policy. I also have a Post Graduate diploma in Policing and Social Conflict. I was delighted that Hull won the City of Culture but not as much as when I heard about Coventry winning it! It’s exciting times with new opportunities and I look forward to working with you all in the forthcoming years.