AVM Conference 2024 – Speakers

John Mark Williams – CEO, The Institute of Leadership

John Mark Williams was appointed CEO of The Institute of Leadership (www.leadership.global) in September 2020, having previously held a number of CEO and Director positions in the UK, Middle East and Far East.

John is a Global Advisory Board member for the Commonwealth Enterprise & Investment Council, and has been a consultant to the UN International Trade Centre. He has been a Diversity Champion for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, and an adviser to the Cabinet Office on strategy and leadership.

John is a member of the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on International Trade & Investment, and chaired the SME Symposium at the Commonwealth Trade & Investment Summit in November 2023. And John has been a guest lecturer on Strategy and International Business at universities in the UK and Europe for many years, and occasionally writes about business for online business publications.

Rebecca Hand

Rebecca is an award winning Certified Volunteer Administrator (CVA) with over ten years of experience in the non-profit and local government sectors serving vulnerable populations and engaging citizens in service. Rebecca has been at Buckner Children and Family Services for 2.5 years and before that she was the Executive Director at Denton Animal Support Foundation and was the Conference Chair for the 2022 Texas Volunteer Management Conference.

Samela Macon

Samela Macon has worked in a variety of roles during her 22 year tenure at Buckner Children and Family Services. Samela works collaboratively to help people feel empowered to align passion with purpose in service to others and is interested in the empowerment of children and families, talent development, organizational performance and workplace culture.

Nicky Adams – Consultant, Cornerstone Skills

Nicky’s paid job is as Senior Lecturer in HR and Leadership at the University of Wolverhampton. Her research interests are change, motivation and leadership and management development for volunteers. She is also an active listening volunteer with her local branch of Samaritans.

Nicky started her career in customer services, moved into a management role and then sidestepped into a career in learning and development. She also runs her own consultancy business, providing private, public and third sector organisations with coaching for senior leaders and learning interventions for staff at all levels.

Within Samaritans Nicky has held a range of voluntary leadership roles including an organisation-wide strategic Learning and Development role and most recently a three-year post as Branch Director of her local Branch. During this time she and her team implemented a significant cultural change within the branch and has presented her findings at conferences.

Sara Hickman – We Are BRAVE Founders story

Why being BRAVE is so important to her:
“Constantly moving countries, locations, and schools meant finding a sense of self was hard. This made me adaptable but I was always the outsider; I had the ‘wrong’ accent, and I didn’t know the music or culture. This taught me that outsiders need to be heard. They often don’t speak up and they usually have the most interesting perspectives.”

Rhiannon Baxter – We Are BRAVE Founders story

Why being BRAVE is so important to her:
“I grew up with market traders as parents, had a market stall from a very young age, and used to buy items with my own money. In my early working years I was inspired by strong female leaders who saw potential in underdogs. They allowed me to embrace a rebellious spirit, advocating for change and improvement.”

Laura Lowther (she/her) – Vision for Volunteering Lead, Vision for Volunteering

With 15 years in the North-East charity sector, Laura joined the team from her role as Head of Volunteering at St Oswald’s Hospice in Newcastle. She has trusteeship experience and is currently an advisory board member for TimbaDash Theatre. She has broad strategic development experience and an interest in values, culture and inclusion.

Sarah Tranter (she/they) – Learning and Storytelling Officer, Vision for Volunteering

Before moving into the voluntary sector, Sarah worked in the public sector across Oxfordshire, Swindon and London. Most recently they managed a small local charity providing free hot cooked breakfasts for those experiencing food poverty or homelessness in Swindon. She is passionate about inclusion, engagement and big, exciting spreadsheets.

Isabelle Lush – Senior Corporate Volunteering Manager, Macmillan Cancer Support

With over eight years experience in volunteering roles across the charity sector, Isabelle has developed extensive expertise in the corporate volunteering space. Beginning her career as a Corporate Volunteering Intern and later transitioning into broader volunteer management roles, Isabelle now leads Macmillan’s sector-leading Corporate Volunteering team, engaging over 1,000 volunteers across 40+ businesses annually.

Isabelle is passionate about the transformative impact employee volunteering can have on organisations and communities across the UK. She has experienced both significant successes and challenges in this space and is eager to share her insights to help you create and improve your corporate volunteering initiatives.

Ellie Marcus – Senior Corporate Volunteering Manager, Shelter

Ellie is a seasoned corporate volunteering professional, with over five years of dedicated experience in the field and nearly a decade of broader volunteering expertise. As the strategic lead for corporate volunteering at Shelter, Ellie has a proven track record of creating and implementing impactful and engaging volunteering programs, that both meet the needs of Shelter and their varied corporate partnerships portfolio.  

Maddy Mills (she/her) – CEO, Family Volunteering Club

Maddy is a mum of two, who founded Family Volunteering Club in 2019. Maddy’s background is in the culture and community sectors, having worked as a Producer at Southbank Centre, Director of Entelechy Arts, Associate Producer for Baku 2015, Director of Hidden Cities and Festivals Manager at Kew Gardens.

For 10 years Maddy was a volunteer with two homeless charities in London, but after having a child she had to stop – her time pressures changed and she couldn’t find anywhere she could take her son along. It became apparent this was an issue for lots of people, and so she created Family Volunteering Club.

Abbie Piazza – Volunteering Lead for Communities, Shelter

Abbie is the Volunteering Lead for Communities at Shelter. She leads on the development of the volunteering offer, practice and culture within Shelter’s communities teams, including Community Services, Community Fundraising and Campaigning in both Shelter and Shelter Scotland. Her previous roles have been in the Lived Experience Insights team and putting lived experience at the heart of Shelter’s work, including managing an employment program for people with lived experience of the housing emergency.

Ruth Hearn (she/her) – Volunteering Development Manager, Shelter

Ruth is a Volunteering Development Manager at Shelter, having joined the Volunteering Team from another part of the organisation over three years ago. Her projects aim to improve Shelter & Shelter Scotland’s volunteering offer, both for volunteers and volunteer managers. These projects have included a piece of work making our volunteer recruitment processes more inclusive, as well as developing and delivery of a learning offer for volunteer managers.

Ped Durling (he/him) – Project Coordinator, My Health Matters

Ped is the Project Coordinator for My Health Matters, an inclusion health programme supporting those experiencing homelessness to get better access to healthcare through the delivery of Homeless Health Peer Advocacy. Ped has been supporting peer-led approaches through his work on the Homeless Health Peer Advocacy service where those with lived experience have co-designed the service to deliver person centred support and address systemic health inequalities.

Mark Lever OBE – CEO, Helpforce

Mark is a Chartered Accountant with a Cranfield MBA. The first 13 years of his career were spent training and practising as a Chartered Accountant, he then decided to leave the world of finance and move into the third sector – a decision he has not regretted for a single minute of his nearly 30 years in the sector.

During this time, he has been Chief Executive of the WRVS and the National Autistic Society. He joined Helpforce in 2019 and has been leading the charity to achieve its mission where it aims to accelerate the growth and impact of volunteering in health and care. A big focus of his work has been to champion the impact of volunteering and translating this into business cases for sustainable funding for volunteer led programmes.

Julie Meredith (she/her) – Head of Volunteering, Organisational Engagement and Inclusion at Cats Protection

Julie leads volunteering within Cats Protection and works across the organisation to passionately deliver a great volunteering experience for the organisations 10,000 volunteers and 400 volunteer managers. Experience in engagement, inclusion, operational delivery, governance and strategy development enables Julie to nurture a positive volunteering ethos and culture, driving organisational change.

Julie has been a Trustee for Advice Space Belfast, Chair of Rosie’s Trust and is currently a Trustee with Volunteer Now. Lifelong learning as well as volunteering has enabled Julie to achieve a Masters in Voluntary Sector Management and a Diploma in Organisational Development and Transformation.

Yes, Julie does share her life with a cat and one of the ‘other’ species – a dog.

Dr Helen Timbrell (she/her) – People and Organisational Development Consultant & Coach

Helen works as a Consultant, Researcher and Coach and much of her work focuses on supporting the strategic development of volunteering. Many of her coaching clients are also senior leaders in volunteering. Past clients include Guide Dogs, Citizens Advice, RVS and Scouts Association.

Helen was previously Director of Volunteering and Participation at the National Trust. As Executive Director of People and Organisational Development at Samaritans she was responsible for human resources, learning and development and volunteering. Helen held the same role at Versus Arthritis.

Helen’s PhD explored geographical variations in the nature, meaning and impact of volunteering. Helen has an MBA, is a chartered member of the CIPD and has an MSc in Coaching and Behavioural Change.

As a volunteer Helen currently sits on the Chestnut Fund Committee for The Conservation Volunteers (TCV), is a volunteer at her local National Trust property and a Trustee with Dogs for Good.

Wendy Halley – Access Assemble (product manager)

With a long career in volunteering development, Wendy commissioned Save the Children’s volunteer management system, helping to shape and direct the features of the software that would become Assemble. Seven years later, she moved from volunteering development to work directly with Assemble itself. Initially delivering all of the customer training she now manages the direction and delivery of Assemble across the volunteering sector.

During roles in multiple charities, from the largest UK-wide to the smallest local ones, Wendy has often focussed on volunteering policy and process, with a particular interest in demonstrating volunteer impact. More recently, through professional and personal experience, supporting “digitally nervous” volunteers in a world for digital natives, has become an increasing focus.

Kathryn Hughes PhD – Services Manager, Epilepsy Action

Kathryn is Services Manager at Epilepsy Action working alongside staff and volunteers to deliver their helpline, befriending and Talk and Support group services. She has been with Epilepsy Action for 7 years and in her previous role as volunteer manager she transformed their volunteer experience reviewing policies and procedures and introducing a volunteer management system. In both roles she ensures that volunteers are recognised and valued for the impact they have improving the lives of others living with epilepsy.

Rosie Stockill – Volunteer Programme Officer, Epilepsy Action

Rosie is the Volunteer Programme Officer at Epilepsy Action working to support volunteers and improve the volunteer experience. She has been working with Epilepsy Action for over two years helping to establish Assemble, the volunteer management system, with staff and volunteers across the organisation. Rosie continues to develop the volunteer programme ensuring that the volunteer experience is positive and the impact that volunteers have is understood and valued across the organisation.

Sam Bennett (he/him) – Sales Lead UK, Rosterfy

Sam is the Sales Lead at Rosterfy, where its platform connects people to events and causes that they are passionate about.

Organisations such as British Heart Foundation, St John Ambulance, FIFA & The Superbowl, benefit from Rosterfy’s end to end technology that allows Charities, Events & Local Governments to onboard, retain and recognise their volunteers effectively.

A keen volunteer himself, Sam regularly supports local charities, food banks, sports events and fundraising. He’s in the best place to advise on modern day best practice for volunteer programs using Rosterfy and offer a unique perspective from being a volunteer himself.

Away from work, Sam is a keen runner and cyclist, bit of a foodie and loves to read. Always happy to connect with new faces and share ideas.

Chris Martin – Founder, TeamKinetic

Chris co-founded TeamKinetic in 2007, nurturing its growth into a platform that has facilitated over 2.5 million volunteer hours in the past year alone. His lifelong passions for volunteering and technology have provided the basis for a career he didn’t expect but has loved.

Gethyn Williams – Consultant

Gethyn Williams developed the Toolkit for TeamKinetic and AVM. Gethyn is a freelance consultant specialising in volunteering strategy, supporting organisations of all sizes to develop impactful and engaging programmes and campaigns, drawing on his experience of working on the London 2012 legacy programme, central government’ Covid-19 volunteering team, the Vision for Volunteering and The Big Help Out.

Anne-marie Greene – Professor of Work and Diversity, University of York

Anne-marie Greene is Professor of Work and Diversity and Director of Research Impact at the School for Business and Society, University of York. Anne-marie researches equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in theory and practice.

A particular research interest is the interface between work, life, family and community, especially where a sense of calling, mission or activism is required. This often concerns areas of work that stand outside of the standard employment relationship and which are less formally regulated, bringing with them challenges of management policy and practice and issues of inequality.

Research projects have involved volunteer managers and volunteers, clergy, actors, freelance creatives, diversity consultants and trade union representatives. Anne-marie is Artistic Director of the Criterion Theatre, Coventry, a volunteer-run charity.

Imogen Greatbatch – Deputy Director of Development – People & Head of Volunteering, England Netball

Imogen Greatbatch is Deputy Director of Development – People & Head of Volunteering at England Netball. She is a champion of volunteers and the value volunteering & volunteers add to sport, lives and society. 

Dina Tjelmeland Adeler – Co-Chair of the National Convention (British Red Cross)

Dina is a passionate volunteer and volunteer representative for the British and Norwegian Red Cross. She has had multiple roles, including at local level, district, and national level. Through her roles, she has gained vast experience, insight, and knowledge of the voluntary sector.

Through the last few years, her main role has been to be the first line of consultation on
Volunteer Representation and championing Volunteer Representation. She is dedicated to the importance of Volunteer Representation and ensuring that volunteers’ voices are heard. In addition, she is passionate about supporting projects to help improve the volunteering experience for all volunteers. Dina is committed to making sure that everyone has a good volunteering experience so that volunteering can continue to make a positive impact in our communities.

Richard Cooper – Senior Volunteer, Crisis

As a competent volunteer, senior volunteer lead, Richard uses his professional skills and managerial insight in supporting his charitable causes, bringing tremendous energy, practical experience and vision to his volunteering journey.

For nearly three decades Richard has volunteered; making volunteering an essential part of his annual schedule which compliments his values set.

Richard’s main area of focus is poverty alleviation and he lends his skills, leadership and service to a range of roles from Trustee, Committee member and senior and general volunteering, more accurately he does anything from “Governance to toilet cleaning” and is happy to serve where he is needed.

Richard has applied himself to a range of projects, Pilgrimages, long distance walks, supporting school holiday clubs with grants and Crisis at Christmas where he serves as a Senior Volunteer leading Homeless Day Units and Sheltered Accommodation in the form of 185 bed hotels which are utilised during the project.

Jackie Easton – Fundraising Volunteer, Macmillan Cancer Support

Jackie has been volunteering with Macmillan Cancer Support for over 10 years, during which time she has enjoyed a number of roles. The flexibility of volunteering within Macmillan means it is possible to be involved with several aspects at any one time.

She initially volunteered as a Lead Volunteer for a practical and emotional service, supporting people in their own homes; this continued for six years until COVID. She then became a Telephone Buddy, giving emotional support for the next two years. She was a member of Macmillan’s UK Volunteer Forum and chaired the North East Regional Forum.

Jackie is a fundraising volunteer, and her own fundraising has included zip-wiring from the Tyne Bridge, taking part in a Mighty Hike and holding two socially distanced Open Gardens in 2020 and 2021. Other involvement has included reviewing books, giving talks to staff and local groups, reviewing new training, and being part of stakeholder interview panels. Currently, she is a member of the Volunteer Voice Network, an Action Team member and a volunteer assessor for the MQEM award (Macmillan Quality Environment Measure).

Geoff Smith – Member of RNIB Campaigns Development Group and Volunteer Advisory Council

I have been an active volunteer for 38 years. Almost all of my volunteering career has been around enabling blind and partially sighted people in the UK and around twelve countries. This has been connected with a version of cricket adapted for visually impaired people, a game played in ten countries. My volunteering now is with RNIB in the UK, campaigning to extend and improve the rights and opportunities of my own community. I myself have a life-long visual impairment.

Jen Stoneman – Foster Carer, Dogs Trust

Jen currently volunteers for Dogs Trust with their Kenilworth rehoming centre. She and her fiancé have fostered 20 dogs so far, for anything between 2 days and 6 weeks. Her day job is as a People Business Partner for Mencap, so fostering is a flexible way of having a dog, but not all the time as she goes to meetings a few days a month and likes to travel.

She has previously worked as a volunteer manager for Mencap and the National Deaf Children’s Society (after starting as a volunteer) and had always volunteered from a young age. She has been a young and adult leader for Girlguiding; been on church committees; Nightline and other student society committees at university; an independent visitor with the Children’s Society and volunteered with Greenbelt Festival for 10 years. Jen is also currently a pension trustee, which is a semi-voluntary role for her current employer.

Katie Aartse-Tuyn – Head of Volunteering, Sustrans

Katie’s career began with several years of voluntary conservation work across different parts of the globe. This experience provided her with a solid understanding of what constitutes a good volunteer experience. When a maternity cover position for a Volunteer Coordinator opened up at Sustrans, she was able to bring together her conservation experience and additional skills in training development, facilitation, team management, communications, and engagement.

Over the past 16 years, Katie has played a significant role in evolving, developing, and enhancing Sustrans’ volunteering programs. During this time, she has also been on a continuous journey of personal and professional growth. Staying with the same organisation for such a long period has given her a unique perspective. She has faced both successes and challenges, witnessing how obstacles can be overcome with the right conditions in place.

Katie has built strong relationships across the charity based on respect, trust, and mutual appreciation. She has progressed in her position over these years, taking on greater strategic leadership and management responsibilities. She now has a place on the senior leadership team alongside all the Directors in the charity. This ensures that she has the best opportunity to ensure that volunteering is visible and valued throughout the charity.

Linda Fenn – Head of Volunteering, British Heart Foundation (BHF)

Linda joined the BHF in 2008 as their retail training manager covering both paid staff and volunteers. She then took on the retail volunteering team as well as her training and development remit. Over the following few years, as a charity, BHF became far more collaborative across the whole organisation resulting in a head of volunteering role being created some 8 years ago. Linda successfully applied and has been in the role ever since.

From a career development perspective, Linda believes you need persistence, resilience and a real passion and determination to succeed. She started her working life after A levels, no college or degree and is proud that her success in her career has been based on experience. Linda was able to complete her CIPD through the professional assessment route. That made her realise that as people working in volunteer management, we should never forget the transferable skills we bring to our roles.

Amalia Loizidou – Head of Specialist Services, Volunteer Centre Kensington & Chelsea

Amalia started working in volunteering after she personally benefited from the work of a volunteer. Due to this experience, she appreciated the transformational power of volunteering. Her career in this field began at Volunteer Centre Hackney (VCH) as the Admin Officer. She managed a small team of brokerage volunteers who supported residents in finding suitable volunteering placements. SheI was later promoted to the Best Practice Advisor role where she supported local organisations.

In 2021 Amalia accepted a contract role at Diabetes UK as the Volunteering and Outreach Manager (London region) and then joined West London NHS Trust as their first ever Volunteer Services Coordinator.

She is now the Head of Specialist Services at Volunteer Centre Kensington and Chelsea. This role leads a team that focuses on supporting people facing additional barriers in terms of inclusion and/or accessibility. Beyond her professional life, Amalia is on the board of two charities as the Volunteer Management Trustee.

Chris Reed – Chief Operational Resilience Officer, The Scouts

Chris has spent his career working in the charity sector and is currently Chief Operational Resilience Officer at The Scouts, an organisation involving over 145,000 volunteers and working with over 500,000 young people each year. Chris is the senior member of staff accountable for safety.

Prior to this Chris was Senior Director for People and Director of Volunteering and Youth at the British Red Cross. He has held Head of Volunteering positions at Barnardo’s and St John Ambulance and was Chief Executive of Volunteer Centre Westminster. Chris spent his early career in volunteer management delivering event first aid, patient transport and other clinical services as a volunteer and paid volunteer manager. Chris has volunteered as a Trustee at a local and national level and is currently a local Group Scout Leader and member of the National Awards Committee for the King’s Award for Voluntary Service.

Bee Whitaker – CEO, Harmony House Dagenham

Bee’s volunteer management journey began as a Volunteer Coordinator at Rainbow Trust while she was still completing her undergraduate degree. Having previously engaged in volunteer management activities with the NHS, she discovered a passion for this field, making this part-time job an ideal fit.

Her career progressed as she took on the role of Volunteer Lead and eventually Head of People at Free to Be Kids, where she collaborated closely with the CEO to oversee all people operations. This role was incredibly fulfilling, but she was eager for greater responsibility. Bee felt extremely fortunate to be offered the position of CEO at Harmony House, a role that allows her to fully apply her skills and experiences in leadership and volunteer management.