Platform 51

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Platform 51 Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees sets the aims and strategic objectives of Platform 51. They are responsible for the financial and operational stability of Platform 51 and for new areas of work.

Helen Wollaston - Chair

Helen has been Chair of the Board of Trustees since 2008. She is also a Director of Equal to the Occasion, a consultancy which she founded in 2007 and now runs. The consultancy provides professional communications support to increase the impact of equality and diversity projects.

Helen has 20 years experience in the voluntary and public sectors at local, regional and national levels. Her career spans local government, voluntary sector infrastructure and non-departmental public bodies, which means she has a wide range of contacts and a good understanding of different sectors.

From June 2012, Helen will be taking on leadership of the UK Resource Centre for promoting women in science, engineering and technology.

Barbara Harrington - Deputy Chair

Barbara is a freelance consultant and was formerly a director of business innovation at Dominion Housing Group. Her career has been in social housing and she has also been responsible for establishing projects for women escaping abuse, leaving care and for people dependent on drugs and alcohol.

Amanda Arriss

Amanda is the Chief Executive of the Equality and Diversity Forum, the network of national equality and human rights organisations. She is also a member of the Compact Voice board, the Government Equality Office Senior Stakeholder Group and the Public Health Programme Advisory Board of the National Institute for Health.

Amanda is passionately committed to equality for women and girls and for seven years was Head of Policy and Research at the Equal Opportunities Commission where she led the launch of the gender equality duty and worked on closing the gender pay gap, improving work life balance, getting better pensions for women and getting more women into public and political life. Before joining the EOC Amanda was an Associate Director of the Audit Commission and worked in London local government for 11 years.

Amanda has been a Trustee with Brook (the sexual health charity for young people) and a Council member of Liberty and she will shortly be joining the Board of Guide Dogs. She is a longstanding member of Amnesty International and of the Fawcett Society and a friend of the Women’s Library.

Rachael Clapson

Rachael is a Cabinet Office civil servant who has worked in a number of central Government departments in addition to the Cabinet Office, including HM Treasury, the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. She is currently on secondment to the Department for Energy and Climate Change and has worked in a number of different areas, including social policy (in the Social Exclusion Task Force) and energy and environmental policy

Kayleigh Devlin

A former Platform 51 client from our Northampton centre, Kayleigh is a graduate of the University of Northampton with a Joint BA in English literature and Education studies. In July 2011, Kayleigh formed part of a small delegation representing YWCA GB at the World YWCA Council Meeting in Zurich.

Donna Dickenson

Donna is Head of Service Education Enrichment at Wrexham County Borough Council and is responsible for strategic and operational oversight of Youth, Play and Family Information Services, Adult Community Learning and Family Learning. Donna has a longstanding background in youth services and youth work education.

Adam Nichols

Adam has been Chief Executive of Changemakers, a youth organisation which operates as a social enterprise, since 2004. He is a prominent and widely respected speaker, writer and influencer and is responsible for influencing a wide range of government policy on children and young people including introduction of enterprise education in schools. Adam also holds non-executive directorships at the General Teaching Council, Isledon Arts, UnLtd and Harpenden Free School. He is a member of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Mary Pasby

Mary is an independent marketing and business development consultant for corporate and public sector organisations. She helps clients to identify the needs of their customers and develop and implement their brand and values.

Neeta Patel

Neeta is currently the CEO at The New Entrepreneurs Foundation, which equips aspiring, entrepreneurially- minded people with the experience, skills, networks and support to build new businesses. Neeta is an experienced executive with over 20 years of strategy and operational leadership experience in new ventures, business turnarounds and change, spanning a range of industries including Financial Services, Media & Publishing, as well as 6 years in an international NDPB.

Prior to joining the New Entrepreneurs Foundation, Neeta worked in Private Equity matching technology entrepreneurs with investors. Neeta has held senior positions at Thomson Financial (Reuters), Legal & General PLC, Financial Times Group and at the British Council.

Neeta holds an MA in Chemistry from Oxford University, an MBA from Cass Business School, and a Sloan Fellowship in Strategy and Leadership from London Business School. She is a Non Executive Director at GoCityGirl.com.

Fareena Shaheed

Fareena's career has been in social work, both statutory and non-statutory and included a significant period in the family courts. She has previously worked with female offenders and held a variety of posts on the management committee of a women's refuge. Fareena now works as an Independent Social Work Consultant.

Carla Stent

Carla is Chief Operating Officer at Virgin Group and a member of the executive partnership responsible for defining and executing the group-wide strategy. She is also a Patron and Development Committee Member, Prince's Teaching Institute

Carla has spent most of her UK career in a combination of the travel and banking industries and has been fortunate enough to gain significant international experience during this time.

She has operated at board level for many years. Prior to her COO role at Virgin Group, she held the Chief Administrative Officer and deputy CFO role in the Chief Financial Office for the Global Retail and Commercial Bank at Barclays plc where she drove a large scale reorganisation of the business model and significant strategic and organic growth.

Carla is a strong leader of people and has been described as a ‘transforming visionary’ in Business Women of the Year Awards.