Chris Poole joined Active Prospects as Chair of the Board in September 2022. Chris is Director of Business Development for national care provider Sanctuary Care, with responsibility for sales, marketing, contracts, business transformation, strategy, development, and the commissioning of new care homes. Chris joined Sanctuary in 2017 with previous experience in adult social care with both for-profit and not-for-profit providers. Having previously worked in a number of other sectors including international development, marketing, sales and engineering management he brings a breadth of experience to Active Prospects’ Board.

Owen Vallis has spent over ten years as a risk management expert in the financial services sector. During that time, Owen has held positions at a number of major financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan, and is currently UK Head of Fiduciary Risk Management for Credit Suisse. Owen also serves as a Non-executive member of the Audit and Risk Committee for the Children’s Commissioner’s Office. Owen chairs our Business Development Committee.

Dumindu qualified as a medical doctor from University of Colombo and completed postgraduate studies at University of Oxford. He trained as a psychiatrist in Oxford and London and has worked across both NHS and independent sector as a psychiatrist for the last 20 years. He is a specialist advisor to the Care Quality Commission and a clinical advisor to the General Pharmaceutical Council. Dumindu has a special interest in patient safety and quality in clinical care. He is a member of the patient safety expert working group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK) and has contributed to number of high impact publications around patient safety in clinical practice. He currently works as a consultant forensic psychiatrist for Cygnet Healthcare.

Andy is an experienced Consultant, Facilitator and Executive Team Coach with a track record of working with leaders to achieve the transformational change necessary to deliver growth, high employee engagement and improved customer experience. A successful leader of large, international and matrix teams, across a wide range of sectors including telecommunications, transport and financial services, with experience of world class organisations such as Virgin Atlantic and BT. Andy chairs our People & Remuneration Committee.

Having qualified as a chartered accountant in 2002, Sarah has almost 20 years of experience working in a number of FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies, with a track record of delivering during fast-changing and complex corporate situations. More recently, this has included senior leadership roles in investor relations and strategy, providing support and advice to the executive board team. Sarah chairs our Finance Audit & Risk Committee

Peter has been a Chartered Surveyor for over 35 years working for leading property investment and development companies. Delivering major commercial projects throughout the UK but mainly specialising in London. He has recently retired and holds a few Directorships including Trustee for LHA London Ltd, who provide affordable accommodation for young people and Land Securities Pensions Trustee Ltd, where he was chair for 8 years.

Ian qualified as a social worker in 1988. He has worked across a number of London authorities, mainly in the fields of looked after children, fostering and adoption. He spent a number of years working as a senior leader in Children’s Social Care. For the past year, Ian has been working as an independent social work consultant. He has a part time role as National Children’s Services Adviser for Child Mental Health, working in NHS England.

Raj has over 30 years of experience in IT across a variety of industries, both public and private. Currently working as a Senior advisor to growth stage start-ups scaling internationally into the UK & Europe, providing product development advice and project management expertise. Raj spent the last 15 years as Head of IT for global organisations, working in the US, Africa & UAE. He has a successful track record in delivering strategy, companywide transformation and global projects.

Amanda has a professional background in Education and Training. She has worked in a variety of educational and professional settings including; Adult, Community, Further, and Higher Education. She specialises in working with marginalised and under-represented learners and currently works in the charity/not-for-profit sectors providing advice, consultancy, and mentoring. Since 2018 she has worked closely with Initiatives of Change UK, supporting the Refugees as Rebuilders Faculty in designing and developing an innovative and progressive curriculum for settled refugees. She also co-ordinates IofC’s Womens’ Empowerment Network and is a Trustee for CoDa; a dance company providing tuition and choreography to people with neuro-disabilities.

Debbie has spent her career largely in entrepreneurial companies building brands, developing teams, creating new products, and implementing new processes. She has been Marketing Director for a number of challenger brands including Ella’s Kitchen where she was charged with “growing up the brand” and taking it to the next level, and Bounce where the challenge was raising awareness and driving trial. In her spare time, she volunteered for Surrey Youth Justice and was a Governor of St Ives, the local prep school.

Felicity has spent her career in the defence, digital transformation, financial services and Government sectors, with experience in listed, not-for-profit, boutique and Government organisations. She has held a broad range of roles in Australia, Singapore and the UK, across business development and strategy, operations, organisational transformation, public affairs and communications, and in general management.

Chris is a co-founder of Tigerbond, one of the UK’s leading integrated communications consultancies.

A law graduate and former journalist with The Sun, he provides counsel and strategic communications advice to a wide range of organisations across the third, public and private sectors.

He is a passionate ally in supporting disabled people to have full equality of opportunity and participation as citizens, and has served as a Trustee of Capability Scotland for several years. Chris also spent almost a decade as a main board member and Trustee of Young Enterprise Scotland.

Joined as the CEO in October 2015. She has an extensive background in the social care and health sectors, having worked in senior positions for a number of national charities and social enterprises, as well more local organisations. She brings with her a deep commitment to enabling people we support to shape their organisations, developing partnerships to provide integrated approaches to meeting needs and looks to create a deeper impact for our people and communities.

Jade has worked for a number of charities and large national organisations providing support to people with learning disabilities and mental health needs. Joined Active Prospects in 2013 as the Service Manager for Domiciliary Care and in October 2015 became Head of Care, then Director of Care in 2017. Over 20 years’ experience in direct management in care and support and specialises in challenging needs and autism. Qualified in 2004 as a registered care manager undertaking RMA and Level 4 Diploma In Care and in 2009 qualified as a conflict manager and resolution teacher.

Joel has a keen focus on building new partnerships to provide greater opportunities for the people who Active Prospects support. Joel joined Active Prospects in September 2019. He started his career in a frontline role at a homelessness charity in London, before spending nine years in a variety of senior commissioning, policy and partnership roles in local authorities. In 2014, Joel moved back into the not-for-profit sector as the lead for Business Development and Communications at a social care and health provider.

Kaushika is passionate about the people we support and has a focus to increase our engagement, enabling people to reach their potential. Kaushika joined Active Prospects in June 2019 with extensive operational and strategic experience in HR across many sectors, including social care and the health care sector. She is a commercially focused Senior HR professional who is skilled in employee relations, employment law and delivery of strategic HR projects. Kaushika is known for her integrity, compassion and strong work ethic with an ability to deliver. She is an experienced people manager, who strives to embrace Active Prospects’ values within herself and others.

Shad joined Active Prospects in May 2023 as a Director of Property. He has over 10 years of property/facilities management experience. In his previous role he worked as a Managing Director of a property services company in the health social care sector. He was responsible for delivering strategic business objectives, managing facility operations, overseeing building maintenance services & capital development projects, sustainability planning and implementing H&S practices. Shad has a customer-centric approach and committed to lead the property team by fostering a culture of excellent, innovation and ensuring our housing stock is of high quality, sustainable and energy efficient.