MID SUFFOLK CAB - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman of a Community Interest Company
David is a retired Civil Servant who spent almost 38 years in the Department for Work and Pensions and its predecessors, including a 2 year secondment with the Audit Commission.
Following his retirement, David spent a couple of years working as a volunteer for Cancer Research UK in Stowmarket, managing the shop in the usual manager's absence.
David is currently the Chair of a Community Interest Company which runs Cedars Park Community Centre, as well as managing the centre itself.
He is a town councillor for the Stow Thorney Ward and a District Councillor for the Stowmarket North Ward.
David's interests include reading, particularly military history and listening to classical music.
Gary is a chartered construction professional with over 22 years Board and Senior Management level experience. He recently retired from Vinci Facilities, a national construction & facility management organisation, where as Regional Director he had financial, operational & strategic responsibility for the business in the East Anglia region.
Having lived in Stowmarket for over 35 years Gary's ambition when he retired was to seek a new role that would enable him to use his skills & experience in support of his local community. He is therefore very pleased to have been appointed as a Trustee of Citizens Advice Mid Suffolk and is looking forward to supporting the Team in the valuable work that they do.
Jem is an HR professional with a background predominantly in the charity and public sectors. Jem is an advocate of the ‘social model', which sees the barriers people face as being caused by wider society, attitudes and environment, rather than being of their own making and hopes to bring his lived and professional experience in this area to his role as a Trustee.
In his spare time Jem enjoys travelling, spending time with family and pets, and listening to an ever-growing list of podcasts.
John Ramsay has over forty years' experience as a professional adviser to organisations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Africa. After running the UK Strategy consulting unit for Ernst & Young for a number of years, he established his own consultancy in 1991 specialising in working with boards and small groups of senior individuals to help them to focus and implement their organisations' strategies.
Now semi-retired, he continues to work for clients in a wide range of sectors, specialising particularly in strategy and governance issues in charities and other NGOs.
Marsha has lived in East Anglia for 37 years, 30 of them in Bury St Edmunds. She is married with two grown-up sons and four lovely grandchildren. After University, she worked exclusively in consumer research initially for various companies and organisations before setting up a small limited company specialising in food and drink testing for the main supermarkets. The company employed professional food tasters and recruited many local residents to taste test all sorts of different products. After retiring, she is delighted to take up a new role where she hopes the life skills she has learnt may benefit a wider community through Citizens Advice Mid Suffolk.
Michael Wangermann is a Partner in the Personal Injury Department of Ashtons. He has been a valued member of the Board for several years. Michael served as Chair from December 2017 - December 2019. In the time he has been with the board he has offered the Trustees legal and strategic knowledge to the issues facing the charity.
Nick Gowrley worked at Mid Suffolk District Council (MSDC) for nearly 30 years, as Corporate Director his role was mostly strategic and he was responsible for the housing, planning, environmental health, facilities, licensing and asset management department.
Nick now enjoys his retirement but has a part-time job working for a supermarket in Sudbury which he absolutely loves, he also does some exam invigilation at Stowmarket High School.
Nick came across Citizens Advice Mid Suffolk whilst working at MSDC. As he has been quite fortunate in his life he felt that it was his chance to give something back to the community. Nick is a Manager (governor) at the Kingsfield Pupil Referral Unit in Stowmarket, and sits on their Finance, Personnel and Health & Safety committees. Nick is also a Councillor for Stowmarket Town Council and Mid Suffolk District Council.
Job Titles:
- Accounting Officer
- CEO at Cambridge
- Member of the Institute of Directors
Rachel Talbot was appointed CEO at Cambridge and District Citizens Advice Bureau (CCAB) in 2001. There are 135 staff (paid and voluntary) working at the Bureau helping approx 8,500 people every year.
Prior to this post Rachel worked as a Freelance Consultant in Fundraising, PR, Marketing, and Management Organisation. She also acted as a consultant for IDeA (Local Government Improvement Programme) Peer Group Review Board.
Rachel was invited to join the Trustee Board when she was CEO at Suffolk ACRE in order to bring her expertise and knowledge to the Bureau. Although she is no longer at Suffolk ACRE she continues to live in Mid Suffolk and enjoys her work with Citizens Advice Mid Suffolk.
Rachel is an active member of the Institute of Directors, The Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations and Cambridge Business Women's Network. Rachel holds the role of Accounting Officer on the Trustee Board.
Rosemary has held senior leadership positions in global manufacturing companies for over 30 years. She has run factories in many parts of the world including Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. This also involved new factory start ups and business relocations. Her last executive role was as MD W Europe and the UK for Huhtamaki, a global business headquartered in Finland. As well as responsibility for sales, profit and strategy, she also had extensive experience in business transformation, culture change, mergers and acquisitions. Now semi-retired, Rosemary works as a consultant and business adviser and is also a Trustee and adviser to other charities and NGO's.
Simon Clifton joined Citizens Advice Mid Suffolk in 2014. He has held roles in fundraising and business development. In 2020 he was took up the role of Chief Officer.