ABILITYNET - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Charity Chairman, Trustee and Treasurer
- Trustee Profile
Alan is an experienced Charity Chairman, Trustee and Treasurer with a comprehensive understanding of charity governance, finance and law. He retired as Chairman of Phyllis Tuckwell Hospicecare in November 2017 having served a full term of 9 years as a Trustee. He serves as Trustee/Treasurer of Aerobility and Chairman of Naval Families Federation.
In his professional career Alan has held senior management appointments in several diverse international corporations including Volvo; Dunlop; Nabisco and The Rank Organisation. In recent years, he has worked as an independent management consultant which has enabled him to devote more time for pro-bono work in the charitable sector.
Alan is a Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and Freeman of The City of London.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Fellow of the Marketing Society
- Senior Marketing Executive
- Trustee Profile
Alison Orsi is a senior marketing executive with a passion for outcomes and a proven track record in delivering growth, ensuring teams are highly focused on the most important work that will drive the most meaningful results. Alison has worked for IBM since 1993 and in that time held a variety of roles, including being Chief Marketing Officer for UK & Ireland and more recently Europe, Middle East and Africa. She leads a large international team responsible for marketing strategy and delivery of IBM's brand & reputation, and its sales pipeline development for the region.
Alison is a Fellow of The Marketing Society in the UK, and also a Fellow of The Marketing Academy.
Alison officially joined AbilityNet as a Trustee on the 26th of September 2022.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
Job Titles:
- Director of Technology for Southern Housing
- Trustee Profile
Douglas Silverstone was formally appointed to the Board of AbilityNet in April 2020.
Douglas is the Director of Technology for Southern Housing. His background is in large scale data technology and security change projects. He is a thought leader in maximising value organisations drive from technology and data for the benefit of its customers. He has been actively involved in initiatives to improve use of tech, and is passionate about the benefits of collaboration the positive impact tech can have on peoples lives.
He has 20+ years of experience on technology change projects and has implemented major change projects across the Not for profit and government sectors. He's led Cyber security, data and tech teams, implemented GDPR, and tech\data strategies. Most importantly he helps make the complicated simple.
He is a former Company Secretary of the Institute of Money Advisers and has wider charity trustee board experience. He has an interest in social equality and poverty alleviation.
Douglas has both Dyslexia and Aphantasia. He has worked with accessibility standards and has provided support to volunteer led organisations.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the Senior Management Team
Graeme was appointed to the Board of AbilityNet in April 2020.
Graeme is Lead for Assessment at the University of Sussex, where he is also Chair of the Reasonable Adjustments Panel. He is Head of the University's Foundation Years Programme, which he led to win a national AdvanceHE award for teaching excellence in 2019.
He is a Senior Lecturer in English and specialises in inclusive teaching practices in Higher Education as well as student transitions into university study. He has worked in Higher Education for 10 years, across a range of Higher Education Providers, and secondary education. He is committed to removing barriers faced by students in accessing learning and promoting the role that technology can play in this.
Kush, a champion for equality and inclusion, was recently selected in the top 10 most influential BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) Leaders in technology at Parliament in 2018. He has a lived experience of disability since childhood and passionately believes that accessible technology can significantly improve the quality of life for disabled people.
Kush is social entrepreneur, who has developed a portfolio career helping several charities, social enterprises and non-profit organisations, with a focus upon disability, technology and healthcare. He was recently appointed on the inaugural public advisory board of Health Data Research UK, the new national institute for health data science in 2019. Kush also advises the world first Museum of Happiness, a non-profit social enterprise, on how to tackle one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, depression (WHO). In 2018, selected by Facebook on their first ever Global Communities Fellowship Programme as one of the top 100 global changemakers.
Moreover, Kush is also an advisor to the world's first Global Disability Innovation Hub, founded in 2017. The partnership is led by the University College London and is part of the legacy of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. The GDI Hub is leading a £10 million fast-start global programme called AT (Assistive Technology) 2030 which is funded by the Department for International Development. Kush is an Ambassador for Disability Rights UK and a Director at the Centre for Accessible Football in Europe. He is also a Patient Governor of Chelsea Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and is only able to walk today due to assistive technology.
Kush has an MBA with distinction from Kent Business School and had the honour of being a Torch Bearer for the Paralympic games in London 2012.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
Nicky Rumsey has worked for IBM since 1996 and in that time has had a variety of roles, including being Chief Financial Officer for two of the service divisions, leading the Outsourcing Services Business for the Large Accounts in the Financial Services Sector, and Project Executive managing IT services for Telco and Banking Customers.
Following the creation of Kyndryl in 2021 as a spin-off of IBM, she is a Managing Partner at Kyndryl UK, leading a large IT outsource for a customer in the Financial Industry.
Nicky is a qualified management accountant (ACMA).
She is a keen triathlete who loves snow skiing and waterskiing in her spare time.
Job Titles:
- Independent Member of the Risk Committee of the Scout Association
- Managing Partner at EY LLP
- Trustee Profile
Owen was formally appointed to the Board of AbilityNet in October 2019.
Owen is a Managing Partner at EY LLP responsible for the deployment of a new Operating System for Front and back office staff. Prior to this Owen was a member of the EMEIA advisory leadership team where he led the EMEIA Advisory Centre, Risk and Governance team. He has worked in Risk Management & Internal Audit roles for over 20 years, focusing on Enterprise Risk Management, Internal Audit, Governance Risk and Control frameworks across Private, Public and National Government Organisations.
In addition to his role at EY, Owen is an independent member of the Risk Committee of The Scout Association.
Owen has a BA (Hons) and Post Diploma in Business Administration. He is an Associate Member of the ICAEW.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
Job Titles:
- Senior Director
- Trustee Profile
Paul Jagger is Senior Director for Solution Consulting, EdCast Inc.
Paul specialises in cloud based enterprise talent development solutions for clients in Europe.
He is a Fellow of BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT and the Learning Performance Institute, a Chartered IT Professional, Chartered Management Consultant and holds in MSc in Management from the University of Hertfordshire.
Suzie Woodhams has worked in the technology sector for over 15 years with her most recent position as Global HR Director at Vix Technology, a leading global provider and integrator of smart ticketing systems.
Before joining Vix Technology, Suzie held the role of Group HR Director for 12 years at Telecity Group plc, a FTSE 250 company. TelecityGroup was a leading provider of premium carrier-neutral data centres operating in 11 countries across Europe.
As well as overall responsibility for the HR strategy, Suzie was the HR lead for one merger and 10 acquisitions. Following this, the company was acquired by Equinix in January 2016. Suzie then led the HR OD integration team for 2000 employees across Europe before deciding to take a new challenge at Vix.
Prior to TelecityGroup Suzie held senior roles in Thales Telematics plc, as well as a leading e-commerce start-up.
Suzie is a Fellow (FCIPD) of the Charted Institute of Personnel and Development and holds an honours degree in Psychology from Essex University.