VOSCUR - Key Persons
Albert is a committed community activist, leader and Social, Emotional, Mental Health practitioner. He brings experience in education and community engagement. As part of his professional role, Albert relocated to Bristol and joins the Voscur Board of trustees with a wealth of knowledge in governance having chaired the Gloucester Law Centre, acted as Secretary for the Gloucestershire Association for Voluntary and Community Action, Trustee and Company Secretary for Gloucestershire Race Equality Council, and currently serves as Chair of Governors at a local primary school, and as an Academy Governor, and Trustee at GL Communities.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Executive Director for Strategy, Innovation and Enterprise for the United Bible Societies
Chris is the Executive Director for Strategy, Innovation and Enterprise for the United Bible Societies, a global NGO with operations in over 150 countries. Before this role, he worked as a strategy consultant working mainly with well-known high street retailers. He has 10 years of trusteeship experience (recently with Send a Cow, a development charity that operates across Africa but was founded here in the West Country) and has a good breadth of understanding of the charity and social enterprise sectors.
Dani joined Voscur in 2022. Her role is to assist the Chief Executive Officer and Development Director with administrative tasks, and to support Voscur's governance and internal processes.
Dani has worked in the VCSE sector since 2019, with previous experience in volunteer management and mental health support.
Outside of work, she enjoys running (slowly), walking (preferably with a dog), and developing a near-encyclopaedic knowledge of Bristol's many independent restaurants and cafes.
Dionne joined Voscur in July 2022 as Skills Project Manager. Dionne previously worked at Islington Council coordinating employability training and job brokerage for residents and employers. Dionne gained a PG Cert in Public Service Management and moved to Bristol delivering training at Julian House, and later running Bristol Old Vic Theatre School's music department.
Dionne set-up Sing With Soul in 2015 and in 2019 produced and toured her one-woman musical, DAWTA. In 2021 Dionne completed an MA in Music Production at BIMM, with a focus on composition as a cultural practice. Dionne loves 1970's vintage household items.
Ed is the Chief Executive of the Bristol charity, Lifecycle UK and has a strong business development and financial planning skillset and extensive experience of successful fundraising. Ed sits on the board of the Nationwide Foundation's Southwest Community Board, is an alumni of Common Purpose and is a fellow of Clore Social Leadership. Ed passionately believes that the sector is stronger when working together.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Chief Executive of Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust
Ellie Collier is Chief Executive of Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust. Working with a range of heritage and cultural charities Ellie has developed wide ranging skills in community development, fundraising, strategy and governance. She is a Personal and Executive Coach and a Clore Fellow. Ellie is also a Trustee of the Cornwall Museums Partnership and believes passionately in the value and importance of the VCSE sector.
Hayley has worked at the City of Bristol College in the HR team since 2010, and is a member of the College Senior Leadership Team. Hayley is passionate about the Further Education sector and the opportunities and positive career paths that many of the college students move on to. Hayley hopes that her work as a trustee at Voscur will foster lasting relationships between communities and students served by City of Bristol College and surrounding areas involved with the VCSE Sector work undertaken by Voscur.
Job Titles:
- Policy, Research and Communications Manager
Ian joined Voscur in February 2023. He has a range of experience in the VCSE sector, from volunteering as an IT tutor to working in communications, compliance, and events. More recently Ian has been delivering services within the sector - in his last role starting up a social care service, but he has also managed community health projects, befriending, and advice services.
Ian is responsible for Voscur's policy development, research, and communications.
In his spare time, Ian enjoys cycling, films and caring for his two cats.
Janine spent over 12 years working in Adult and Community Learning for Essex, North Somerset and Bristol City Councils followed by 10 years in the VCSE sector managing volunteering for several different community organisations. She is currently a volunteer Director at Weston Artspace CIC, helping to develop a new community art and cultural space in Weston-super-Mare.
Outside of work, Janine enjoys strength training at the gym, creating her own digital art and travelling around the UK in her campervan.
Job Titles:
- VCSE Development Advisor - Funding and Governance
Jenny supports Bristol organisations with their income generation and development by providing one-to-one help, training and events on fundraising strategy, skills and information.
She's also a professional fundraiser, consultant and trainer, working with a wide variety of clients to raise funds and increase their capacity to fundraise.
In a previous life, Jenny managed grant funds for several local and national Trusts, so she's experienced the grant funding world from both sides. She's Treasurer of two small charities, and a volunteer book seller at a local Social Enterprise, Clevedon Community Bookshop, a role that combines several of her favourite things: reading, writing and chatting to interesting people.
With over twenty years' experience in the public sector, Karin first specialised in recruitment before using her facilitative and evaluative skills to lead the business planning cycle in the Audit Commission. She then managed projects before returning to supporting organisations in developing robust strategies and plans and in evaluating performance/service delivery. She lead the development of annual reports for the Audit Commission, The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Planning Inspectorate. She joined the Civil Service in 2019 to lead on Strategy and Corporate Governance. She is currently working with the Government Legal Department to lead their business planning cycle and improve corporate reporting on strategic effectiveness. This is her first Trustee role and she hopes her strategic thinking skills will offer useful insight.
Lan is a PhD scholar in Accounting and Finance at the University of Bristol, now stepping into the role of Trustee at Voscur. With a keen focus on Management Accounting and a passion for supporting mission-driven organisations, her research delves into optimising operations through effective communication of corporate values. Lan's dedication to bridging academic insights with real-world challenges positions her as a valuable asset to furthering Voscur's mission.
Laurence joined in February 2023 and provides administrative support, responds to enquires and ensures the smooth running of day-to-day operations. Laurence came to Voscur after volunteering for the National Trust at Avebury, Wiltshire, helping with image management, customer research and GDPR procedure.
In his spare time, Laurence enjoys tennis, the gym, music and reading early modern and soviet history.
Namiko joined Voscur in December 2020. Namiko has volunteered and worked in the charity sector for a few years as treasurer, finance administrator and account support.
Namiko enjoys working in the allotment on weekends especially weeding and watering. Namiko also likes going anywhere she can see nice views.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Accountant
- Treasurer
- Trustee
Phil is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over 25 years experience in finance and accounting. This includes almost 10 years in Bristol as a partner in Hollingdale Pooley specialising in the charitable sector. More recently Phil acquired new experiences in London working on a variety of outcomes based social investment contracts, both as Finance Director and as an external financial contractor for Bridges Fund Management, one of the world leaders in the field.
Job Titles:
- VCSE Development Advisor - Outreach
Rachel has a background in education, having trained as a teacher before spending four years coordinating a community learning project in Lockleaze. She has worked with several small charities and community organisations in Bristol, combining a passion for community development, operations, communication, and creativity. She has experience of planning large events and managing volunteers, having coordinated a city-wide social action weekend for up to 1000 volunteers for five years.
Rachel loves to connect with different people and regularly shares her time and skills within her local community.
Rebecca joined the Voscur team in September 2022, having spent the past seven years managing a school within the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Bristol, where she also led on equality, diversity and inclusion. Rebecca has run two voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations during her career: the first of these delivered frontline services for refugees and asylum seekers, the second provided support and development for the VCSE sector.
As a volunteer, Rebecca has spent time in Tanzania and Ghana, and more recently as a school governor and a community interest group board member.
In her spare time, Rebecca enjoys making use of Bristol's green spaces with her two small children. Her favourite hobby is walking - ideally around Bristol harbourside - while listening to a good audio book.
Sally is an experienced leader with a proven history of effective people and change management. With over 19 years in the public sector she has successfully managed multi-agency partnerships and cultivated positive working relationships across a spectrum of business sectors. Sally has a collaborative work ethic, valuing individuals and utilising the skills and expertise of the collective to effectively achieve goals and improve services for all.
Sarah joined Voscur in 2022 and has a background spanning higher education, youth services, arts and heritage, as an employee and consultant - with most of her roles to date having had a volunteer management component. Before joining VOSCUR she worked for a youth homelessness charity managing mentoring projects, contributing to funding bids and sharing learning, and service user voice, beyond the organisation.
Outside of work Sarah enjoys gardening, yoga, wild swimming in all weathers and taking care of a naughty border terrier.
Job Titles:
- Enterprise Project Manager
Sarah is Voscur's Enterprise Project Manager and is involved in social enterprise development through the Bristol Local Access Programme. Sarah has worked in the community and social enterprise sector in the West of England for the past ten years and enjoys creating connections and supporting organisations to thrive. Outside work Sarah plays in a community steel band and loves the natural world, trail running and hiking.
Sheika is an advocate for the importance of travelling and grew up across several African countries (Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Tanzania).
Sheika has a background in Construction Project Management and has worked for several multi-disciplinary construction/engineering consultancies before joining Soundwell's administrative team, a Bristol-based voluntary organisation 10 months ago.
This was her introduction to the non-for-profit sector, which inspired Sheika to resume her Project Management career in this sector.
Sheika is passionate about running projects and seeing them through their lifespan (from inception through to completion) while managing the key stakeholders and assisting them to achieve their vision on time and within the available budget.
Outside of work, Sheika enjoys cooking and baking with her 2 daughters, loves gardening (new-found hobby during lockdown) and joins a local spin class very Wednesday evening!
Job Titles:
- Partnership Development Officer
Spencer previously worked for two NHS Trusts in Bristol, and currently volunteers as the Chair of Trans Pride South West, a local community-based pride festival.
Spencer has a degree in Music and in his spare time he enjoys singing and learning instruments. He also has a rapidly growing collection of house plants to care for.
Vita has over ten years' experience in the voluntary sector in various capacities such as: a trustee of a medium-sized charity in Bristol, the Voluntary Sector Studies Network, and as an employee and researcher. From completing a PhD on organisational behaviour in refugee voluntary sector organisations, she has expertise on diversity and integration, the community and voluntary sector, cross-sector service provision, and leadership. As Principal Researcher at the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR), she brings knowledge on partnership working and collaboration (across sectors and fields); charitable trust foundations and responsible grant making; facilitating challenging and difficult conversations; and adopting a systems approach to problem-solving and strategic thinking.