SONNET - Key Persons
I explore with clients all sorts of puzzles - from impact research and management to how to use partnering, corporate acquisition and good governance to improve delivery of that impact.
I bring experience that spans impact exploration, explaining and measuring what is happening, impact-focused transactions and fundraising in the UK and Europe, and corporate structure, governance and control. I have used story-telling approaches in mixed-methods studies through workshops, interviews, rapid evidence and literature reviews, and management consulting tools for exploring causation and chains of outcomes. In the governance arena I have developed, assessed and restructured structures and approaches within Boards, and their links to management and other control systems in the organisation. I have worked on due diligence, valuations and structuring acquisitions that balance financial sustainability and value with delivering business development and impact.
I am interested in impact management and business as a force for good. How understanding an organisation's impact, and articulating this to stakeholders, can: drive further change both at an organisational level (through communicating this impact to staff); and at a systemic level (to drive further impact across wider society); how it can open access to more resources and open doors to finance (including social finance).
I am an experienced mixed-methods social researcher, bringing insights from work in the UK and overseas in community challenges and programmes, and in gendered issues.
As an experienced social researcher, I have learned, and am committed to ensuring, that stories are central to addressing social inequities. I have seen how focusing on individual experiences within larger structural dynamics can and should be used effectively by organisations to create positive impacts. Having designed and led a number of social inequity research projects in both the academic and private sector, I understand the value of connecting and communicating with individuals, enabling them to feel safe and be heard within the research process and highlighting the importance of lived experiences when tackling societal challenges.
I am particularly driven by focusing on the stories of the hardest to reach and bringing intersectional sociocultural aspects to the forefront of these stories. I have primarily focused on researching, analysing and reporting on gendered issues, but I am also interested in all areas related to structural inequity. I really enjoy working with people to ensure that their experiences and stories are elevated to make a positive difference to them and to society, while also assisting organisations to increase their impact.
I work to support clients in a wide range of situations, drawing on nearly 20 years' experience of delivering impact evaluations; advising on transactions such as mergers, acquisitions, business sales and finance raising projects; the development of strategy; and providing technical advice such as valuations of businesses and assets.
I work to support clients in a wide range of situations, drawing on nearly 20 years' experience of delivering impact evaluations; advising on transactions such as mergers, acquisitions, business sales and finance raising projects; advising to support the development of strategy; and providing technical advice on matters such as valuations of businesses and assets (including intellectual property). Although I'm an Accountant by background, and can often be found advising on financial matters, much of my work comes down to helping people to form and enhance working relationships. That takes many forms: negotiating a sale of your charity's (or private company's) trading activities and finding a buyer who will continue and value your mission, negotiating to raise investment from a long term partner who will support your organisation's growth, or understanding how to explain your impact to stakeholders in a way that helps build or strengthen partnership working, to name but a few.
I particularly enjoy taking a client's ideas and ambitions and finding means to deliver them, avoiding the inevitable pitfalls on the way. I like finding ways around difficulties and helping clients to maximise their impact, develop new partnerships, and find resources and value they didn't know were there.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research
Ed Ferrari is the Director of the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) at Sheffield Hallam University. He has an international reputation as a research leader, with over 20 years' experience and expertise in applied social research with a wide range of public, private and charitable sector organisations including government departments, local authorities and research councils. He is an expert in the use of secondary and administrative data, and in the application of GIS and spatial analysis methods to complex policy issues. He has particular experience in leading research and evaluation projects on strategic housing issues (e.g., West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Joseph Rowntree Foundation), transport planning (e.g., Department for Transport), housing markets (e.g., Shelter Scotland), and charitable housing programmes (Nationwide Foundation). Ed leads CRESR's inputs to the consortium delivering the Housing and Planning Analytical Division (HPAD) Research and Evaluation Call-Off for DLUHC, and he was a lead member of the consortium evaluating its predecessor Department's £2 billion Housing Market Renewal Fund (DCLG, 2003-10).
I believe that all organisations are capable of having a positive impact, and that research and evidence is a vital catalyst behind this. I bring that catalyst.
With an academic background in Sociology, I bring expertise in mixed-method social research and analysis. I have particular experience in researching and analysing equality, diversity and inclusion, and the complexities of identity, most prominently in relation to gender and race. I believe that all organisations are capable of having a positive impact, and that research and evidence is a vital catalyst behind this.
I have a strong interest in people and the condition of precarity; everyone has vulnerabilities, but some more than others and those voices must be heard. Collectively we have the power to make sure no one is left behind, but this requires a shift in focus at all levels. I am interested in helping organisations who care to implement an evidence-based, meaningful impact focus. I believe that organisations who are able to demonstrate positive impact can set precedent amongst their peers, this is incredibly important in encouraging wider action against social inequity and injustice.
I am a key point of contact for organisations seeking our help, whether new clients, or old friends returning with a new project. I work with the team to ensure we are always equipped to help.
I bring over thirty years' experience at senior PA level and office management. I have excellent organisational and time management skills which help me support the demands of an ever-growing, busy team. I have experience in both the charity and corporate sector which gives me insight and understanding into the wide range of areas in which an organisation can benefit from our support.
Impact applies to any organisation and therefore everyone has the potential to be a force for good. I help a variety of organisations to develop their understanding of need, their impact ambitions, their approaches to delivery, and their articulation of the value they bring - socially, environmentally and economically.
I bring a strong understanding of impact at a human, strategic and organisational level having worked with clients of different sizes, models, areas of need and scope of operations. I bring experience of mixed methods investigation and research, spanning workshops, interviews with service users or customers and stakeholders, and developing financial evaluations of the outcomes achieved. I have deep insight into how an understanding of impact can serve as a catalyst for organisations to better understand their services, their clients and service users and the spaces that they operate within. The challenge of finding new and meaningful ways to communicate impact - simply, compassionately and in an engaging way - is something that I really enjoy.
There are ways for positive impact to be realised in every setting and situation, unpicking systemic and societal issues helps us to get to the heart of issues and begin to think about the levers to pull to change things for the better. Throughout my work, I have learned that impact applies to any organisation and therefore everyone has the potential to be a force for good.
With over thirty-five years in managing and advising social enterprises, charities, public agencies and private sector organisations facing all sorts of opportunities and challenges, I can draw on so many real life situations, experiences, and solutions. An accountant and corporate financier by origin, with experience in insolvency and turnaround, expert evidence and investigation and valuations, from around 2004 I developed specialisms in impact measurement, social research and social investment. I now lead complex and strategic projects with clients in all sectors tackling re-imagining their business, planning for the future (including exits), merging and forming strategic partnerships, fundraising, addressing governance and structural issues, understanding their situation and the systems around them, and managing, measuring and valuing their impact.
It matters to me that I create an impact - positive social, environmental and economic change - for others, and I want to inspire, encourage, guide and enable others to make an impact too. I do this by supporting and advising clients, by my academic research and teaching, by working in policy influence, lead-authoring the EU impact measurement standards amongst others, and in creating Sonnet. I love tackling apparently simple, but in reality challenging, questions, such as what is the value brought by a social tenancy; how can children's adoption placement work better; how can we merge two International NGOs; or how can private business make a difference?
My expertise in service design, impact measurement and social innovation, enables new, fresh and ‘out-of-the-box' perspectives to tackle social issues.
I am an experienced business consultant who has worked across sectors in Southern Africa, Europe and the UK. I've led large incubation, change and improvement programmes to enable organisations to grow and excel in their mission, including on digital transformation. Having worked within very complex systems and partnerships, I bring a wealth of experience in better determining how cohesion, collaboration and communication can be built and nurtured and as a result, have built many strong, varied and productive partnerships to achieve this. My background in business development has also helped organisations to generate and diversify income. I am also an international speaker, coach and trainer who delivers content on social innovation and service design.
Having worked with many individuals, leadership teams and organisations to develop strategy and deliver organisational design, I have a deep and practical understanding of the conditions required for change - but it still keeps me up at night.
Job Titles:
- Manager
- Manager - Financial & Advisory
I am passionate about providing financial and strategic advice in a way that is pragmatic, collaborative, and impact-focused, to support our clients in delivering their mission.
I am a Chartered Accountant, with specialisms in Transactions and forensic work. Having joined Sonnet in June 2022 from the Forensic Services team at PwC, I bring experience in advising buy-side and sell-side clients through a merger or acquisition; developing financial models to quantify loss and damages for clients going through a dispute resolution process; and delivering financial and regulatory investigations. My earlier career at PwC was in corporate valuations, and in the firm's Audit practice, specialising in the audit of charity sector clients.
I enjoy having the opportunity to work with a wide range of charities, social enterprises and other socially-minded clients, and learning about their work, values and impact. I am passionate about providing financial and strategic advice in a way that is pragmatic, collaborative, and impact-focussed, to support our clients in delivering their mission.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- External Consultant
I work as an external consultant with Sonnet and am an experienced systems thinker and works mainly on projects within our Strategy, Systems and Governance practice.
I am an experienced systems thinker consultant and works mainly on projects within our Strategy, Systems and Governance practice. I am skilled at enabling people to make decisions under uncertainty by synthesising and visualising complexity. Bringing the perspective of systems to strategic challenges helps clients respond to sudden changes in their business environment to keep them viable and relevant.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Public Policy Analysis
Peter Wells is Professor of Public Policy Analysis and Evaluation in CRESR. He has led over 50 research and evaluation projects and is author to over 100 research reports and other publications. He is a non-executive director of Sonnet Impact and Advisory CIC. From 2014-2020 Peter was an Associate Dean for Research and Innovation at SHU, overseeing a portfolio of social science and arts research and developing the university's approach to research assessment and research infrastructure. He is currently on secondment from the role to lead the University's climate action strategy, develop Sonnet Impact and Advisory, and to lead a series of research projects. These include the South Yorkshire Good Work Commission.
Whether it's an impact exploration and evaluation, a fundraising, exploring options for how to do it, or a sale or merger transaction, I can work through it with clients to a successful conclusion.
With ten years in the financial investment and social sectors I bring a range of experience in impact management, in fundraising, and in business development and resourcing. I have worked with social and private sector clients on their impact stories, plans and management, and undertaken fundraising and transactions to help to resource those plans. I have experience of sectors as diverse as housing, social care, health and mental health, local area development, education and exam awarding bodies, staff needs in outsourcing businesses, and children and young people.
I enjoy being able to use my experience and expertise to help the organisations we work with maximise their impact. Having founded and run my own social enterprise, I believe in the principles of business for good and I am now able to use that to empower those we work with.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Social Research at the Centre for Regional Economic
Sarah Pearson is Professor of Social Research at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research and Director of the Social and Economic Research Institute at Sheffield Hallam University. She has led major evaluations of public policy across a range of agendas including anti-poverty, community regeneration and employment support. Her research focuses particularly on neighbourhood and community-based approaches to improving outcomes and on models of public service delivery. She is particularly interested in the involvement of voluntary and community sector organisations and service users in service planning and delivery and developing evaluation tools and capacity in public service contexts.
Job Titles:
- Finance Director
- Senior Consultant
I focus on enabling clients to better manage their financial responsibilities and improve the governance of their organisations. Financial understanding and management can provide the basis for good decision-making and the maximisation of impact.
As a Chartered Accountant with over thirty-five years' experience in in-house management and advisory roles spanning the public, private and charity sectors I bring expertise in financial and business analysis, accounts preparation, financial systems and controls, evaluation of loss, and corporate governance and compliance. Sound information and information systems underpin all great organisations and I help clients to ensure they are simple understandable and reliable. I have also taught accounting, financial management, and corporate governance at degree level, and build clients' organisational and individual learning in these areas so they can better manage their businesses and operations.
With a world increasingly focused on social and environmental impact as well as operational efficiency and financial sustainability I am excited about using my skills in this wider arena, setting my financial, operational and governance insights against others' impact ones. Sonnet embraces so many ages, backgrounds and viewpoints amongst its team. Yet all its staff are focussed on achieving positive impact for themselves and our clients: what a privilege it is to be part of that.