Start date

NED Parent, PHA, RHA, Key Chair - September 2023

KEY DAAC - June 2024

Background and experience

With over 20 years of experience as a Company Director and Board Member, Penny has held senior leadership roles in both local and regional government and headed up health and social care not-for-profit providers in NW England and the South East, as well as roles in national government fund management, social enterprises, and community organisations, in commercial and not-for-profit public, private and third sectors, across NW, SE and SW England, London, and nationally.

In September 2022, Penny retired as national Commercial Director at the Disclosure and Barring Service, a Non-Governmental Public Body reporting to the Home and Cabinet Offices. Before that, Penny was Director of Commercialisation, Citizens and Shareholder Liaison with Bristol City Council, with responsibility for governance and support for the Council’s arms’ length trading companies, including Goram Homes; its citizen support services, including telecare; and the City’s historic buildings, markets, and harbour.

Penny also has wide-ranging experience in commissioning and procurement, successful business start-ups, organisational change management, mergers and acquisitions, and consistent, efficient, effective, safe and innovative service delivery.

In addition to her recent appointments at Key and Progress, Penny is a Trustee of Skills for Care, the strategic workforce development and planning body for adult social care in England, and chairs their trading arm, Affina Organisational Development.

Penny has a BA in Law and started her career in the legal profession in private practice and local authority conveyancing.

Skills

Health and social care, partnership working, service delivery and leadership, governance, public sector working, delivery of strategic plans and business planning.

Personal interests

Cooking, reading, and travelling - both internationally and across the UK in our recently acquired narrowboat and campervan!

Start date

KEY Deputy Chair - March 2020

KEY DAAC Chair - June 2024

Background and experience

Sam started working in housing in February 2006 as a Housing Assistant at New Prospect Housing. Sam currently works at Onward as a Policy and Research Specialist with the responsibility for leading on research projects influencing strategic and operational decisions. She is the Armed Forces lead, a Domestic Abuse Champion and sits on the Safeguarding Board at Onward.

Sam is passionate about customer engagement and housing management and brings lived experience as a social housing tenant to the role.

Sam is committed to professional development and has recently completed a Diploma in Social Housing with the Chartered Institute of Housing and a CIPR in Stakeholder Engagement.

Skills

Sam’s skills include project management, research and development, housing policy, customer engagement, performance collation and monitoring and housing management.

Personal interests

Sam spends her spare time keeping busy with her two young children and walking in the countryside with her dog.

Start date

KEY Trustee - March 2020

KEY DAAC Deputy Chair - June 2024

Background and experience

Esme brings to Key’s board several years of performance management experience within social housing. She is currently managing a pioneering three-year project to provide safe, secure homes for more than 400 people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless across Greater Manchester.

Before joining GMCA, Esme was an improvement manager for a housing provider in Salford, having held a range of other roles within the social housing sector.

As the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) project manager, her extensive network and contacts across ten local authorities ensure Key is plugged into best practices and can learn from her partnership approach.

Having recently graduated with a distinction and honours in her Master of Arts in Social Policy, Esme also supports the board with a practical and theoretical understanding of social policy analysis and research.

Her research background ensures Key is in a strong position to meet its obligations to report on performance, build confidence in its work and show how it meets the needs of clients, staff and stakeholders through appropriate reporting and measurement.

Start date

KEY Trustee, RWP  - September 2023

Background and experience

James has almost 20 years’ experience working in the not-for-profit and public sectors, including over ten years of management experience, as a frontline, middle and senior (programme) manager. James brings expertise and several years’ experience managing and advising on Health & Social Care projects, programmes and services in the public and third sectors. The majority of this experience has been in regard to mental health, learning disability and autism programmes and portfolios within the NHS, local government, wider public sector and third sector.

James gained frontline health and social care experience as a statutory Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA) and Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA). James has also been an internal and external trainer on the Mental Health Act 1983, Mental Capacity Act 2005 (including the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards / DoLS) and Care Act 2014, as well as having held research roles with a national academic institute (National Mental Health Institute, University of Nottingham) and as an Expert Advisor to the National Institute for Health and Social Care Excellence (NICE).

James is a certified Prince2 Practitioner and a Chartered Manager member of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).

Skills

Health and social care, mental health, learning disabilities, project and programme management, social policy and administration, service improvement and change management.

Personal interests

Adult health and social care, autism in childhood, carer and family experiences of autism

Background and experience

Linda is an experienced senior executive leader who has held a number of healthcare and public health roles at local, regional and national levels. She is a Regional Executive Director of Commissioning at NHS England (NHSE) and has previously worked as Director for NHSE’s National Elective Care Transformation Programme. She has also been an Honorary Colonel in the British Army, covering the 206 North West Multi Role Medical Regiment.

Linda is passionate about supporting people to achieve their potential and has worked extensively to address health inequalities, particularly in the North West of England.

Skills

Linda’s skills include strategic leadership and business planning; corporate governance and regulatory oversight; and equality, diversity and inclusion strategy and delivery.

Start date

KEY Trustee - June 2024

Background and experience

Kathy has twenty years’ experience of providing strategic communications support to senior leaders; leading teams; project management of corporate activities; and representing organisational interests with stakeholders internally and externally. She also has experience of leadership of corporate affairs functions including governance, planning, public affairs and leadership of equality, diversity and inclusion.

Kathy is the Director of Media, Engagement and Corporate Affairs for Greater Manchester Police and has worked previously in communications leadership roles for organisations including Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and BAE Systems PLC. She has participated in shadow boards at both the fire and rescue service and the NHS and has joined a number of discussion sessions led by the “women on boards” collective designed to encourage more women to become non-executive directors.

Skills

Kathy’s skills include strategic communications, stakeholder engagement, crisis and reputation management, and project management.

Start date

Shadow KEY Trustee - June 2024

Background and experience

Michelle has a track record of leading initiatives that integrate social responsibility into the organisation. She is the Director of People and Social Value at Identity Consult (a development and construction consultancy), where her responsibilities include developing and implementing social impact strategies, talent management and employee engagement.

Michelle is committed to aligning people strategies with corporate values, ensuring that every aspect of the organisation reflects a commitment to social responsibility. She has a passion for helping others and a strong belief in the transformative power of collective action.

Skills

Michelle’s skills include leadership, talent management, implementing social impact strategies, and developing community relations.

Personal interests

Michelle loves walking, running, reading and spending time with friends and family. 

Start date

KEY Trustee - June 2024

Background and experience

Jo is a strategic leader with 20 years’ experience in external relations within the higher education sector. She has experience of governance at Board level, as both an elected staff representative and as a member of the Executive Team at Teesside University.

Jo is experienced in initiating and embedding new strategies across external relations, securing improvements in media coverage, and overseeing reputation management and crisis communications. She is currently Executive Director of Communications and Development at Teesside University and leads a broad portfolio, including the university’s corporate social responsibility activity. Professional activities outside her career have included being an expert reviewer (public engagement) with the European Research Council, as well as a mentor and coach.

Skills

Jo’s skills include strategic communications, reputation management, public and civic engagement, public affairs and partnership development on a regional, national and international scale.

Personal interests

Jo likes to spend time outdoors, particularly walking in the countryside with her son, partner and dogs. She is an avid reader, sings in a community choir and loves to cook.

Start date

KEY Trustee - June 2024

Background and experience

Matthew is a communications and marketing professional, with experience across both the healthcare and humanitarian sectors. He has worked in senior communications roles for organisations including his current position at Start Network, a global network of NGOs and civil society organisations.

Matthew’s roles have included executing effective campaigns to engage audiences and improve organisational reputation; providing financial oversight; managing budgeting; and supporting business development/growth. He is a strong advocate of the power of community-based action and for funding to be made available to those local to people in need.

Matthew has a Masters by Research in Algerian history.

Skills

Matthew’s skills include press/media relations, policy formation and campaigns, strategic analysis, and internal/external communications within large and complex organisations in both the humanitarian and healthcare sectors.

Personal interests

Matthew is interested in history, language (he speaks French and Arabic), current affairs and politics. He also enjoys a number of sports (including football, golf and cricket) as well as cooking.