Phillipa is a long-term family carer who has always combined employment with caring for her adult son with learning disabilities and for her husband with cancer, Lewy Body Dementia and heart failure. She was Chair of the Government’s Standing Commission on Carers from 2007 until 2014 and is Vice-President of Carers UK and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. A Topic Adviser to NICE for ther Guideline and Quality Standard on Support for Adult Carers, she is a member of the ADASS Carers Policy Network and a Board Member of TLAP. She was Co-Chair of the Unpaid Carers Advisory Group of the Government’s Adult Social Care Covid-19 Task Force and is a member of the Minister’s ‘Lived Experience’ Reference Group (with regard to forthcoming social care reform).

Adrian read a Pharmacology degree at Kings College London before starting Medicine at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. He has always had an interest in the inequality of care for Older People writing a Student Prize winning essay for the British Geriatrics Society in 1991 (the Amulree prize). He stayed on at the Royal London Hospital for his first House job in Respiratory, Oncology and Haematology Medicine before he decided to pursue a career in General Practice and continue to work clinical sessions to this day. He visits a care home on one or two sessions a week. He is passionate about the role of GPs not only in the delivery of healthcare but also in leading Health systems by working to improve the health of populations whilst living within the allocated health resources. He became a board member of the Windsor and Ascot Primary Care Group in 1999 and took on a lead role for Older People’s Services, developing local falls services and working with the local authority on an Older People’s Partnership Board. He continued to support the PCT until about 2005 when he left to take on a role as Medical Director for East Berkshire Out of Hours. He returned to work as a locality lead in Berkshire East PCT in 2012 in preparation for Clinical Commissioning,followed by 5 years as Clinical Chair for Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead CCG. In 2015 he supported the NHS Confederation’s commission on examining care gaps in urgent care for Older people which led to the publication of ‘Growing Old Together’ in 2016. In the same year he was also elected to the board of NHSCC as a regional representative. He remains involved in the Frimley Leadership and Improvement Academy as an executive board member and helped deliver the 2020 and Wavelength programmes. He also supports the Frimley ICS as a clinical lead in the Integrated Care Decision work stream, the Frailty advisory Board and the Connected Care Programme. In October 2019 he was appointed National Clinical Director for Older people and Integrated Person-Centered Care, NHS England & NHS Improvement and he supports their clinical team for the Ageing Well programme. Earlier this year he was also appointed NED for Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

Jackie is an Independent Consultant specialising in Independent Living and age-related healthcare innovation. Formerly Lead Specialist on Innovate UK’s Assisted Living Platform she led several high-profile national innovation business challenges. She led Innovate UK’s first research focused £8m collaboration with the ESRC and EPSRC in 2009 on ‘Social and Behavioural Studies’. She designed and led Innovate UK’s first ever £2m collaboration in 2010 with the Design Council, ‘Independence Matters: Design & Technology Improving Quality of Life’. Jackie was one of the chief architects of the largest assisted living demonstrator project in the world, the £37.3m programme Delivering Assisted Living Lifestyles at Scale (DALLAS) in 2012. Jackie’s reputation as a visionary and leading thinker in the ageing domain is inextricably linked to the Long-Term Care Revolution SBRI National Challenge (£8m), which she designed and delivered between 2013 and 2016. She was the UK’s representative in the Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme between 2009-2015. Jackie is a Registered Nurse specialising in the care of older adults and a registered Nurse Teacher. She is an E-Tutor and Module Leader on the MSc pre-registration nursing programme at Birmingham City University and remains clinically active to this day. Inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2016, Jackie is an unrelenting advocate for humancentric approaches to innovation and system change.

Jackie is Mencap’s Executive Director of Communications, Advocacy and Activism and is also one of the three chairs of the Care and Support Alliance. She grew up all over the North of England before the bright lights of London lured her away. Since then she has worked in several Government Departments, done a stint at the European Commission in Brussels and worked in the food industry. Jackie's last role before joining Mencap was as Director of National Lottery Good Causes. She joined Mencap in January 2018 and is really proud to part of the Mencap team. She lives in Hackney with three West Ham supporters.

Karin is Director of the Practice and Innovation team at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, the professional body for occupational therapists in the UK. This includes; • ensuring RCOT and our profession have a strong voice and presence nationally and internationally; • working with members, external stakeholders and partners to strengthen the evidence base that shows the impact of occupational therapy; • promoting a culture of research and service innovation; and • driving forward and support undergraduate education pathways to build a resilient and sustainable workforce. Karin has worked at RCOT for over ten years in several roles, most recently heading up the Professional Practice team. Karin is a registered occupational therapist. Before joining RCOT, she worked in mental health for 22 years in a variety of settings from inpatient to community-based services. Karin has also worked for the South-East Strategic Health Authority and delivered training and supervision services as an independent practitioner.

Kelly is the GMB National Social care lead and has worked at the GMB as a trade union official for over 18 years. Previously Kelly worked as a Care worker and has had several years’ experience working across the sector. Kelly is experienced with representing workers in both the Public and Private Sectors at national and local level on a range of issues pertaining to government policy, social and political matters. Kelly is a member of the Social Care Fair Work forum in Wales and is chair of the Joint Council of Wales, representing GMB members across local authorities. GMB is campaigning for sectorial bargaining across the care sector and is campaigning a £15 per hour for all social care workers and for minimum sets of terms and conditions for which recognises and rewards the professional skills of care workers. GMB is a general union with over 600,000 members; GMB Public Service sector has membership across all Public Services and is the lead union for the Private Care Sector.

Czajka Care Group was formed in 1983 and has been developed into the largest Independent Sector Care Provider in Bradford. The Company owns 5 Nursing and Residential Care Homes, owns and manages 51 Retirement Houses and Apartments and until a few years ago owned a Homecare and Domiciliary Company with 3 Offices in Yorkshire. The BCA was formed a number of years ago in order to collaborate and cooperate with the Local Authority, the CCG and other strategic partners. Konrad states that it is a privilege to be the Chair of the BCA and influence the decision-making process.

Laurence Geller CBE is a highly successful businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist, with over 60 years of hospitality and care experience. Following personal experience of the cruel effects of dementia in his family, Laurence resolved to take his significant experience to the care sector. He founded Loveday & Co, a leading provider of luxury specialist dementia care homes in the UK to revolutionise the way care is provided. The company partners with Universities of West London, Stirling, and Roehampton to ensure its services remain on the cutting edge of best practice. Laurence also holds significant philanthropic interests. He currently serves as the Chancellor of the University of West London, where he founded the Geller Institute of Ageing and Memory. In 2018, he donated £1 million to establish a new Institute for Dementia Care (IDC). He is also Founder and Chairman of the charity, Love of the Game, which is tackling the issues of head traumas in sport through tech innovation. This has been instrumental in the UK government’s response to the issue, with Laurence resultingly being appointed as the independent Ministerial Advisor on Concussion.

Marie is a Project Manager for Skills for Care. She mainly work on projects about social care for people who have a learning disability and autistic people. She investigates what workforce development is needed for good social care to happen. She advises on policies and help employers and trainers to make the changes needed. She has been a care assistant, a nurse for people with a learning disability, run daytime, residential and community support services and been a volunteer. Her family includes two autistic people, and she is on the autism steering group with her local authority in Durham, representing ‘autism families’. She has also cared for a family member who had dementia managing personal assistants and other social care support for him. For fun she loves amateur dramatics, walking her dogs, music, sewing, yoga and crochet!

Martin is Chief Executive of care innovator Belong, joining the award-winning organisation earlier in the year to lead the next phase of its expansion, ahead of the opening of three new villages. Belong operates seven vibrant dementia care villages, which act as the hub of their local communities, offering a range of outreach and village-based services to support people as their needs change. These include specialist home care, day care and an Admiral Nurse service, as well as independent living apartments, a range of amenities and 24-hour nursing and dementia care. Previously, Martin was Chief Operating Officer at Norse Care assuming overall leadership of the organisation in early 2020 and was accountable for Norse Care’s portfolio of 36 care homes and housing with care schemes and responsible for approximately 1,600 residents and a similar number of people. He is skilled in managing complex care organisations and puts people at the heart of operations. Combining extensive experience in specialist dementia and nursing settings with a strong track record in development projects, Martin is focused on ensuring that innovation, excellence and quality outcomes continue to drive Belong’s development as the organisation expands and evolves its services. Martin is a collaborative and entrepreneurial social care leader, who started his career in property consultancy before developing a passion for social care. He is a Chartered Management Surveyor and Civil Engineering graduate.

Melanie has been a dedicated member of FSB since 2009, holding several roles including Regional Chair Notts and Derby (from 2012 to 2018) and Policy Representative (from 2017 to 2018). She has also been active with her area’s Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) groups, Sheffield City Region and Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Region, having secured a seat on the Derbyshire LEP Board in 2015. She was also appointed Chair of the Skills and Employment Commission, Chair of the Growth Hub and Small Business Champion. Her work demonstrates her zeal as an outstanding ambassador for small businesses and this has led to her being honoured with an MBE for services to business and entrepreneurship in 2017. Melanie has been deeply involved in FSB’s policy work and understands the challenges and wider economic drivers that small businesses face; her activity with the England Policy Unit is informed by this and has led to good working relationships with local MPs, as well as visits to No 10 on behalf of FSB. She believes FSB must be a listening organisation that is dynamic and responsive to what its members say, harnessing a ‘you said, we did’ dialogue. Melanie started her own business in 2006, which she has built up to an award-winning organisation today, with more than 130 staff. She has knowledge and experience of working with businesses at both national and SME level, and has been employed by member organisations on major national projects. This experience – combined with her first-hand knowledge of the grassroots FSB network - provides her with a unique skillset that she brings to the FSB Board. Her vision is to support FSB’s evolution, making it a more prosperous, better connected, and increasingly resilient and competitive organisation.

With 33 years in social care, Mike Padgham is a leading and influential figure in a sector which looks after our oldest and most vulnerable people. Mike is managing director of the growing, family-owned and award-winning Saint Cecilia’s Care Group, which owns three care homes, two nursing homes and a day care centre in North Yorkshire. Since 2001 Mike has been chair of the Independent Care Group a representative body for care providers in York and North Yorkshire. He has taken the group way beyond its regional role to become a national voice for social care, campaigning to get a fairer deal for the sector. Mike is an unflagging champion for social care, prepared to speak out, when others might shy away, gaining vital media coverage, including prime-time news bulletins. Mike is also immediate past Chair of the Homecare Association (previously the United Kingdom Homecare Association. He led it through a period of change and restructure, strengthening it, growing its membership and raising its profile. It is now the foremost voice for homecare in the UK. Mike is a former non-executive director of Care England and is on the York Health and Wellbeing Board, the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Adults Board and the North Yorkshire Strategic Partnership. Mike also holds non-executive director posts on several different companies. Over the past two years Mike has been a leading spokesman on the impact Covid-19 is having on the social care sector. He has responded to and answered hundreds of press requests providing television, radio and newspaper pieces for local, regional, national and international media.

Oonagh is CEO of Skills for Care and an accredited executive coach. Prior to starting in Skills for Care in 2020, Oonagh was the Executive Director of Strategy and Influence in Mencap, her role covered three countries and she led governance, strategy, programme delivery and influencing work. Oonagh has held senior roles at the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action and the Northern Ireland Equality Commission, Westminster Equalities Partnership and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. She is a former Co-Chair of the Care and Support Alliance, which is a cross-sector alliance of 80 social care organisations influencing at the highest government levels.

Claire is Professor of Dementia Studies and Director of the Centre for Dementia Research at Leeds Beckett University. Her research addresses care and support for people living with dementia and those who care for them. She has a particular interest in designing and implementing interventions and approaches to improving formal dementia care services and care, with a focus on care homes and general hospitals. Her current areas of research focus are the care experiences and support needs of people with both cancer and dementia and interventions to support care home and acute hospital staff to deliver high quality dementia care. Claire is also internationally recognised for her research and academic leadership around dementia education and training for the health and social care workforce.

Deborah was appointed CNO Adult Social Care in September 2021 and interim 9 months prior from her post as Director of Health & Wellbeing at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Deborah has worked with older people in both health and social care throughout her career in a number of roles including clinical practice, management and research. Deborah held the position of Nurse Advisor for Older People at the Department of Health in national government for 10 years. She holds two Visiting Chair’s in Nursing at Manchester Metropolitan, and Bucks New University. She has published widely on issues relating to nursing older people and have presented as multiple national and international conferences. In April 2015 she was appointed as the expert nurse to the Gosport Independent Panel by the Minister for Care Services on behalf of the government. She was awarded the OBE in the 2017 New Year Honours List for services to older people dementia care and nursing. She is the only nurse recipient of the British Geriatric Society Presidents Medal awarded in 2011. She also received this and the Nursing Times Inspirational Nurse Leaders award in 2015.She was made a Fellow of the Queen’s Nursing Institute in 2018 and a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing in 2019.

Stephen is the Executive Director for Operations at HC-One, the UKs largest care provider who specialise in residential, dementia and nursing care for thousands of older people in care homes across England, Scotland and Wales. Prior to this, Stephen was Managing Director, leading and supporting HC-One homes across the North East, Yorkshire and Cumbria. Stephen started his career in manufacturing where he held a number of senior positions in IT, Project and Change Management before joining the Health and Social Care sector in 2012. Outside of work, Stephen loves spending time with his 2 children and is big football fan, being a season ticket for his local team Middlesbrough Football Club.

Sue has worked within the elderly social care sector for over 28 years including hands on support and care, business management and strategic planning, marketing and fundraising and specialising in Nutrition, Hydration and Dementia. Sue has been the Chief Executive of Harrogate Neighbours Housing Association for 16 years supporting older people in the care and Extra Care Sector and the Meals on Wheels Service and received the Queens Award for Volunteers for her food service in June 2020. Sue has been a member of the National Association of Care Catering holding various roles including National Chair in 2007/8 and then taking over as National Chair again in 2019.