Hover over each image to view their bio.
Rachel Spencer
CEO of Reading Voluntary Action
Member
As CEO, Rachel is building a creative and dynamic VCSE in Reading so enabling residents to thrive. RVA hosts social prescribing link workers and Rachel sits on Reading’s HWB.
Katie Higginson
CEO of Community Impact Bucks
Deputy Chair
Katie led regional grant-making for Children in Need. CEO since 2019, she sits on the Bucks Health & Wellbeing Board and helps people find volunteering roles that they care about.
Philip Bell
CEO of Involve
Member
A qualified social worker, Phil has worked across health and social care. He joined Involve in 2019 to support community groups and local charities to grow and develop through training and networking. Involve also hosts social prescribing link workers.
William Butler
Chair
William held leadership roles in national charities like Addaction and Arthritis Care. He is Chair of Directory of Social Change and a patient representative on Thames Valley Cancer Alliance.
Laura Price
CEO of Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action
Member
Laura was a County Councillor for 8 years after an earlier career in publishing. She has led OCVA since 2020, offering training and advice to all kinds of VCSE organisations from football clubs to community larders. She sits on Oxfordshire’s HWB.
Garry Poulson
Director of Volunteer Centre West Berkshire
Member
Garry has spent 25 years as CEO advising and supporting the local VCSE in West Berkshire, especially community transport and befriending schemes.
Stephen Barnett
Alliance Director at BOB VCSE Health Alliance
Reports to
Stephen worked for professional leadership networks in social care, health and VCSE. From 2018, he combined strategic advisory work with running a young dementia club before taking up the Alliance role in 2022.
Emily Lewis-Edwards
Co-CEO of Community First Oxfordshire
Member
Emily’s organisation follows ABCD principles which focus on what’s strong not what’s wrong in communities. She has developed rural community transport schemes in Oxfordshire and worked on profiles of healthy communities.
Tim Parry
CEO at Connecting Communities in Berkshire (CCB)
Member
Tim has always had a fondness for the heritage, landscapes and communities that make up rural Berkshire and has been the charity’s CEO since 2012.
Steering Group
action Group Leaders
(All also members of our steering group)
Learning Disablities and Autism Action Group Leadership
Jane Stanford-Beale MBE
CEO of Autism Berkshire
Co-chair
Before becoming CEO in 2015, Jane spent 20 years in the IT project management. She was made an MBE in 2023 for services to autistic young people and their families.
Gita Lobo
CEO at Autism Family Support Oxfordshire
Co-chair
CEO since 2005, Gita leads AFSO's strategic development, fundraising, partnerships,and training. She has worked and volunteered in the VCSE since 1998 in the UK and overseas.
Mental Health Action Group Leadership
Andrea McCubbin
CEO of Buckinghamshire Mind
Chair
CEO since 2015 of a charity reaching 9000 people, Andrea is driven by her lived experience as a carer. She also co-founded an award-winning social enterprise.
Rebekah Sammut
Director of Development and Fundraising of One-Eighty
Vice-Chair
Rebekah has worked for 15 years in charities as a professional fundraiser and volunteer manager.
Ageing Well Action Group Leadership
Fiona Price
CEO of Age UK Berkshire
Chair
Fiona’s charity serves 18,000 older people and carers per year. She spent 10 years in retail business and has worked for four charities in business development roles, becoming CEO in 2017.
Jo Turner MInstF (Dip)
CEO of Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity
Vice-Chair
Jo was a senior civil servant in culture and sport policy before joining the charity sector as a professional fundraiser for hospices, then becoming CEO in 2018.
Core Team
Stephen Barnett
Alliance Director at
BOB VCSE Health Alliance
Stephen worked for professional leadership networks in social care, health and VCSE. From 2018, he combined strategic advisory work with running a young dementia club before taking up the Alliance role in 2022.
Dawn Newton
Comms Lead at BOB VCSE Health Alliance
