Meet the Team

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Ben has worked with adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults for over 10 years. Ben previously managed a local music festival. He loves going out for food (Chinese, especially) and watching live music.

Following her time as Chief Commercial Officer at an international intelligence firm, our super spy director Laura now runs her own start-up & marketing business called Nova Consultancy. Laura loves going out for nice meals and enjoys long walks with her dog, Jax. 

Chantelle is an established print designer at ASOS and has worked for brands such as Next, River Island and Boohoo. Chantelle's younger brother Ben is autistic and has Down's Syndrome and she enjoys spending time with him and going out for food. 

Dean has been a member of the board for a while and continuous to bring lived experience and a great sense of humour. He has worked at Glastonbury 2022 and likes to watch football as a Newcastle supporter!

Shaun is another member of the director board and helps people with learning disabilities through lived experience. He enjoys gardening, woodwork and above all deejaying at events including his own enterprise Inclusion. 

Lynn has over 20 years of experience working in the field of Health and Social care. For the last 10 years this has been at a strategic level. She loves walking with her two dogs Bella and Bruno.

 Anna manages our Creative Placements and Volunteer Project. Anna has a wealth of experience in working in communities on large scale arts and cultural projects and has managed a team of over 1,000 volunteers. 

Rachel supports our Managing Director, Ben and also provides HR support to the organisation. Rachel's younger brother Chris is one of our COSE Assistants. Rachel has two children and enjoys spending time with her family.

Stacy is the Centre Manager at the COSE, and facilitator for the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training team. She brings her years of experience in education to support staff and people we support. In her spare time she enjoys walks, family game nights and the gym.

 Ross is our Finance Lead based at The COSE, where he oversees all things finance-related. Away from work he's either keeping fit in the gym or at a Newcastle match. 

Aiden works at the COSE managing our social media, website and all things marketing. He's a very busy man and has two other jobs at a care home kitchen and working for Eric Knows charity. He is very active in his spare time, crafting, going to the gym and meeting friends. 

Jonathan coordinates our In-Work Support service, making sure the service runs seamlessly. Jonathan used to run his own dog-walking business and enjoys getting out for walks with his dog, Toby.

Jordy (guess where he’s from?!) once interviewed Beyonce when working on GMTV! Jordy has no sense of fear due to an operation - this has been scientifically proven by sending him off a 418ft tower!

Charlotte works in our workshop for our Creative Placements project. If you see her, she'll probably be wearing something green - her favourite colour! In her free time, she gardens at her allotment and goes on adventures with her children.

Charlotte runs her own business as a professional make-up artist. She was also the European Champion in Freestyle Dance in 2014! In her spare time she likes to go to the gym and takes her dog (Simba) on long walks.

Jayne is a professional artist specialising in glass and fabric printing. Jayne was commissioned to create The Weardale Tub on display at Killhope Lead Mining Museum - a replica of a lead-mining tub made of glass tiles designed by the community.

Anna is a professional artist and designer, who for has for the last 10 years delivered community and carnival arts in County Durham , but has professional experience in prop building and design, Visual Merchandising, shop fit and  window display, commercial interior design and architectural design. 

Donna works out in the community on our Keeping People Connected service and runs our Friendship Friday group and online fitness sessions! She loves early morning jogs along the sea front where she lives and enjoys sky diving, sea swimming and paddle-boarding. 

Rachel has worked with children with SEN in mainstream schools, she loves going out with her family and two dogs (Milo and Roxy) especially to the beach. She loves watching live music and catching up with friends at the pub over food and drink.

 Keith has worked as a teacher and is a qualified joiner. Keith supports the guys on our Creative Placements project, supporting people to gain work experience and learn new woodworking skills. 

 Deb supports our Volunteer Project, helping people gain sustainable volunteering roles in their community. Deb is very creative and runs a craft group for adults with a learning disability in her spare time. 

 Emily works on our Volunteer Project, supporting our Volunteer Incubators and providing 1-1 support for people to volunteer. Emily loves working with people and making a difference in their lives. 

Grant is one of our Senior In-Work Supporters responsible for supporting the success of the In-Work Support service. Grant lives with is partner and is heavily into Warhammer and listens to an eclectic variety of music. 

Rob lives with his wife Laura and children Finley and Eleanor. He loves spending time with his family going for days out. He likes to go to gigs/concerts. In his spare time he tries capturing wildlife photography.

Outside of work, Sarah likes to go travelling in her touring caravan. She has worked in many jobs and even used to manage her own pub in Evenwood for a while. She is very close to her family of three children.

Angela is a member of the In-Work Support team at Bridge Creative and spends a lot of her free time going on walks, travelling with her children and going to live concerts. She also met Tom Hardy believe it or not!

Jack has come along way since he joined our team!  He is a huge international rugby fan and enjoys travelling to new locations and learning about countries and cultures. He has even met and had dinner with his hero, international rugby manager Eddie Jones, who took the time to chat one to one with Jack too! 

Neil is a professional photographer and is a member of the In-Work Support team at Bridge Creative. He also enjoys playing golf and snooker in his spare time and is a very outdoor person who likes to go camping.

Jess had left the UK to go travelling for 5 years; she settled down in Australia to work as a Restaurant Manager. She met her partner and decided to relocate back to the UK in Sedgefield. Now she enjoys going to the gym and taking the dog for long walks. She decided to join us because she loves our values and making a difference in peoples' lives.

Josh is a member of our In-Work Support team and runs his own barber shop in County Durham. Josh has previously worked as a disability sports coach with children and brings a wealth of experience to the team.

John Paul delivers our Oliver McGowan training and Inclusive Employment training. He is also a leisure assistant and lifeguard at Woodhouse Close Leisure Centre. John Paul keeps the team motivated with his infectious positive energy.

Simon is on our Oliver McGowan training team and he enjoys spending his spare time playing football and listening to music. He enjoys online gaming and has a pet guinea pig and hamster.

Martyn has recently joined our Oliver McGowan team. He is also busy working for CQC and Eric Knows charity that helps disabilities find accessible things to do. Martyn is very outgoing and likes visiting new places and loves coffee - you'll always see him with a cup of coffee when he's in town! He always brings positive energy into the room. 

Callum is one of the Expert by Experience staff for Oliver McGowan and delivers training to people about autism. He is a Doctor Who fan and likes reading fantasy books like Discworld. He is good at drawing. 

Michael enjoys playing golf and watching football in his spare time. Michael is a part of our Expert Training Team delivering Oliver McGowan Training and Inclusive Employment Training.

Lucas is a member of our training team, delivering Oliver McGowan training to health and social care staff.