Trustees

Toby joined Age UK as Chair of the Board in January 2022.

Toby was the Chair of Brewin Dolphin, a wealth management firm, from February 2021 to September 2022. He served as a Trustee of Macmillan from 2013 – 2022, during which time he supported the organisation to drive significant change as it evolved its services to be ever more effective for people affected by cancer, particularly people in groups that are seldom heard. Toby also served as a non-executive director on the board of Legal & General until April 2022.

Toby has had a varied career that included digital transformation, technology, strategic consulting - including at McKinsey - and wealth management. Most recently, before shifting to a non-executive and charitable focus in his career, Toby was Group Director for Insurance and CEO of Scottish Widows, part of the Lloyds Banking Group, and UK Life CEO at Aviva.

Sharon became a trustee of Age UK in September 2017.

Sharon brings to the role over 30 years' experience of working in the voluntary, social care and supported housing sectors.

Sharon is chief executive officer of Cambridge-based Arthur Rank Hospice Charity. She was previously chief executive officer of Skills for Care, the charity that works with social care employers and other partners to create a well-led, skilled and person centred workforce and is the delivery partner of the Department of Health and Social Care.

A qualified social worker and housing professional, Sharon is also board member and chair of the Operations Committee of the CHS Group (housing association) in Cambridge.

Sharon has held a wide range of non-executive roles across the voluntary and housing sectors, including being vice-chair of ACEVO, the network for charity leaders, and a Trustee of a number of charitable organisations and housing associations.

Sharon was awarded an OBE in June 2015 for services to social care, homeless people and housing.

Nick joined Age UK’s Board of Trustees in September 2022.

His experience within the brand and marketing group WPP as a NED and Senior Adviser includes brand, marketing and communications challenges and change, across complex stakeholder landscapes global and regional, with clients including Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, Unilever, Kraft, Kellogg, Citibank, LG Electronics, Jaguar Motor Cars, Mattel, Special Olympics – and Mecca Bingo. For the last ten years, he has been working as a Global Brand Director.

Nick recently concluded six years as a Trustee for the UK health and social care charity founded on addressing alcohol and drug addiction, Change Grow Live, where he chaired the Brand and Business Development Committee, oversaw change management and led the team to recruit the current Chair and new Trustees. He is currently a Senior Adviser for Quadrant Strategies, a global consultancy based in Washington DC.

In a world often driven by a cult of the young, he is passionate about the deep value older people bring to society.

Carol joined Age UK as a Trustee in 2020.

Carol has worked in the field of organisation development and transformational change for over thirty years. She began her career as a psychologist in the NHS before running her own successful consultancy, applying psychology to enhance individual, team and organisational effectiveness.

Carol has worked in the public and private sectors across Europe, North America and the Middle East, from the NHS to multinationals, smaller enterprises and UK charities.

Carol is the Chair of Together for Mental Wellbeing, one of the country’s oldest mental health charities, and Vice-Chair of Central London Community NHS Trust. She is a Trustee of the RAF Museum and is a member of Council at the University of Roehampton.

Previous board appointments include Hounslow and Richmond Community NHS Trust, Vice-Chair of Deafness Research UK, a Trustee at Action on Hearing Loss and Vice-Chair of the Association of Business Psychologists. She has been a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University and the King’s Fund as well as a senior associate of the National School of Government. She is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

Mike Dixon joined the Age UK Board in October 2017 and has held a variety of roles during his time as a Trustee as both a member and Chair on different Boards and Committees.  A chartered accountant, Mike brings considerable commercial and charity experience to the Board and has a focus on strong financial governance.

Since retiring from his role as Director of Finance and Performance at RBLI, Mike has had more time to combine his love of family and the outdoors with a range of voluntary and community roles. Over the last thirty years he has held senior financial and leadership positions with blue chip organisations in both the commercial and not for profit sectors, at PWC, HSBC and the Charities Aid Foundation. Mike has significant not-for-profit governance experience, having been a trustee of With You (formerly Addaction) and Future Care Capital and a non-executive director of Surrey Community Health.

Jackie joined the board of Age UK in May 2021 and is the Chair of the Strategic Finance Committee.

Jackie is a Chartered Accountant bringing over 30 years commercial and third sector experience having worked in the retail, hospitality and not for profit sectors.  She was formerly the Finance Director of PizzaExpress and her last senior appointment was as Executive Director of Corporate Services for the charity Marie Curie.

Jackie is also a trustee of Shape Arts and The Roundhouse Trust and chairs their Finance & HR committee and Business, Audit and Risk committee respectively.

Jackie now combines her governance roles with interim and consultancy projects in both the commercial and not for profit sectors.

As CEO of Home Instead UK and International, Martin Jones MBE is responsible for leading Home Instead’s operations across its 10 international markets and the UK. Home Instead is the world’s largest provider of home care services, delivering over 10 million hours of care in the UK across its 246 locations.

Home Instead works deeply embedded in communities to provide high-quality and relationship-led care to older people, enabling them to stay safe and in the comfort of their homes as they age. Home Instead was acquired by Honor Technology in 2021, bringing together a revolutionary care operations platform with Home Instead’s international reach to expand the world’s capacity to care for a rapidly ageing population.

Martin’s role as CEO is to continue the development of the Home Instead brand, helping establish Home Instead as the most admired care company and as an employer of choice within the sector. Alongside his passion for supporting families in finding the right care for their loved ones, he's dedicated to providing careers in care that are fulfilling and make the best use of people's skills and experience.

Martin’s non-executive and Trustee roles include Chair of the Homecare Association, Chair of The Care Workers’ Charity and Trustee of Age UK.

Martin was recently awarded an MBE in the New Year's Honours list 2023 for his services to older people.

Ann joined the Age UK Board in July 2022.

Ann spent over two decades working for the UK government in the UK and overseas, including several posts with diplomatic status and Senior Civil Service roles. Her extensive career in international development included posts in Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Caribbean, Belgium, USA and the UK. She is currently Senior Fellow with the NGO Women in Global Health. Ann has been CEO of two global health NGOs, was Head of Gender Equality for the UK Government and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Representative in Pakistan. Ann has also been a member of the BBC Appeals Advisory Committee and has served on several charity boards.

Between 2008 and 2012 Ann was CEO of the International Diabetes Federation and in 2009 founded the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Alliance. Ann's vision was to convene a new global NCD civil society movement to confront the misconceptions about NCDs and catalyse political action and as Chair of the Alliance she led the successful campaign for the 2011 UN High Level Summit on NCDs.

Ann is Chair of the Age International Board.

Dawn has worked within the Age UK network for 25 years and is passionate about making more of later life.

Dawn started her career in accountancy with Grant Thornton where she quickly became the in-house charity expert which led to her being headhunted to work for one of her charity clients, she has now worked in various charity sector roles for over 29 years.

Dawn is currently the Group Chief Executive for Age UK North Tyneside where she provides leadership to the Group which includes the charity Age UK North Tyneside and its two subsidiary companies specialising in care and housing. She represents older people as a member of the North Tyneside Cabinet, North Tyneside Health & Wellbeing Board, North Tyneside Ageing Well Board and North Tyneside Mental Wellbeing in Later Life Board.

Dawn is a Non-Executive Director and Co-Deputy Chair of the Age England Association, previously North-East Representative, and Non-Executive Director for EveryDay Homes.

Dawn believes that “Together Everyone Achieves More” and with the right support and training anyone can achieve anything. Age UK North Tyneside has been recognised for its achievements, nationally, regionally and locally, particularly during Covid-19, and most recently winning the North East Registered Home Care Manager Award at the Great British Care Awards.

Preeti joined the Board of Trustees in September 2022.

She believes in the increasing need for equity and inclusion for all in society and the power that technology can play in providing equal opportunities in society.

Preeti is a qualified accountant, coach and mentor with over two decades of global experience in risk, internal audit and governance across various industries and geographies, and is currently the Global Head of Internal Audit at Vodafone. Her extensive experience provides a deep understanding of the risks and governance requirements across sectors. She is passionate about the opportunities to use technology in achieving our vision and purpose.

She has been inspired to leverage her experience and skills from the private sector into the social sector and is a trustee of Brandon Trust (UK), a charity focused on supporting people with learning disabilities, as well as the Vodafone Foundation in Egypt – where the focus is on expanding the reach of education through digital channels.

She was drawn to Age UK’s vision of a world where everyone can love later life – which is congruent to her hope of a future world that is inclusive, respectful and sustainable.

Julia started her career as an Occupational therapist in the NHS and later worked in Social Care in a range of roles. In 2001 she was seconded to the Department of Health & Social Care to complete policy guidelines relating to Integrated Community Equipment Services.

Julia was appointed Chief Executive of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) in 2006, having previously served as Vice Chair of Council and having been Chair of RCOT’s Ethics Committee. She brought to the role her passion for social care and person-centred services and established numerous social care related networks that led to an increased profile of the profession within the sector. Alongside this, she worked collaboratively with the Allied Health Professions Federation and supported closer working amongst AHPs. Her understanding of local government arrangements also led her to identify the need for a greater public and political profile for the organisation and its members, and public affairs activity was established and developed under her leadership.

Having led the professional body for 15 years and supported the achievement of Royal status, financial stability and the highest membership ever for the organisation, Julia bid it farewell in February 2021 and is now enjoying the “portfolio” stage of her career and engaging in a number of new ventures.

Awards received include an Honorary Fellowship from Brunel University, a Fellowship from Skills For Care and a Fellowship from the Royal College of Occupational Therapists. She was also the first Occupational therapist to be awarded a Social Care Fellowship from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE).

Roy joined Age UK as a Trustee in 2020.

Roy has spent the last two decades focused on digital transformation in healthcare across Europe, North America and Asia. His interest lies in the collaboration of government, academia, charities and providers in the adoption of innovative technologies in health and care settings. He has a focus on the issues of older people globally, as a Trustee of Age International, and locally, as a Trustee of Age UK Bath & North East Somerset.

Roy is the Chief Executive of Healthinnova, a global healthcare consultancy. He is a Non-Executive Director at the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust. He also sits on the Public Health Research committee at the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

Roy’s past experience includes leadership roles in GE Healthcare, Microsoft, the World Health Organisation, Epic and Telstra. He holds degrees in mathematics, computer science, health economics and international health policy.

Lynda joined Age UK as a Trustee in 2023.

Most recently, Lynda was CEO of Macmillan Cancer Support, stepping down from the role in 2022. Lynda joined Macmillan in 2001 as Head of Media and Campaigns and Deputy Director Communications. In 2011 she became Head of Fundraising and then became interim Chief Executive in November 2014 before being appointed to the role permanently the following year.

Lynda hasn't taken on a new permanent role, choosing instead to focus on her non-executive career, including being Chair of the Norfolk Community Health & Care Trust and continuing to serve as an independent member on the Cwm Taf Morgannwg NHS Board.

Prior to her role at Macmillan, Lynda also worked for the NSPCC and Action for Children.

Helen has 25 years senior level experience as a CEO, Non-Executive Director, trustee and Chair setting and managing long term strategic transformation. She has been CEO of Age UK West Sussex, Brighton & Hove for 5 years and is presently Chair of Worthing Homes Community Trust and Board member of Worthing homes as well as governor of University Hospital’s Sussex. Working across the widest range of stakeholders and partners she has a reputation as a leading governance expert and anti-poverty strategist working system wide to both set and embed complex system change. Helen established and led the advice lines at the Charity Commission supporting charities across the UK.  Helen has also held leadership positions at the New Opportunities Fund, Community Matters, Directory of Social Change, Advising Communities and she is presently an advisory panel member for the charity law unit at the University of Liverpool and is guest lecturer at a variety of institutions in the field of charity management, good governance, income diversification and resource management. 

 With a BA in Sociology and Theatre Studies and post graduate qualifications in business management, Helen has also led social research in the field of conflict resolution and arbitration in the charity sector and has developed large scale service improvements and new business opportunities leading to 100% growth of income within senior management roles she has held.  

Helen has extensive knowledge of the network having visited and supported many partners. Helen has provided governance and employment support, sharing fundraising expertise and sector knowledge to allow others to flourish. She has supported smaller organisations around quality assurance and provided mentoring to other CEO’s and their boards. She is passionate about the importance of the network as a movement a find consensus and work collectively wherever possible and to help others who are struggling to see the value in trying to achieve something together.

Helen has worked across the equalities sector as well and most notably chaired the Women’s Resource Centre (WRC) nationally. Helen  helped write the code of governance for small organisations and continues to ensures Good Governance and collaborative leadership is embedded wherever she chairs.