Our Board of Trustees

Our highly qualified board are responsible for developing strategic directions and plans for Age UK Hertfordshire, and overseeing implementation

John Ellis, Chair

John joined as a trustee early in 2017 and brings with him a wide range of experience from the charity sector, including fundraising, volunteering and retail. He worked for Barnardo's for approaching 30 years in a variety of roles including Deputy Director for Volunteering. John has been involved in a number of charity organisations; he was Vice Chair of the National Network of Volunteer Involving Agencies, Chair of The Stock & Recycling Group of The Charity Retail Association, and he also chaired the Advisory Group for Modernising Volunteering.

Paul Franc

Paul joined Age UK Hertfordshire as a trustee having previously been with Age UK Dacorum, also as a trustee for three years, before it merged with AUK Herts.

He spent his working life in private industry across a variety of sectors including office equipment, computers, oil and the waste industry with a spell seconded into Defra and the Environment Agency. He brings a broad spectrum of management experience in diverse disciplines such as HR, finance, marketing and project management amongst others and has worked in locations throughout the UK.

Since retiring, he has worked with local charities including Citizens Advice and Sunnyside Rural Trust and continues to volunteer with Age UK.

Married with three married children, he has six grandchildren and has been in Dacorum for 42 years. Formally with the local Round Table, he is now an active member of the local Rotary club and is organising the annual Half Marathon to raise monies for local causes.

Paul looks forward to enhancing the work of Age UK across Hertfordshire and to developing the charity to support older people and their changing needs.

Rob Kember

Rob trained as a Biomedical Scientist, specialising in microbiology, and worked in the NHS for ten years before joining a Not for Profit Pharmaceutical Company. During his 35 years in the Industry, he held a variety of posts in both the technical and commercial departments. This background has given Rob in depth insights into Healthcare in its widest context.

Since 2012, Rob has been a Non-Executive Director of a Not for Profit Care Home company in Hertfordshire. This experience made him aware of the issues facing those people living with Dementia and their carers, so he underwent the training to become a Dementia Friends Champion with the Alzheimer’s society. This involves delivering Dementia information sessions to a wide variety of groups in the local community.

Rob is keen on travel, wildlife, sport, especially rugby and cricket, and for nearly 30 years was a keen boater holding a Day Skippers certificate with the RYA. Married with two grown up children, Rob is now looking forward to contributing to the work of Age UK Hertfordshire to improve the lives of older people in the County.

Deepali Manek

Deepali is the Head of Partnerships and Business Development at the King's Fund, where she leads the development and growth of the charity's corporate partnerships and policy income generation work.

Deepali brings a wealth of experience of statutory income generation and strategic business development in both the private and voluntary sectors, and worked at the children's charity Barnardo's for several years. During her time at Barnardo's, Deepali worked on intergenerational care models for residential care, and was inspired to do more to support vulnerable older people in society.

She is excited to have the opportunity to support Age UK Herts to grow its reach and service footprint, to support even more people across Hertfordshire.

Deepali holds an MBA from Cranfield University and is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.

Steve Quiddington

Steve became a Trustee in late 2022 having worked at and volunteered for AUKH during the previous 5 years mainly on Information Technology and Facilities projects.

Steve has a background in change management and business strategy. He worked initially as a consultant and then ran a number of different businesses in the financial services sector.

Steve then moved into the charity sector working for the local hospice for nearly 10 years. He supported the CEO in continuously improving operational processes, particularly in Information Technology, business planning and management reporting.

Since retiring Steve spends his time with his family, helping his daughters with DIY projects and looking after grandchildren.

Sam Tappenden

Sam is currently the Director of Development for East and North Hertfordshire Health and Care Partnership.

Sam has held a number of senior management roles in the NHS including Director of Strategy, Associate Director of Strategy and Transformation, and Head of Business Management.

Sam has previously held role in range of other sector including law enforcement, local government, and social enterprise, and has held non-executive and voluntary roles in a variety of sectors, including as a Special Constable in South Wales Police, Hertford Museum, and most recently for Hertfordshire Independent Living Service.

Sam is married, has two young children, and lives in Stotfold.

Jody Tate 

Jody is Director of Research at The Health Policy Partnership (HPP), a health policy research organisation based in London.

Jody leads HPP's research team and is responsible for research standards and quality across all projects.

Jody also leads numerous research projects across the company, this has included policy initiatives in areas affecting older people including vaccination of older people, atrial fibrillation and osteoporosis. Through this work, Jody has become acutely aware of the need to support older people to live full, healthy and fulfulling lives.

Jody would like to use her experience in public health, health policy and business to support Age UK in Hertfordshire and is looking forward to working with the team.  

Linda Westaway

Linda has a career background in senior Human Resources and Learning & Development across a range of sectors, Higher Education, Pharma, Technology and Charity.

She has worked as a Freelance HR /Learning & Development Consultant and as a University Lecturer.

After working as a non-executive Director in the NHS she is currently involved as a member of the Patient & Public Group with the Royal College of Surgeons; a role that seeks to ensure that patients and their carers have a voice.

Linda is keen to use her combination of HR & Organizational Management skills and NHS experience to help and support the work of Age UK Hertfordshire.

Jenny Wiles

Jenny joined Age UK Hertfordshire as a trustee in March 2019. Jenny has experience of organisational development and change in both local and central government, having worked as a Civil Servant for 15 years in a number of government departments including the Department for Work and Pensions, Home Office, Defra, and International Development. Prior to that she worked for Hertfordshire County Council in a range of HR roles.

Jenny has served as a secondary school Governor, and has led a team of volunteers developing a vocational training centre in east Africa, including fundraising.  She finished full time work in 2016, and since then has continued to do voluntary work for the Woodland Trust and Oxfam. 

Jenny hopes that her experience working with leaders and change in the public sector will provide a valuable contribution and support  to Age UK Hertfordshire and it’s Board of Trustees.