RNID Executive Group

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  Jackie Ballard - Chief Executive

  Jackie has had a long and varied career in the public and voluntary sectors. She studied Social Psychology at the London School of Economics and then went to her first job in psychiatric social work with the London Borough of Waltham Forest. She went on to work in Further and Community Education in Somerset from 1976 to 1992.

  She held elected office as a Town Councillor in Crewkerne, as a District Councillor in South Somerset and a County Councillor on Somerset County Council (1993-1997). From 1997 to 2001 Jackie was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Taunton. She was her party's spokesperson on Women's Issues and Local Government and later Deputy Home Affairs Spokesman with special responsibility for the voluntary sector.
    
  From 2001-2 Jackie spent nine months living and studying in Iran. On her return to the UK she was appointed Director General of the RSPCA where she stayed for 5 years. She has been Chief Executive of RNID since 22 October 2007.

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  Sherine Krause - Managing Director of External Engagement

  Sherine joined RNID from the MS Society where she was Director of Fundraising and Marketing, leading on strategic direction and the implementation of a varied programme of fundraising, branding, communication and marketing activities. Sherine's career has also included Trinity Hospice and The Royal Opera House.

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  Mike Adamson - Managing Director of Services

  Mike has a mix of senior level experience from the public, voluntary and private sectors. Prior to joining RNID as Director of Individual Services, he spent three years as Director of Commissioning for a Primary Care Trust (PCT). Before that he spent 10 years working with the British Red Cross, latterly as Director of Strategy. He has also worked as a management consultant and is on the board of the Nelson Trust, a charity focused on supporting clients recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.

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  Paul Breckell - Managing Director of Corporate Resources and Company Secretary

  Paul joined RNID in July 2007 from Church Mission Society where he was Director of Finance and Corporate Services. Previously he worked for Mildmay Mission Hospital and the Audit Commission. He is a member of the Charted Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and is also on their Voluntary Sector Panel. Since 2003, Paul has been Chair of Charity Finance Directors Group.

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  Sohaila Rastan - Chief Scientific Advisor

  Dr Rastan, a specialist in biotechnology and genetics, has had a rich and varied career with a background in both the voluntary and private sectors. This includes working for the Wellcome Trust, MRC Clinical Research Centre, SmithKline Beecham and MacMillan Cancer Support. She has served on many scientific committees, including the UK Government Gene Therapy Advisory Committee and the Board of the National Cancer Research Institute.

President

• The Rt Hon Lord Jack Ashley of Stoke CH

Vice Presidents

• James Strachan
  Peter Marks
  Malcolm Bruce MP
  Keith Butler-Wheelhouse

Patron

• HRH The Duke of Edinburgh KG, KT

Board of Trustees

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  Gerald Corbett - Chairman

  Gerald Corbett became Chairman of RNID in 2007. After studying history at Cambridge University, where he was a foundation scholar, he attended London and Harvard business schools. He joined Boston Consulting Group, which advises on corporate strategy, in the mid-1970s. In 1982 he joined electrical retailer Dixons, where he became group Financial Controller and Corporate Finance Director. Since then, he has been a director of 10 public companies and Chairman of four - including Woolworths and Britvic. He was Chief Executive of Railtrack from 1997 to 2006.

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  HRH The Countess of Wessex - Trustee

  One of the Countess of Wessex's chosen themes for her work is communication issues.  Her Royal Highness works on behalf of a number of charities and organisations which carry out work in this field. She is Patron of a variety of organisations including the Dyslexia Institute, Greater London Fund for the Blind, Mencap, the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, Vision 2020 UK and Royal School for Deaf Children in Margate.

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  Sir Rodney Brooke - Trustee

  Sir Rodney has a long experience in local government, culminating in service as Chief Executive of West Yorkshire County County Council, Westminster City Council and the Association of Metropolitan Authorities. He has chaired the General Social Care Council for seven years until November 2008; chaired the Bradford Health Authority and served as a non-executive director of a Primary Care Trust and a Community Trust, and on the Council of University College Hospital, London; and chaired the London Grants Review Board (2004-05) and the Commission on Governance in the Third Sector (2008). He is currently a member of the General Medical Council and the National Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care Records; and a director of the Internet Watch Foundation, Capacitybuilders (the Government agency designated to strengthen the capacity of the third sector) and the Tavistock Institute.

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  Ashley de Safrin - Trustee

  Ashley has a strong business background with many years working in the sales and marketing in the hospitality and tourism industries.  He has been advising businesses since 1990, especially small and medium sized businesses.  Working for Business Link in London since 2000 as a Business Adviser advising London restaurants and hotels.   He also has an MBA from Cranfield. 

  He can offer the RNID expertise especially in planning, marketing and communication.  He also believes businesses need to be able to address the needs of their deaf or hard of hearing staff in a sympathetic way. With the right support hearing loss need not be an obstacle for people in work.

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  Stephen Thomas - Trustee

  Stephen Thomas is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Luminar Group Holdings Plc which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1996, and subsequently has been built into the leading UK nightclub operator. He is a dynamic leader with a wealth of over 30 years experience within the leisure industry. Prior to the founding of Luminar in 1988 his career was with Rank Group and Whitbread.

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  Norman Black - Trustee

  Further details to follow shortly.

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  Stephen Hill - Trustee

  Stephen became a Trustee late in 2008. He studied Economics and Law at Cambridge before working with BCG, Guinness and Pearson. He spent six years running the Financial Times Group and in 2003 became CEO of the internet start up, Betfair; now one of the world's largest internet companies. Since 2006 he has run his own investment and property development companies, and been a senior adviser to a private equity fund. He currently serves on the board of Channel4 and on the Advisory Board of the Judge Business School in the University of Cambridge.

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  Caroline Cousin - Trustee

  Caroline was a senior civil servant in the Department for Communities and Local Government until 2007. She was a career Civil Servant, having also worked in the Ministry of Defence, Royal Mint and the Building Research Establishment. Caroline's expertise lies in providing strategic direction on policy, financial management and all matters of governance that are key to the senior civil service.

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  Matthew Holley - Trustee

  Matthew is Professor of Sensory Physiology and Head of the Department of Biomedical Science at the University of Sheffield. Over the past 20 years his research has focussed on the inner ear. He has served on research funding panels for The Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, RNID and Deafness Research UK and chaired our Medical Advisory Panel for two years to June 2007. He has tinnitus and mild hearing loss.

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  Judith Langfield - Trustee

  Recently retired from a medical career, Judith was elected as an RNID Trustee in October 2006.

  Judith studied medicine at London University and qualified in 1969. Her practice was awarded our ‘Louder than Words’ Charter, and Beacon status by the Department of Health, for providing access for patients with hearing loss. Judith has also been involved with a number of medical committees, including the Council of the British Medical Association (BMA). She has chaired a BMA disability working party, the Small Practices Association, and was Secretary of Avon Local Medical Committee.

  Judith has been an examiner for the Royal College of GPs, and a British Red Cross Medical Officer. She has progressive sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus.

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  Enid Rowlands - Trustee

  Enid is a director of the company she set up in 1997. Over the past 10 years she has lead a range of assignments in economic regeneration, change management and organisational development across the UK in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
   
  In addition she is currently a UK Board member of Consumer Focus and the North Wales Police Authority as well as RNID's Trustee for Wales. In addition to a long executive career in Education Training and Economics, she has held a number of other Board and Advisory appointments including Chair of North Wales Health Authority and of Education Learning Wales and board member of S4C, BBC, BT Advisory Board for Wales, UK Training Standards Council, Equal Opportunities Commission's Committee for Wales and The Prince's Trust Council for Wales.
   
  Enid is currently a Lay Member of the General Medical Council as from January 2009.

  Enid lives in North Wales and is a fluent Welsh speaker.

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  Janine Roebuck - Trustee

  Janine graduated from Manchester University with a BA Hons degree in French Studies.

  Despite being told that she could never be a singer because of her progressive deafness, Janine has enjoyed a career as a professional operatic soloist spanning 25 years.

  After attending Manchester University, she trained at the Royal Northern College of Music, the Paris Conservatoire and the National Opera Studio.

  For the past two years, she has been involved with 'Music and the Deaf', 'Sing Up' and Classic FM's Hear Here! workshops, 'Deafness – No Bar to Music'.

  For many years, Janine has campaigned on behalf of RNID for their telephone hearing check, reducing the stigma of deafness and lowering waiting times for hearing aids.