The newly formed Communications Committee, tasked with shaping and guiding the overarching communications strategy for the charity. This committee, made up of senior advisors, comprises industry heavyweights in marketing, fundraising, and corporate and consumer communications, all tasked with expanding the profile of the work of the Feathers.
Lionel has always been passionate about inspiring young people and the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders, evidenced through his work in higher education leadership over the last 20 years; helping disadvantage young people with The Prince’s Trust; developing and delivering outreach education for schools and colleges and running immersive workshops for charities and their beneficiaries.
Within the higher education sector Lionel is a transformational leader and has been involved in designing and developing institutional wide strategies, plans and interventions in relation to product portfolios, learning and teaching initiatives, recruitment and outreach and equality, diversity and inclusion. Having stepped back from a substantive position in the sector he is currently a visiting lecturer for several higher education institutions including the University of London, Birkbeck University and Falmouth University on their Masters and MBA programmes.
He has had a rich and varied career which has seen him work with the British Council in Sri Lanka and Nigeria; business and farm diversification for the Department of Trade and Industry, Director of a creative marketing consultancy in Manchester managing key accounts for luxury, retail, and professional service brands, and helped over 200 businesses start up directly or through incubator facilities and organisations.
In his personal life Lionel is an avid climber & boulderer both outdoor and indoor and when not on the crags of Kent and Dorset he can be found mountain biking along the South Downs National Park or motorbiking along the south coast; he also makes time to study as he is undertaking his Doctorate in Paris on the commercialisation of higher education product portfolios.
A qualified Chartered Accountant and a Doctor of Accounting, Finance and Governance she is able to bring her accounting skills and knowledge to the Feathers Association and is an invaluable asset for the charity in providing necessary balances and checks as part of the board of trustees’ scrutiny and governance function.
Beverley is based in the higher education sector and on a senior leadership trajectory, having been involved in the Aurora women’s leadership programme and the 100 Black Professors Now with the Women’s Higher Education Network. She is an innovative and hardworking individual devoted to empowering and inspiring others and in her current role at the University of East London she is very much focused on employability, enterprise and social justice within the institution.
Recognised by the professional association AdvanceHE she was awarded Senior Fellowship based on her commitment to promoting social cohesion and social mobility through education and volunteering within communities. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Beverley has a personal interest is around culture of diversity not just within the sector but also in the third sector. She has engaged in charity work which assists young people who are isolated and face deprivation in communities, including for the Somali Social Services and the Shoreditch Trust.
Dr Digby Warren is an Emeretus Professor of London Metropolitan University and has many years of experience working with young people, diversity and inclusion in higher education with a core focus of and expertise in curriculum development. Alongside his professorial position he is active within the charitable sector and working with young people and adults with personal and mental health issues. He has presented at many conferences, had his work published in over 20 academic publications he is certainly a heavyweight name within the higher education sector nationally and internationally; known for his unwavering commitment to social justice, student engagement and teaching pedagogy.
Dr Annie Hughes is currently the Head of Learning & Teaching at Kingston University where a large part of her work in on ensuring academic learning and teaching practices incorporate opportunities for students in relation to equality and inclusion as well as working on technology enhanced learning initiatives and enterprise education. Her research activity is focused on inclusive learning and teaching practices in Higher Education and as part of this groundbreaking work developed Kingston University’s Inclusive Curriculum Framework which was awarded the Guardian Award for Teaching Excellence in 2017 and was the inspiration behind many social justice practices and policies in UK universities. She has many achievements and awards including: an ESRC Peer Review College member, Principal Fellow of AdvanceHE and is a National Teaching Fellow.
Dr Gaynor Woods has a rich and colourful career with much of her latter years in education focused on employability & enterprise working with students at all levels to develop their skills and mindset and considering the wider role and impact of ethical and sustainable principles. Some of this work took her to Nigeria with the British Council to deliver an innovative programme with education partners in Lagos focused on entrepreneurship. In her early career she was involved in archaeology education and bringing experimental practices into the curriculum and regularly presented at conferences on her exciting hands-on work in the field. Alongside this Gaynor was involved in the third sector particularly focused on the cooperative movement in Lancashire and working with key stakeholders to deliver new and impressive cooperative facilities in the county.
In a consultancy role, Zoe will lead on the strategic PR planning and media strategy with a view to elevate the charity’s profile and champion its vital work.
With publicity at the forefront, Sobol will deliver and implement a tactical media relations strategy focussed on building media presence, highlighting the impactful project work Feather’s does from its three regional sites in London, Glasgow, and Wales. Working closely with project teams, corporate partners, its high-profile Ambassadors and building on the momentum of its infamous Feathers Ball, efforts will shine a spotlight on the outreach initiatives directly benefiting young people and families facing adversity in local communities.
The charity aims to enable young people to cope more effectively with the transition from adolescence to adulthood and to enable young people to understand and act on personal, social and political issues which affect their lives, the lives of others and the communities of which they form a part.
Jackie is chair of Cathcart Consulting, the corporate and marketing communications consultancy she founded in 2004, following her return to the UK from Geneva where she had been global communications director for Rolex. Between Rolex and the present day, Jackie’s work has encompassed mentoring; crisis management; judging many of the profession’s various annual awards; agency trouble-shooting; non-executive directorships; training, coaching, and, most specially, some years as PR Week’s Agony Aunt. She is a Fellow of the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) and was one of the small group of PRCA chair people to develop and implement the Consultancy (now Communications) Management Standard (CMS) – the global benchmark for best practice in the communications business.
Kate is an award-winning Public Affairs and PR consultant with experience in business, personal finance, transport, energy, and environment and sustainability sectors. Starting out as a journalist she has spent the bulk of her career in senior communication roles across a variety of organisations including the Environment Agency, Energy Saving Trust, Greenergy and London First. Her key achievements range from: winning a PR Moment award for Clean Air Day’s PR campaign; shortlisted for a CIPR award for Zipcar; an award winning public awareness campaign, Breathe Easy, on air pollution which was supported by Lord Deben and David Coulthard.
Paul is the founder of Taylor Keogh Communications, a London-based PR and public consultancy. Paul has 30 years in-house and consultancy experience. His client work is primarily focused within the UK energy and clean-tech sectors. Before establishing Taylor Keogh, he was Head of Corporate Affairs at London Electricity/EDF Group where he led the company’s community support work within London. During his tenure, London Electricity won an FT Arts & Business Award for its work on social inclusion and ethnic diversity, and received Business in the Community’s Company of the Year Award.
An alumnus of the University of Hull, Mike is a senior communications professional of nearly two decades going from Parliament during the New Labour years, into public affairs and public relations consultancy, followed by in-house corporate. His communications career has covered sectors including financial services, energy and clean tech, infrastructure, housing, and healthcare. Mike has worked with some of the leading companies in the UK including Lloyds Banking Group, National Grid, and Drax Group. He is a liveryman of the Company of Communicators and a Freeman of the City of London.
As the youngest Trustee of The Feathers, Ethan is intimately aware of many of the anxieties that young people face today. Having been raised in one of the most economically deprived towns in the UK, he has felt firsthand the struggles that many of those who The Feathers has helped face in seeking to break free of the vicious cycle of generational poverty.
Having studied Egyptology at the University of Cambridge as a first-generation student, Ethan has gone on to the beginnings of a career in law. He attained a Graduate Diploma in Law at the University of Law in Manchester and is currently completing a Legal Master’s in Moorgate, London. He has experience as a paralegal from boutique regional to international City law firms, assisting in legal matters ranging from Construction to Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions and Art Restitution.
Ethan also has extensive volunteer experience: At Cambridge, he was elected to the leadership of the United Nations UK Youth Platform, where he coordinated university UN associations across the country. He has had years of experience aiding the Royal British Legion in organising and conducting remembrance ceremonies, and in 2021 he was elected a Town Councillor.
While time for law students is always scarce, whenever he can, Ethan enjoys epee fencing and theatre. Progressing from having translated Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs and Coptic at University, he is now developing his qualifications in Mandarin.
