To celebrate Trustees’ Week 2025 (Monday 3rd-Friday 7th November), we are introducing three of our newest members of The Advonet Group’s Board of Trustees. All of them will bring plenty of experience and expertise to our organisation and we cannot wait to work with them all!
In this blog post, Keith, Nicola and Nick all say a few words about why they joined the Board, what they hope to do in their roles and what they like about being a Trustee.
Keith Kirwin – Trustee
“I am excited to announce that I have joined The Advonet Group as a Trustee! In my new role, I will help the team to support clients and members secure their rights, get access to the services they need and get their voices heard.
“They do amazing work, supporting around 4,000 people across Leeds and surrounding areas. It’s a total privilege to join the Board.”
Nicola Nicholson – Trustee
“I am an experienced leader within the NHS and have a passion for improving services. I became a Trustee for Advonet because I wanted to support the important work advocacy does, particularly in improving access and experience of health and care services.
“In my role as Trustee, I hope to support Advonet to be a sustainable charity that can support as many people as possible.
“I enjoy hearing about all the great work Advonet does and seeing if there are ways we can support staff and managers to make things easier.”
Nick Stone – Trustee
“I became a Advonet Trustee to better understand how the neurodivergent community in West Yorkshire is being supported with activities, events and advocacy work. I’m also a trustee of ALAG, an autism charity in London – allowing me to better understand the challenges for autistic adults more widely.
“I hope to contribute my experiences from my London trustee role – while learning more about Advonet’s work, structures, governance and funding. Overall – this allows me to share information and ideas.
“It’s a privilege and pleasure to participate in an organisation which provides support for autistic adults. In 2016, I was diagnosed with autism and ADHD, and turned to a charity for support. You could say that I’ve come full circle.”
