Peter joined Advonet as Chair in 2018. He has served as a Board Director, Governor and Trustee in many settings, including schools, The Leeds Playhouse, Northern School of Contemporary Dance and Partnership Boards. Peter was a very longstanding Leeds City Councillor representing the Cross Gates and Whinmoor Ward in East Leeds for 25 years.
Peter says:’ I think the work Advonet does is hugely important and I am very proud to be involved with colleagues, who are so passionate and dedicated to making a positive difference in peoples’ lives’.
Away from his charity roles Peter enjoys travelling, reading, the performing arts and keeping up with exercise.
Emma is the CEO of the Avalon Group. The Avalon Group is an award-winning charity providing flexible person-centred care, support and companionship for everyday life, housing, learning and employment who provide support to a wide range of individuals across the North of England. Customers include older adults, people with dementia, physical, sensory or learning disabilities, mental health difficulties, acquired brain injuries, young people in transition and adults on the autistic spectrum.
Prior to joining the Board, Emma was the Advonet Group’s Finance Director (2016-18). Emma came to The Advonet Group from KPMG where she was a manager, having started as a graduate trainee in 2003.
Since training as an accountant, Emma developed a keen interest in the Charity sector, and gained valuable insight into the financial and regulatory operations of not-for-profit organisations, having led audits and reviews within the sector while working at KPMG.
I moved to Leeds in 1978 to take up a post with Leeds City Council and the City is now very much home. I worked for the City Council in Venue management, until taking early retirement in 2009. Many years ago I became a Citizen Advocate and eventually chair of Leeds Advocacy which specialised in learning disability issues and of course merged eventually with other organisations to form Advonet.
I maintain a keen interest in learning disability through The Advonet’s involvement in Leep1, and volunteer with them. I enjoy contributing to Advonet governance at a strategic level on the board and feel very proud of the organisation’s record in delivering high quality services to some of the most vulnerable people in society.
Born 1957 in Germany near Munich.
Came to the UK in 1964.
Attended various schools in this country and abroad. Studied History & Politics at Lancaster University.
Lived in Munchen after leaving University to study German at the Goethe Institute.
Lengthy period of unemployment after returning to UK in 1981.
With two other set up a Worker’s Photography Co-operative called “Photogenics”.
Studied Tourism in Manchester Polytechnic in 1987/88 and IT Technology at Thomas Danby college in 1994.
Did various jobs until settled on full time work at an insurance broker and then for an insurance company working in motor claims.
In 1990 I offered myself as a citizen advocate for Leeds Advocacy and have been involved in this field ever since and took part in the discussions to what eventually became known as the Advonet Group and have been a Trustee on the board since 2014.
I’ve worked in the Local Authority and Higher Education sector for over 20 years, and I am currently working for Kirklees Council as a Structural Engineer. I joined Advocacy Support (one of the organisations which previously co-managed Advonet) as a board member in 2003 and took up the Vice Chairperson role from 2006.
I believe in social cohesion, inclusion, equality and harmony. I fully embrace the values of The Advonet Group in removing language, cultural, economic and social barriers to ethnic minority groups in the UK; in empowering minority groups in scrutiny of institutional inequality, disproportional social exclusion and in promotion of equal access to public services.
I have been involved since 2015 at Advonet in my role as a trustee (and formerly at Advocacy 4 Mental Health and Dementia) and have truly embraced the values of the organisation, working with the team to take it to the next level.
Professionally, I have been all over the place (!) with IT & consulting background with a blend of strategic & operational experience in various industry sectors.
Joined civil service in 2018, initially with PHE and now moved from the ONS on loan to the Cabinet Office PM C-19 Task Force since Nov 2020, serving in the directorate that provides the Prime Minister and Cabinet with the best evidence and analysis of policy options to defeat C-19. In the ONS I have served as a Senior Data Architect.
Prior to that, I have worked in private healthcare consulting in Leeds; also worked in various roles in multi-national corporations, managing complex IT projects, across several industry verticals.
Besides work, I am very passionate about sports and have been playing for East Leeds Cricket Club in first division leagues for many years.
Sharon is a member of our Board of Trustees. More information about her and her role will be on this page soon.
Jodie is the Senior Social Value Officer at Matrix, working with councils, charities and schools across the UK to help upskill and empower people and help them excel in their careers. Prior to this she worked for Equality Together, a disability rights charity based in Bradford, Mind in Bradford as a Wellbeing Practitioner, as well as working as a Universal Advocate within the IMCA team here at The Advonet Group!
She came to Leeds in 2014 to study International Relations and Global Development at Leeds Beckett, then going on to study International Human Rights Law at the University of Leeds.
I have been a trustee for seven different charities, mental health campaigning and disability advocacy groups for over 30 years.
They include Central Manchester Users Group, LMHAG, and the UK Advocacy Network as a Volunteer Trustee and then Chairperson from 2000 – 2002.
I believe in human rights advocacy, but with a peaceful, persuasive mind.
Everyone has a right to peace of mind, and in law, as well as a right to dignity, debate and respect for others’ views, even if they are different.
As a Trustee, I will put in a lot of good work.
The Advonet Group have supported me with complaints, which I appreciate as many people with multiple diagnoses like me often feel they are ignored by some services. I will not accept such discrimination against disabled people, as it is both illegal and unethical.
We need to be mindful, i.e. kind and compassionate to everyone, ourselves as advocates, our client, and the organisation complained or complimented to. Otherwise – if we are angry we will not be listened to nor will positive change occur.
You see, others have a human right to peace of mind and in law, as well as a right to dignity, debate and respect for their, views even if different.
As a practicing Buddhist of 26 years, I take the Dalai Lama’s line:
”Advocating human rights angrily misses the point. If we are bitter in such advocacy, we lose our case.”
I work as a HR Business Partner in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team at Leeds City Council. I am the Network Chair of the Council’s Disability and Wellbeing Staff Network and I recently set up the Council’s first Neurodiversity Peer Support Group.
I am passionate about serving the communities of Leeds and making the Council a more inclusive place to work. Prior to joining the Council, I worked in academia where I trained as a sociologist of the workplace, completing my PhD at Leeds University in 2020. I have volunteered for Autism AIM since 2022, and I am passionate about the work The Advonet Group does for Leeds residents.
As a neurodivergent person, I draw on my lived experiences of challenging marginalisation in my practice of self-advocacy and enjoy working with others to develop self-advocacy skills. This approach informs the work I do, and underpins my decision to become a coach.
I love writing, particularly in the areas of critical neurodiversity studies and disability justice and, through my work, I explore ideas that I face day-to-day in my equality, diversity and inclusion work.
