Geoff Mulgan
(Commission Chair)
Geoff became Director of the Young Foundation in September 2004. Between 1997 and 2004 he had various roles in government including director of the Government’s Strategy Unit and head of policy in the Prime Minister’s office.
Before that he was the founder and director of the think-tank Demos; chief adviser to Gordon Brown MP; a consultant and lecturer in telecommunications; and an investment executive.
Geoff began his career in local government in London. He has been a reporter for BBC TV and radio and a columnist for national newspapers including the Guardian and Independent. Geoff is also a visiting professor at LSE, UCL and Melbourne, and a senior fellow at the Australia New Zealand School of Government. His most recent book is ‘Good and Bad Power’ (Penguin, 2006).
George Reid
(Commission Vice-Chair)
The Rt Hon George Reid MSP was until recently the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. Previously he was a Member of the House of Commons and of the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe and the Western European Union.
George has significant media experience as a journalist and producer with the Daily Express, Scottish Television, Granada TV, and BBC TV and Radio. He worked for 15 years as Director of Public Affairs of the International Red Cross in Geneva (serving in Armenia, Ethiopia, Mexico, Mozambique, Pakistan, Russia, Sudan, South Africa and Zimbabwe), as Director of the International Campaign for the Victims of War, and as a consultant to the World Blind Union.
George is a Privy Councillor. He was a member of the government Steering Group for the Scottish Parliament, chairs Scotland's Futures Forum and is a visiting professor at Glasgow University. Among his awards: the Pirogov Gold Medal of the USSR and Gold Medal of Armenia (both for work during the 1988 Armenian earthquake); Scottish Politician of the Year Award 2003 and 2005; and honorary doctorates of the University of St Andrews and Queen Margaret University College.
Richard Atkinson
Richard Atkinson OBE has been Archdeacon of Leicester since 2002. Previous posts have included Vicar of Rotherham (1996–2002) and Team Rector, Sheffield Manor (1991–1996).
Richard has been appointed to various boards including Chair of Trustees for the St Philip’s Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi Faith Society, a regional centre that resources the church, the faith communities and civic partners for engagement in contemporary multi faith society. He has been Independent Chair of the Braunstone New Deal for Communities Programme since 2003, and he is also a member of the Faiths Regeneration Project, a programme to advance the contribution of the Faiths Communities in Leicester to community regeneration. Other roles have included Chair of Phoenix Enterprises (Rotherham) Ltd, (for which he was awarded an OBE for ‘Services to unemployment in Rotherham’) and Board Member and Deputy Chair of Places for People (formerly North British Housing).
Richard is currently pursuing a MA in Inter-religious Relations at Birmingham University.
Kay Carberry
Kay is Assistant General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), having previously been the first head of the TUC’s Equal Rights Department, set up in 1988. She has served on a number of government advisory bodies on equality, education, training and employment, and is currently a Commissioner of the Equal Opportunities Commission and was a member of the Women and Work Commission. She is a Trustee of One Parent Families, the People’s History Museum, the Work Foundation and is also a member of the Franco-British Council.
Rajeeb Dey
Rajeeb is a final year undergraduate reading Economics and Management at Jesus College, Oxford. He is also he Founder and Chairman of the English Secondary Students’ Association (ESSA), the first national student run organisation working to provide students 11-19 with a greater voice and role in education. Rajeeb (Raj) began work on developing ESSA in November 2003 alongside studying for his A-levels. He first came up with the idea after hearing about secondary student unions in other European countries and thought to himself – “if they have one, why don’t we?” and since then Raj has been able to generate widespread support for ESSA. He has received a Level 2 award from UnLTD – the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs - and was also a winner of the Channel 4 and NESTA’s ‘Bedroom Britain Campaign’ (an award recognising the young entrepreneurial talent in Britain), which involved national television exposure for ESSA.
Raj was the figurehead of Chelmsford Borough Council’s ‘No Vote…No Voice’ campaign to encourage young people to vote in the local elections, and Vice-Chair Finance of the Chelmsford Youth Council. His work with the Youth Council led to him winning the DfES Exceptional Community Champion 2005 Award and being a Finalist in the Windrush Achievement Awards in 2004. Raj is a Co-opted member of the Carnegie UK Trust’s Young People’s Sub-Committee, a trustee of the Phoenix Education Trust and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (awarded to him as part of the RSA Young Leaders Award). Raj was awarded a Wavemakers Award and is the Bank of England Windsor Fellow 2005 (a prestigious Leadership Development programme). Most recently Raj has been awarded the Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Award.
James Doorley
James is Assistant Director of the National Youth Council of Ireland with responsibility for Advocacy and Representation.Prior to this role, James worked with a number of community and voluntary organisations at local and regional level. He has been a Board member of the European Youth Forum since 2002 and is currently serving as Vice President. He has just completed a term as an alternate member of the European Union’s European Economic and Social Committee and worked with the Council of Europe, serving on their Advisory Council on Youth and was commissioned to write a report on the work of the Council of Europe in the area of youth participation and active citizenship. James is a Council Member of the Consumers Association of Ireland and a member of the Consumer Panel of the Financial Regulator and is also active in local and community organisations in Meath as a member of the Meath Community and Voluntary Forum Steering Group. James lives in Ashbourne, Co. Meath, Ireland and has been a Carnegie Trustee since 2004.
Daniel Finkelstein
Daniel is a weekly columnist and Comment Editor of The Times newspaper.
Before joining the paper in 2001, he was adviser to Prime Minister John Major and Conservative leader William Hague.
Philomena de Lima
Philomena is a Development Officer and Researcher with University of Highlands and Islands (UHI) Policy Web - UHI Millennium Institute. Philomena has been involved in research on rural equality issues for more than 15 years. In 2005, she was appointed a Rural Action Research Programme consultant by the Carnegie (UK) Trust for the Building Inclusive Communities theme. She has been actively involved regionally and nationally on policy issues, including the Scottish Further Education Council (2000-2005) and is currently a member of the Scottish Advisory Group for the Equal Opportunities Commission.
Seamus McAleavey
Seamus is Chief Executive of NICVA, the umbrella body for voluntary and community organisations in Northern Ireland which has over 1,000 member organisations.
Prior to working for NICVA, Seamus worked with the Confederation of Community Groups in Newry. He is Chair of the Concordia Social Partners Group (CBI, ICTU, Ulster Farmers' Union, NI Agricultural Producers' Association and NICVA) and is a member of the Economic Development Forum, an advisory body to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, and the Community Support Framework Monitoring Committee.
Seamus was a member of the Department for Social Development’s Task Force on Resourcing the Voluntary and Community Sector which produced its final report ‘Investing Together’ in October 2004. Seamus is a member of the Board of NI-CO, the Northern Ireland public sector consultancy company, which channels Northern Ireland expertise into overseas projects. He is also a Board member of the Combat Poverty Agency, a public body in the Republic of Ireland. In May 2006 he was appointed by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to the Task Force on Active Citizenship which will report with recommendations to the Irish Government by March 2007.
Charlie McConnell
(ex-officio Commission member)
Charlie is Chief Executive of the Carnegie UK Trust. Charlie initially worked in social work, community development and higher education teaching and research. For the last twenty years he has held a number of senior positions with British and international NGOs, foundations and government agencies and has a specialist interest in citizen participation and social justice.
Joyce McMillan
Joyce is chief theatre critic for The Scotsman newspaper, Edinburgh, and also writes a political/social commentary column for the paper. She has been a political and arts columnist, theatre critic and broadcaster for more than 20 years, living in Edinburgh and working for various Scottish and London-based newspapers, as well as broadcasting regularly on BBC Radio Scotland and Radio 4. Her history of the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, was published in 1988. She has been involved in Scottish and European campaigns for democracy and human rights, and was a member of the British government's Consultative Steering Group on procedures for the new Scottish Parliament between 1998 and 1999. She was Convener of the Scottish Civic Forum 2003-06, and is Chair of the Hansard Society Working Group in Scotland. In 2000, she received an honorary degree of D. Litt. from Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh.
Anna Nicholl
Anna is Policy and Campaigns Coordinator at the All Wales Refugee Council where she leads a small team to advocate and campaign for the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. She has five years experience of working within the voluntary sector and seven years experience of working within policy in Wales. Prior to working with the All Wales Refugee Council, Anna worked at Wales Council for Voluntary Action where she led the implementation of a pilot project developed by CIVICUS to produce a Civil Society Index for Wales. She was also responsible for facilitating voluntary and community sector input into the National Assembly for Wales’ Voluntary Sector Partnership Council and its Voluntary Sector Scheme. Through a secondment to the Welsh Assembly Government Anna worked directly on developing government strategy to support the voluntary sector. She also gained experience of the National Assembly procedures as a policy researcher for Plaid Cymru Assembly Members during the early years of devolution. Bringing together her interest in civil society and social justice, Anna is currently Vice Chair of the Black Voluntary Sector Network in Wales.
Maeve Sherlock
Maeve is studying for an MA in Theology at Durham University. Until recently, Maeve was Chief Executive of The Refugee Council, the largest charity working with refugees and asylum-seekers in the UK. Before taking up this post in 2003, Maeve spent three years as a special adviser to Gordon Brown, MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, where her brief spanned child poverty, employment, welfare reform and the voluntary and community sectors.
Prior to joining HM Treasury, Maeve was chief executive of the National Council for One Parent Families, the biggest charity working with and for lone parents and their children. She previously served as Chief Executive of UKCOSA: The Council for International Education, a charity working in the field of international education and supporting international students. From 1988 to 1990, Maeve served as President of the National Union of Students.
Maeve is a member of the Advisory Board on Naturalisation and Integration which advises the government on issues such as citizenship and also a member of the National Refugee Integration Forum. She is a trustee of the independent think-tank, Demos. Her previous non-executive appointments include having served as a founding Trustee and the Treasurer of the National Family & Parenting Institute, as a Governor of Sheffield Hallam University and as a member of the Board of the European Association for International Education. Maeve received an OBE in 2000 for services to the eradication of child poverty.
Neil Sherlock
Neil is the partner in charge of public and regulatory affairs at KPMG. He joined KPMG in 1985 as an economist in the consulting firm and worked in a variety of roles including heading the office of Lord Sharman when he was Chairman, KPMG International. Educated at Oxford University, Neil graduated with a first in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and was President of the Oxford Union. He was joint editor of The Progressive Century: The future of the centre-left in Britain. He is a former adviser to Lord Ashdown and now advises Sir Menzies Campbell. He is a Trustee of Working Families and an Ambassador for MENCAP, Vice-Chairman of the KPMG Foundation, a member of the Management Board of the think tank CentreForum, on the Fundraising Boards of the RSA and the Refugee Council and a member of the Armed Forces’ Pay Review Body since 2000.
Jane Steele
Jane is Head of Research and Evidence at the General Teaching Council for England, responsible for developing the use of research and evidence to influence policy and inform practice in teaching and education, and for ensuring that the organisation makes good use of evaluation to improve performance. Until December 2005, she was Head of Public Interest Research at the Office for Public Management (OPM), leading a programme of research to improve the effectiveness and outcomes of services for the public.
While at OPM, Jane was head of research and then co-secretary for the Independent Commission on Good Governance in Public Services (the Langlands Commission), which produced the Good Governance Standard for Public Services (January 2005).
She has many years experience of policy- and practice-oriented research, having also worked as a programme director at the Policy Studies Institute, where she led programmes of research and evaluation on public involvement and consultation by public services and on the development of the community legal service. Jane has worked in the public, private and not for profit sectors and is currently a trustee of the Carnegie UK Trust.
Ed Vaizey
Ed Vaizey MP was elected as the Member of Parliament for Wantage and Didcot in May 2005. When he completed his studies at Merton College, Oxford, he spent two years working for the Conservative Party’s Research Department, before training and practising as a barrister. In 1996, Ed became director of a highly successful public relations company based in London. In 2004, he left to become the chief speech writer for the then Leader of the Opposition, Michael Howard.
Ed also built up a career as a freelance political commentator, writing regularly for The Guardian, and appearing on programmes such as Despatch Box and The Wright Stuff, as well as broadcasting frequently on Five Live.
Ed is a trustee of the Trident Trust, the largest work experience charity in the United Kingdom and is a Young Ambassador for the Samaritans. In Parliament, Ed was a member of the Standing Committee on the Consumer Credit Bill. He is currently a member of the Modernisation and Enviromental Audit Select Committees and is Deputy Chairman of the Conservative's Globalisation and Global Poverty Policy Group. He is a member of the following all-party groups: kidney, duchenne-muscular dystrophy; India; arts & heritage.