About the Commissioners

Geoff Mulgan

(Commission Chair)

The Rt Hon. George Reid

(Commission Vice-Chair)

George is a Privy Councillor and a former MP, Member of the Council of Europe, MSP and Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. Between his time at Westminster and Holyrood, he was Director of Public Affairs of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent in Geneva, working in conflict situations and disasters around the world. In 1991–2 he led the Global Campaign for the Victims of War and has also acted as consultant to various international NGOs, particularly in the disability sector. Since his retirement from politics in 2007, he has chaired the Governance Review of the Northern Ireland Assembly and become a Trustee of both the Royal Edinburgh International Tattoo and of Culture and Sport Glasgow. In both 2008 and 2009 he was appointed Lord High Commissioner in Scotland, the Queen’s personal representative to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Currently, he is leading a strategic review of the National Trust for Scotland.

The Ven. Richard Atkinson OBE

Richard has been Archdeacon of Leicester since 2002. Previously he was Vicar of Rotherham (1996–2002) and Team Rector of Sheffield Manor (1991–6). He is Chair of Trustees of the St Philip’s Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi-Faith Society and recently completed an MA in inter-religious relations with a particular emphasis on faith literacy in the public sphere. He was independent Chair of the Braunstone New Deal for Communities Programme (2003–6); Deputy Chair of Places for People (1997–2005); and received his OBE for services to the unemployed in Rotherham. He is a member of the Church of England General Synod and was a Church Commissioner for seven years. 

Kay Carberry CBE

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 Gingerbread, the People’s History Museum, and the Work Foundation. Kay was a member of the Franco-British Council until 2009.

Rajeeb Dey FRSA 

Rajeeb graduated in June 2008 with First Class Honours in Economics & Management from Jesus College, University of Oxford. At University he was the longest-serving President of Oxford Entrepreneurs and has been heavily involved in encouraging entrepreneurship from a young age, with a background in social enterprise and education. He founded the English Secondary Students’ Association (ESSA) aged 17; and subsequently launched and is the CEO of Enternships.com, for which he was awarded the O2 X Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He is a Trustee of UnLtd. – the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, a Trustee of the Phoenix Education Trust, Channel 4 Education Advisory Board Member and Advisory Board Member for the UK–India Business Council’s Next Generation Network.

James Doorley

James is Assistant Director of the National Youth Council of Ireland with responsibility for Advocacy and Representation, having previously worked with a number of community and voluntary organisations at local and regional level. James has been Chairman of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland since November 2007 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. He served as a Board member of the European Youth Forum from 2002–4 and as Vice-President from 2005–6. James has been a Trustee of the Carnegie UK Trust since 2004.  

Philomena de Lima FRSA

Philomena is the Director of the University of Highlands and Islands (UHI) Centre for Remote and Rural Studies. Her expertise includes equalities, access and inclusion, rural disadvantage and social justice issues. She has published widely on these issues and applied these interests in the following areas: demography and population strategies, including migration/immigration, labour market issues, quality of life and retention issues; climate change and social justice; third sector and role of civil society in rural communities; and place (rural) based development policies. She has been actively involved regionally and nationally on policy issues including the National Lottery Charities Board (1994–8), the Scottish Further Education Council (2000–5), and current membership includes the Scottish advisory group of Child Poverty Action Group, and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service equality advisory group.

Seamus McAleavey

Seamus is Chief Executive of NICVA, the umbrella body for voluntary and community organisations in Northern Ireland. He is Chair of the Concordia Social Partners Group and is a member of the Economic Development Forum. Seamus was a member of the Northern Ireland Department for Social Development’s Task Force on Resourcing the Voluntary and Community Sector and was appointed by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to the Task Force on Active Citizenship in Ireland. Seamus is a member of the Board of NI-CO, the public sector consultancy company, which channels Northern Ireland expertise into overseas projects.

Joyce McMillan

government’s Consultative Steering Group on procedures for the new Scottish Parliament between 1998 and 1999. She was Convener of the Scottish Civic Forum 2003–6, and is Chair of the Hansard Society Working Group in Scotland.

Anna Nicholl

Anna became Special Adviser to the Welsh Assembly Government in 2008, advising Plaid Cymru Ministers on policy matters. Anna was previously Policy and Campaigns Co-ordinator at the All Wales Refugee Council. Prior to that she worked at the 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. Anna co-founded and until recently chaired a community group which brings together refugees, asylum seekers and others living in Cardiff.

Maeve Sherlock

Maeve is undertaking her doctoral research at Durham University on the role of religion in the public sphere. Maeve also holds some non-executive roles, including being a Commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Chair of the National Student Forum. Before moving to Durham, Maeve was the Chief Executive of three charities, most recently the Refugee Council. She also spent three years as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, advising the Chancellor and other Treasury ministers on a range of issues concerned mostly with poverty and families with children.

Neil Sherlock

Families, Trustee of Every Child a Chance Trust, Vice-Chairman of the KPMG Foundation, on the Advisory Council of the Refugee Council and Trustee of HTI. He is also involved in the work of leading UK thinktanks, as a member of the Management Board of CentreForum and as a Trustee of Demos. Neil was a member of the Armed Forces’ Pay Review Body from 2000 to 2006 and was on the 2009 Panel on Fair Access to the Professions.

Jane Steele

Jane is a Trustee of the Carnegie UK Trust.