Our team

Our team

Board of Trustees

  • Peter Hay CBE

    Chair

    Peter is a social worker by training and has become an experienced leader in social care services for adults and children.  He now has various roles in social care, housing, and well-being, including chairing Turning Point, the Honeycomb Group, and the occasional foray into local government improvement work. I am also a qualified leadership coach. Peter's life experience has shaped an understanding that life’s opportunities and challenges make us all participants in social care. He hopes his commitment to social justice is expressed through strengthening people’s voices and developing communities.

  • Lyn Romeo CBE

    Board Member

    Lyn was the first ever Chief Social worker for adults in England. A qualified social worker for over 44 years, she has worked in children and families, adult social care, mental health and palliative care as a practitioner, manager and leader.  She has also been a Social Services Inspector.  She has promoted relational strengths-based practice as imperative in supporting and enabling people to have the best possible lives.  Lyn stepped down from her role as Chief Social Worker in early 2024 and since then has become a trustee for several charities, a board director on a housing and care provider for older people and is a visiting professor at Kings College London

  • Levi Chambers-Cook

    Board member

    Levi trained with us in the very first year of our programme and is the first alumni representative on our board. Working for Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust, Levi holds two roles as an operational manager and divisional social care lead. She manages different teams and services across community mental health, early intervention, home-based treatment and inpatient services. The people they’re supporting may have psychosis, complex emotional and relational needs, eating disorders and many more. Ultimately, Levi is responsible for ensuring that everyone has access to person-centred and timely support. Levi was previously the programme manager for mental health and adult social care transformation across Greater Manchester.  She is a qualified Approved Mental Health Professional and performs this function in both Trafford and Manchester.

  • Aparajita ‘Aps’ Ajit

    Board Member

    Aparajita ‘Aps’ Ajit has over 25 years of international experience in the technology, transformation, managed services and not for profit sectors, where she has held several leadership roles. Her client centric and commercial experience sees her helping organisations deliver value, scaling and building high performing teams internationally. She has an MBA from École des Ponts (ENPC) France and an Executive Master in Change from INSEAD, France. Aps champions positive mental health, education for children, racial diversity and gender balance. She is passionate about CSR and has been actively involved in leading social impact programmes both personally and professionally across the UK, India and Bhutan. She is also a non-executive director on the Think Equal UK board. She lives in Kent with her husband, teenage son and two beautiful dogs.

  • Peter Molyneux

    Board Member

    Peter is the England Liaison for the Global Leadership Exchange in Mental Health. He is an experienced chair and non-executive director serving as chair of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, the North London Mental Health Partnership, the London Mental Health and Employment Partnership and on the boards of NHS Providers, the Mental Health Network and Recovery Focus. He works to change the narrative around mental health and build stronger links between organisations - particularly housing, education and employment. He is the founder chair of the LGBTQ+ Leaders’ Network and a Visiting Fellow at the John Madejski Centre for Reputation at Henley Business School (University of Reading). He lives with his husband in Peckham.

  • Liam Sloan

    Board Member

    Liam is the Commercial Director of Public Digital, a global transformation consultancy that works with large businesses and governments to help them become more responsive, adaptable and impactful. Much of his work is with the UK public sector, including the NHS and local authorities. Liam started his career as a journalist, and then spent over a decade working in business development and commercial roles across public sector outsourcing, healthcare and education. Outside of Think Ahead, Liam is also a trustee at Reset Communities for Refugees, which delivers the UK Government’s Community Sponsorship and Homes for Ukraine schemes. He is also a Visiting Fellow of Practice at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, bringing together research and practice around relational approaches in public sector contracting.
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Patron

  • Professor Dame Carol Black GBE

    Carol was our founding Chair and has provided a dedicated commitment to the organisation since 2014. As a former consultant rheumatologist she provides expert advice to the Department of Health and Public Health England on a range of health and social care policy areas and has completed four independent reviews for the government. Professor Black is a past-President of the Royal College of Physicians, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, and the British Lung Foundation; past-Principal of Newnham College Cambridge; and past-Chair of the Nuffield Trust for health policy.
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Lived Experience Partnership

  • Oliver Wood

    Lived experience consultant

    Oliver has been involved in the service user movement for nearly twenty years. Drawing on his ongoing experience as a mental health service user, he works to promote inclusion and improve services. Oliver is working to support inclusion of people with lived experience of autism and learning disability in governance with Your Voice Counts. He also has a role as an associate lecturer on the Occupational Therapy Programme at Northumbria University. Our lived experience partners help shape our work and ensure the needs of service users and carers are represented in everything we do. Learn more about our Lived Experience Partnership
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Leadership Team

  • Olivia Cayley

    Executive Director

    Olivia is responsible for our programme strategy, identifying new opportunities for business growth and leading our programme directorate. Before joining Think Ahead, she headed up the rail suicide prevention programme at Samaritans. Olivia has experience in scoping, delivering and evaluating programmes within the fields of education, mental health, social mobility, and gender empowerment, for organisations such as The Tony Blair Institute and Whizz Kidz. She is also training to become a therapist and is a trustee for Tushinde Children’s Trust.

  • Michelle Peel

    Interim Chief Operating Officer

    Michelle is an experienced fractional COO and commercial strategist supporting Think Ahead with operational leadership, financial planning, and organisational development. Through her consultancy, Mottainai Solutions Ltd, she helps mission-driven organisations strengthen their systems, improve efficiency and navigate complex change. Michelle brings extensive experience across the charity and social impact sectors, combining strategic insight with a calm, practical, people-centred approach.
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Programme Team

  • Roxanne Timmis

    Head of Partnerships

    Roxanne joined Think Ahead in 2019 and to drive our external partnerships. She has 20 years experience working within the charity sector, 15 of these as a frontline mental health practitioner within homelessness and criminal justice services. Roxanne is passionate about improving services for people and before joining Think Ahead she worked closely with many different social care organisations, consulting on and providing training around assessment and support planning. Roxanne also leads our Lived Experience Partnership.

  • Alexia Fenwick

    Professional Development Lead

    Alexia is Professional Development Lead and was previously a Practice Specialist. She is an experienced mental health social worker, qualifying in 2007 with an MA from Durham University. Since then she has worked in local authorities and NHS Trusts in Durham, Newcastle and London boroughs of Westminster, Hackney and Tower Hamlets. She has worked in adult, older adult and forensic mental health services as a social worker and AMHP. Alexia is passionate about supporting students in placement learning and became a practice educator in 2015, leaving frontline practice to join the Think Ahead programme team in 2018.

  • Alex Hesketh

    Digital Transformation Manager

    Alex joined Think Ahead in 2021 and supports the external relations team's activity across the organisation. Before Think Ahead, Alex was part of the communications team for Mental Health First Aid England, moving to the third sector after working for a public relations agency and some broadcasting work for the BBC. He is interested in politics, and is passionate about storytelling and challenging mental health stigma.

  • Hayley Thorp

    Programme Delivery Associate

    Hayley oversees the operational delivery for the in-person Recall Days and Summer Institute, as well as daily communications on Slack and the programme inbox. Before Think Ahead, Hayley predominantly worked and volunteered for non-profit organisations, in engagement and project management roles, particularly with children and young people.

  • Isabelle Pietromarchi

    Programme and Recruitment Administrator

    Isabelle works with our recruitment and programme teams. She is responsible for the administrative side of delivering our flagship programme. Before Think Ahead, Isabelle worked as a teaching assistant, supporting children with learning difficulties at a primary school in West London. She has previously worked in communications, research and healthcare. She holds a BA Hons degree in International Relations and Anthropology and has ambitions to train as a counsellor in the future.
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Practice Specialists

  • Phoebe Hale

    Practice Specialist Manager

    Phoebe joined Think Ahead in 2023 having previously worked as a Senior Social Worker in Children's Services and with Step Up to Social Work as a Regional Practice Educator in London. Phoebe has a passion for working in a trauma-informed, relationship focused way, centred on amplifying the voices of people using services. She wants to continue to support trainees to become reflective, collaborative and empowering social workers for the people they support and to champion the role of Social Work in Mental Health.

  • Amanda Questel-Lewis

    Senior Practice Specialist

    Amanda joined the team of Practice Specialists in April 2019. She has been a Social Worker since 1996 working mainly in the North West within statutory, voluntary and public sectors. She has worked in the Local Authority Children & Families with Disabilities Team, for the NSPCC as a Children’s Service Practitioner, and in CMHTs as a Senior CAMHS practitioner. She is also a qualified Practice Educator, Systemic Family Practitioner and Coaching/Mentoring who enjoys developing others in their social work experience.

  • Adam Graham

    Practice Specialist

    Adam joined the Practice Specialist team in 2026. He has a practice background in addictions and learning disability services, is a qualified Practice Educator and Best Interests Assessor, and was previously a Lecturer in Social Work at Middlesex University. Prior to joining Think Ahead, Adam was Principal Social Worker for Adults in a North East local authority. Adam's primary areas of interest are coproduction, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and adult safeguarding.

  • Tom Green

    Practice Specialist

    Tom joined as a Practice Specialist in 2022. He has an MA in Social Work and a PG Cert in Higher Education. Tom has worked as a Social Worker in Child Protection, including as a Senior Social Worker in a specialist adolescent ‘edge-of-care’ team; in Youth Justice; and in CAMHS. Tom has also worked as an AMBIT (Adaptive Mentalization-Based Integrative Treatment) Trainer at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children & Families, and as a Practice Tutor on the Frontline programme. He is passionate about collaborative and compassionate approaches to Social Work.

  • Charmain Jackson

    Practice Specialist

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External Relations Team

  • Sumitra Tase

    Senior Programme Delivery Associate

    Sumitra recently joined the External Relations team to work across our IPS Project in partnership with Social Finance. Previously she worked in the Programme and Recruitment teams looking after onboarding systems and the candidate journey. She completed a BA in Liberal Arts from the University of Leeds. She has always been passionate about the charity sector and volunteered for various charities based in London, Leeds and Mumbai.
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Finance and Operations Team

  • Caroline Gomez

    People and Culture Manager

    Caroline is an experienced HR professional, MCIPD qualified, with over 30 years’ experience. She started her career in HR at the professional body CIMA, progressed to University of the Arts London and has since held a variety of roles in education and charities.  In her spare time, she enjoys walking her dog, visiting her allotment and learning modern languages.

  • Minhee Do

    Finance Manager

    Minhee is responsible for producing management accounts and general financial management of Think Ahead. She has the AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) qualification. Before joining Think Ahead, she predominantly worked in the higher education sector in a similar role. She has an interest in film and horse riding.

  • Bhanu Mistry

    Executive Assistant and Office Administrator

    Bhanu is responsible for the day to day HR support to the Think Ahead team and the effective operation of our office and IT systems. Her earlier background was in retail banking including some HR and later learning & development roles. In recent years she has been volunteering as a listener with Samaritans as well as taking on additional responsibility in the areas of training, mentoring and volunteer support.    
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