Meet the team
Carol Willis
Chief Executive Officer
Carol became CEO of Voluntary Action Swindon in April 2023 having been promoted from her role as Funding and Governance Manager. Before this Carol was Manager of Healthwatch Swindon & Bath and North East Somerset. She has managed teams in both Swindon Colleges, prior to them merging, and Adult Education at Swindon Borough Council. Mainly working with disadvantaged individuals and communities.
Pam Webb
VCSE Strategic Lead for Integrated Care
Pam represents the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector in the Integrated Health System. Pam is the VCSE member on the Bath and North East Somerset (BSW) Integrated Care Board (ICB), a member of the BSW VCSE Leadership Alliance and locally Pam sits on the Swindon Integrated Care Alliance and attends the Swindon Health and Wellbeing Board ensuring the voice of and opportunities for the sector are represented.
Alana Fiorelli
Funding and Governance Advice Manager
Alana has joined Voluntary Action Swindon in April 2023 as Funding and Governance Advice Manager. Before this Alana worked as a Personal Assistant to the Mayor of Swindon, supporting Civic and Ceremonial responsibilities at Swindon Borough Council. Additional work experience includes delivering of Postgraduate programme boards and Industry placements at Bath University.
Terry Johnson
Inclusion, Collaboration and Community Development manager
Terry has joined us to help strengthen the Swindon Equality Coalition and other initiatives to promote equality and inclusion across Swindon. Terry will also encourage and support collaboration between Swindon's voluntary sector organisations.
Shaz Qaddus
Finance Officer
Shaz manages the organisations finance and accounts, as well as being the key person for administering requests for DBS checks.
Seniz Mutlu
Business Development Manager
Seniz has worked in the voluntary and community sector for over 12 years in both a voluntary and professional capacity. Her current role involves developing and expanding the services VAS offers, with a strong emphasis on our social media presence.
Rachel Hobbs
Volunteer and Digital Marketing Coordinatior
Rachel joined Voluntary Action Swindon in January 2021 and has completed her Business Admin Level 3 apprenticeship. Rachel is now our Volunteer and Digital Marketing Coordinator.
Katie Linstead
Veteran Support Navigator
Katie joined VAS in 2022 as our Veterans Support Navigator. Her role is to encourage the links between charities and organisations in local voluntary and community sector, statutory services and networks that provide support to veterans. Katie is a military spouse to an RAF serviceperson and has been involved in community groups in previous postings with her partner and children.
Lisa Gibbons
Youth Voice Project Manager
Lisa manages our Youth Voice project, which has just opened for referrals in December 2023. Lisa has worked in advocacy or with care experienced young people for the last 13 years. Working in these roles increased her passion for how essential youth voice is for our children and for our society, which has led her to this role and project. Lisa is also the Designated Safeguarding Lead
lily Kendrick
Business Admin Apprentice
Lily joined VAS in February 2024 as a Business Admin Apprentice, working towards her business admin qualification. Her current role includes managing our directory and room bookings, and doing a lot of social media work.
James Moss
Property, Office and Shopmobility Manager
James manages all aspects of the buildings we are responsible for, including the Sanford House building which we manage on behalf of Swindon Borough Council. James also manages the Swindon Shopmobility and Cafe Mobility services which operates from the rear car park of Sanford House.
Mesut Mutlu
Shopmobility Supervisor
Mesut is based at Swindon Shopmobility, situated in the rear car park of Sanford House, a project run by Voluntary Action Swindon providing mobility scooters, powered and manual wheelchairs to the general public to enable them to get around the town centre. His role involves booking equipment (in and out), checking/renewing memberships and general communications with customers. Mesut also completes cleaning and general maintenance and upkeep of the equipment and building.
Chris Hills
Maintenance Coordinator
Chris is responsible for day to day maintenance tasks across our three buildings. He also assists with the setting up of room bookings in our Sanford House building. Chris also provides additional support to the team in Shopmobility during busier periods.
Shabbir Ahmad
Facilities Assistant
Shabbir provides day to day support across all of the VAS services delivered at both Sanford House and Swindon Shopmobility. Shabbir also provides additional support at our John Street building as required.
Olivia Venables
Customer Service Apprentice
Liv joined VAS in August as a Customer Service Apprentice, working towards her qualification while working in Swindon Shopmobility doing day-to-day tasks there.
Volunteers
Charmaine Fisher
Linda West
Trustees
Bob Barrett
Chair
Bob is a trustee of various charities in Swindon and Belarus; he is chair of governors at Westlea Primary School. By profession Bob is a facilities, health & safety and building projects manager, working on various projects in Swindon.
Steve Henderson
Vice Chair
Steve has worked as an electronic engineer and as a Baptist minister. He is committed to helping Swindon to become a better and more equitable place both through his vocation and as the lead chaplain at Swindon’s Great Western Hospital. Committed to inclusion and diversity, Steve has been involved with the Swindon Equality Coalition and chaired the group for several years. .
Steve Barnes
Steve worked in IT for a large financial organisation in Swindon for 34 years before taking retirement. During that time, he was an active rep for the union and served on the National Executive Committee for over 15 years, including 2 years as President of the Union and a number of years as Treasurer. During my career I was a membership assessor of the BCS for a number of years and I was chair of the PTA for my boys’ primary school.
David Bell
Dave served in the British Army as a Royal Engineer, serving in BAOR, Cyprus, Denmark, Gibraltar, Hong Kong as well as the UK. He has been employed as an HGV driver, process development technologist and technical officer. Dave is the current president of North Wilts Hockey Club and treasurer at Buckhurst Park Community Centre, where he coordinates welfare support for ex-Gurkha veterans. A busy man, Dave is also chair of the Meres Residents Association and a parish councillor for Nythe, Eldene & Liden.
Mark Flay
Mark is an experienced business analyst and project manager. Mark has experience of working in communications. Mark is also actively involved in a range of charitable activities and roles within Swindon.