We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance and comply with the principles outlined in the Code of Governance for Voluntary Organisations Organisations are groups like companies and businesses. , which is approved by the Charity Commission.
The executive team prepares matters such as policy,
strategy
A strategy is a plan to show what an organisation, or a person, wants to do and how they are going to do it.
and budgets for consideration and approval by the trustees, who then monitor the implementation of these plans.
Jon Sparkes OBE - Chief Executive Officer
Jon is an experienced leader in the charity sector, having previously worked as Chief Executive at UNICF UK, Crisis UK and Scope. Following an earlier career as a successful commercial human resources and organisational development director in an international technology business, he brings a breadth of valuable experience Experience is when you have learned or tried something before. , with a strong track record of growing scale and impact at major UK charities.
Jon also has notable experience in non-executive positions for charities and social enterprises, including SeeAbility, Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) and the Centre for Homelessness Impact.
Jon is currently a Trustee at St Petrocs, the homelessness charity.
Jackie O'Sullivan - Executive Director of Strategy and Influence
Jackie grew up all over the North of England before the bright lights of London lured her down to study Classics at University College London (UCL). Since then she has worked in several Government Departments, done a stint at the European Commission in Brussels and worked in the food industry.
Jackie's last role before joining Mencap was as Director of National Lottery Good Causes. She joined Mencap in January 2018 and is really proud to part of the Mencap team.
Alison Pike - Executive Director Inclusive Communities & Partnerships
Ali’s career started in the east of London as a secondary school teacher on the Teach First programme. After 3 years of teaching and some extensive travelling in central and south America she dabbled in the private sector working as a management consultant for Deloitte.
In 2010 she ventured into the charity sector and hasn’t looked back! Since then she has developed a keen interest in community A community is the people and places in an area. inclusion: she is enthusiastic about people having the agency, connections and support they need to be able to live, work, socialise and really enjoy life to the full in the community they call home.
She feels lucky to be able to focus on this day to day at Mencap. Ali loves the
diversity
Diversity means people from all different cultures and backgrounds.
of her role and the impact that the work of the directorate clearly has on the lives of people she meets across England, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Mark Crouch, Executive Director Personal Support (England)
Mark has worked at Mencap for 27 years. He started his Mencap journey as an Assistant Pathway Officer, helping people with a
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
find jobs. Over the years, he’s progressed into Regional Operations
Manager
A manager is a boss at work. They tell you what you need to do and give you support if you need it.
and Director of Operations.
In the last few years, he led our commercial review project to improve the
finances
Finances are anything to do with money.
of our services so we can better support people. And recently, he’s been working closely with our Quality Team on how we improve the quality of our services. This is crucial work in our strategy so that people with a learning disability live their lives to the full.
Richard Blakey - Chief Financial Officer
Richard joined Mencap from Settle, a Hertfordshire based Housing Association, where he was Executive Director of Finance and Resources. Before then, Richard worked in senior finance roles across a series of public and third sector organisations including Peabody, and Essex County
Council
A council is also called a local authority. They are a group of people who make decisions about some of the things in the area where you live. These include: schools, social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
.
Mohini Raichura-Brown, Executive Director, Fundraising
Mohini Raichura-Brown has over 20 years’ experience achieving
income
Income is all the money you get from things like paid jobs and government benefits.
growth across charity and corporate sectors.
Most recently she was interim Director of Fundraising at the British Asian Trust, supporting the organisation’s next phase of growth. Before this, she was Chief Partnerships Officer at UNICEF UK. Here, she delivered significant income growth and secured a range of multi-million pound partnerships.
Mohini has a strong track record in high-value fundraising, strategic partnerships and stakeholder engagement. She is a values Values are the things that are important to you. Mencap's values are being passionate, inclusive, brave, positive, and kind. -led leader with a deep commitment to belonging and a history of building ambitious, high-performing fundraising teams.
Laura Rees - Executive Director People
Having worked most recently as senior director of people for British Red Cross, Laura has varied industry experience both in the charity and commercial sector. She combines strong operational HR leadership with change management and strategic HR experience.
Mary Mawhinney - Executive Director Governance & Quality
Prior to joining Mencap, Mary served as the Chief of Staff at the British Red Cross, a key strategic leadership position working across the span of domestic and international operations. Actively contributing to ensuring the organisation was run effectively, transparently and accountably, Mary collaborated with, advised and supported the Board, Committees and Executive to make sound, evidenced based decisions and to maximise impact for people in crisis. In the role she provided direct counsel to the Chief Executive and Executive colleagues; and the Board Chair and Trustees.
Mary has spent her career advising leaders at the highest level, including the United Nations in New York; and at the apex of the Australian Government, serving as Private Secretary to the
Prime Minister
The Prime Minister is the leader of the government.
(and prior to the
election
An election is when people choose who should be in charge of something. This could be in charge of a group, an area, or the country. People choose by voting. The person with the most votes wins.
, Leader of the Opposition); and adviser to the Trade Minister.
Mary was raised in an Australian country town. She holds a BA (Hons) in Political Science and International Relations; an MSc in Development and Demography; and an LLB. She is an avid traveller, reader, barre enthusiast, committed humanitarian and incurable optimist.