Our executive team

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.

Adrian joined Mencap in April 2022 as the Executive Director of People, and has responsibility for: HR Shared Services; Learning & Development; Employee Engagement & Experience; Reward & People Systems, and Volunteering.

Adrian has over 11 years experience of working in the charity sector. Just before his role with Mencap, he was Director of People & Organisational Development in Diabetes UK, where he developed and implemented a new people strategy to achieve the strategic priority of ‘Best People, Best Organisation’, dramatically reducing staff attrition whilst improving employee experience, well-being and loyalty. Prior to that, Adrian was Director of Organisational Effectiveness in World Vision for six years, having responsibility for People & Organisational Development, Strategic Delivery, IT & Operations, and Central Services, during a period when World Vision grew from £60m to £91m turnover, reduced staff turnover from 42% to 9% and made it to 9th place in the Sunday Times Top 100 Places to Work.

Adrian has extensive experience of working across all sectors, with a background in programme and project delivery. Adrian’s passion for identifying and leading change has been key in implementing large-scale business transformation and ICT programmes, which have invariably involved cultural change. Adrian has worked with numerous senior leadership and management teams to help them understand and transform their impact on organisational culture and performance. Whilst Adrian originally qualified in Computing Science and is a qualified Prince2 and MSP Practitioner, he is a Chartered Fellow of CIPD, and holds a post-grad in Psychology of Change and OD.

When Adrian isn’t working, he enjoys time with his son, Matthew, and his daughter, Hannah. He has a 2 year old sprocker (spaniel) called Blossom. Adrian loves reading, walking, gardening and sketching. As well as working in charity, Adrian volunteers for Samaritans too.

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 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 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. 

Emma joined Mencap in October 2023. As a registered nurse, she is passionate that everyone receives high quality care to enable them to lead full lives.  

Before joining Mencap, Emma worked for the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator for Health and Social care, holding various Senior leadership roles including as Deputy Director of Operations and Head of Registration. Prior to working at CQC, she worked as a Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer at The University of Southampton funded by The Health Foundation to research better support for people with long-term health conditions. Emma holds a Doctorate in Health Sciences focussing on measurement and long-term conditions and seriously enjoys data! 

Outside of work, Emma has 3 sons who keep her busy as a regular sporting spectator. Emma has several voluntary roles working as a Trustee of a Multi-Academy Trust (a group of schools) and as a family court magistrate for the South West bench. She loves being outside and on the move as a runner, cyclist, walker and skier as well as reading a good book. 

Khaleel joined Mencap from Islamic Relief Worldwide, an independent humanitarian and development organisation where he was the Director responsible for Governance, Compliance and Risk Management.  

 With extensive experience working with community groups, charities and non-governmental organisations, Khaleel has previously worked as a lawyer and legal and governance advisor in charities including Save the Children International and Plan International. Since 2019, he has also been a trustee for the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) International.

Prior to moving to the charity sector, Khaleel spent 10 years working within the UK Government Legal Service where he provided legal advice on issues ranging from family and children’s rights, education law to human rights aspects of mental health legislation. He also advised on legal powers of NHS regulatory bodies, held a role at the European Commission and was also assistant-solicitor to Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press. 

Mary has more than 18 years experience working in fundraising and sales roles in UK and Republic of Ireland. Originally from Northern Ireland and now based in London, Mary has been leading our fundraising directorate since 2019 and has recently stepped into our Acting Executive Fundraising Director, where she has responsibility for our communications, advocacy and activism directorate.

Mary is passionate about raising as much income as possible so we can ensure we are able to support the 1.5million people with a learning disability.

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.