Jo

Jo Ward is a leading social entrepreneur and founded an independent consultancy business helping social enterprises throughout the UK to reach their potential. She was formerly a founder and Chief Executive of Refurnish, an award winning environmental enterprise. They have successfully combined the delivery of social, economic and environmental objectives, reaching £1 million turnover through a combination of trading activity, contracts, grants and sponsorship. Jo has also previously worked overseas for the British Forces and the British Council delivering youth projects.

Laura

Laura’s background is in working with young people in the UK and overseas as a mentor and as a teacher. Laura spent four years working as a social justice campaigner, building support for a refugee community in North Africa. Most recently she has coordinated two community mentoring projects in Yorkshire, supporting young people to achieve qualifications and gain employment in the creative sector.

Daniel

Dan volunteers for the team and takes care of all things 'technical'. He came to us through the first ever NJ group and so has been involved in the growth of the NJ phenomenon from the beginning! He has studied IT at college and is currently in charge of communications for the Huddersfield NJ group.

Christina

Christina's career began in the social housing and voluntary sector before moving into private business, where she provided consultancy services to Whitehall. She spent several years in Southern Africa, where she wrote two books, as well as fund-raising, PR and campaigning for rights and development programmes. Christina is passionate about supporting people who have learning disabilities and 'high learning potential' and is involved with the work of the National Association of Gifted Children.

Ian

Ian has worked in the public, private and charity sectors for twenty-five years and has a successful track record in setting up and leading social enterprises and community organisations in the UK and Africa. Between 2002 and 2006, Ian lived and worked in Africa as a technical advisor to indigenous peoples’ community and rights organisations. For the last five years, Ian and Christina have been running the Lorna Young Foundation, working with communities in developing countries and here in the UK.