I became a Trustee of the board in 2012 and Chair during 2014. I was a senior manager in the Department of Health for 33 years, working as Private Secretary to Ministers and a policy manager for the social care workforce.  

Being an openly gay man, I am very passionate about making a difference in the LGBT community through the work of Yorkshire MESMAC.

It is my privilege to be Chair of an excellent and committed Board of Trustees. The work of Yorkshire MESMAC, our commitment to our service users, and the outstanding staff who deliver our services is something of which we can all be very proud.

 I have been a Trustee for Yorkshire MESMAC since 2016. I sit on the HR Sub Board and I am the lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I).   

I have 25+ years experience of senior management in the third sector. This has included the development and management of mental health service provision, projects to support rural communities, and the support of voluntary and community organisations. I also worked for Yorkshire MESMAC, undertaking the set-up phase of the Hull service.

I have an Honours degree in Social Policy from Manchester and an MBA from Hull Business School. These certificates sit on the wall next to my Cycling Proficiency certificate!

I am a gay woman and I am immensely proud to be part of the Yorkshire MESMAC family, supporting the work of the organisation and helping to ensure it is resilient, robust and responsive. 

During my spare time, I enjoy walks in the Lake District with my partner and our dog. 

 Sue is a successful business leader, management consultant and chartered accountant with extensive business and life experience. Sue runs her own consultancy business focused on helping businesses become more inclusive. She speaks widely on the topic of inclusion with multiple media appearances and corporate speaking engagements. She is listed in the 2019 “PwC 50 Inspirational people”. She is a trained NED by ICAEW, a trained CEO by the School for CEOs and one of their leadership podcast contributors.

She advised Channel 4 on becoming a more Creative Inclusive Organisation. She stood in the European Elections as a candidate for the Conservative party. She Chairs the Conservative Women’s Organisation for North and East Yorkshire.

I have known Yorkshire MESMAC since early 2000s when I began working clinically in HIV services in Leeds. I have worked for over 20 years in a variety of healthcare roles including as a specialist HIV dietitian both in the UK and as a healthcare mentor in South Africa, a Public Health Manager designing, commissioning and managing sexual health services and currently as a Service Manager at Bradford Teaching Hospitals.

I am passionate about improving health outcomes particularly for marginalised groups and making health and care services truly person centered, holistic and accessible. 

I joined the Board of Trustees in 2020 as I wanted to contribute to and support an organisation who's mission and values so mirror my own and I look forward to a time when we can meet beyond Zoom! 

I first came into contact with MESMAC as a service user and joined the Board of Trustees in 2012. I am a criminal and regulatory barrister working across Yorkshire and the North East, and a part-time judicial office holder. I have recently been made a member of the Queen's Council, I live in Leeds with my partner and daughter.

I Chair MESMAC’s Governance Committee and am especially proud of our organisation’s work in mental health and the promotion of equality for all.

 I became a trustee of the board in early 2020 and in such a short amount of times it’s been truly amazing. 

As a open gay man and a service user of MESMAC I really wanted to see ‘how it all worked’ and be apart of a charity that has supported me and many people around me. 

I've spent the last 10 years working in learning and development. Working with businesses to grow their employees, forward thinking and ultimately become self sufficient. 

It’s an overwhelming feeling to be apart of such an amazing charity. 

I joined the Board of Trustees in 2012. 

Now retired, I had come to Bradford in 1990 to work as a psychiatrist and latterly a Medical Manager. 

I had wonderful support from Yorkshire MESMAC when coming out in my late 40's, having been closeted and married. I can hardly exaggerate how important Yorkshire MESMAC has been to me as a gay man.  I see volunteering as a practical way that I can help with Yorkshire MESMAC’s important work. 

I was born in Dinnington in Yorkshire. Dad was a coal miner and Mum was a weaver. In 1963 we moved to Manchester where Dad continued coal mining and Mum continued weaving. I realized that I was Gay at the age of 12. Manchester was an exciting place to grow up in and gave me opportunities that Dinnington would never, and still wouldn’t have given me.

I trained as a General Nurse at Manchester Royal Infirmary and by 1984 I found myself nursing some of the first HIV patients that came to hospital. These were hard times as we were literally ‘learning on the job’. I progressed quite quickly through the ranks and soon became an HIV Clinical Nurse Specialist.

I worked at the Charles Bell Unit at the old Middlesex Hospital caring for adult HIV patients and then worked in Edinburgh with Dr Jacqueline Mock specializing in paediatric HIV.

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work at a hospital in Los Angeles, working with HIV patients who did not have health insurance. This helped me to broaden my HIV knowledge.

Having left the NHS to go into the ‘Pub Game’ with my partner I eventually found myself in Leeds.

I joined Yorkshire MESMAC in 1994 as their first Operations Manager, a post that I thoroughly enjoyed for almost 10 years.

I left Yorkshire MESMAC  to work for a company selling Sexual Health products and did this for almost 10 years.

In 2017 I rejoined the NHS as a Staff Nurse and I now work as a Ward Manager for Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

Tom invited me to join the Board of Trustees at Yorkshire MESMAC in about 2007, a position I was proud to accept.

I sit on the Staffing Sub Group which considers all matters relating to staffing and recruitment.

The work of Yorkshire MESMAC is unrivalled and continues thanks to the collective efforts of the Staff Team and the Board. The organization is fortunate to have such a group of people dedicated to developing services which enable its service users to become experts in their own lives. I have always been proud to be associated with Yorkshire MESMAC and will be equally proud to continue my involvement as long as I am able.

I joined the Board of Trustees in mid-2020, but have been aware of the work Yorkshire MESMAC do for some years, through many friends being service users. My role on the board is the Lead Safeguarding Trustee, and I am deeply passionate about ensuring each person we provide a service to is met with the same incredible service across Yorkshire. Having joined during a global pandemic, right now I am so excited to be able to get out there and experience first hand the amazing work we do, and enable my passion and experience support and steer the charity. 

I work within the Heath and Social Care Sector, and currently am employed as the Head of Safeguarding and Data Protection for a Charity across England and Wales. 

I’m passionate about the LGBQT+ and marginalised communities and want to contribute to a more equal and fair society. I’m originally from Leeds and have been aware of the great work MESMAC complete from my teenage years, an organisation with a really clear mission.  

When I heard MESMAC were looking for trustees from diverse backgrounds, I wanted to support an organisation that positively impacts the communities they operate within – becoming a trustee of the board in 2020. I’ve worked in the food industry for over 15 years managing risk and quality assurance, currently heading an international team over multiple geographies. This means I can support the organisation in a number of different ways including deputy chairing their governance committee. 

Since joining I’ve been massively impressed with the impact, passion and care everyone at MESMAC gives and look forward to seeing the continued effect MESMAC has across the regions they work.