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Gaddum came to Ady’s attention through a work connection, and then later when the opportunity came to be a Trustee, he applied because of his shared values, and his own experience of child bereavement. Now a Carer himself for his mum, he hopes his involvement with Gaddum will help others find the services they need.

Ady is the founder and Managing Director of branding and design agency, True North, who work with a range of national and international clients. Running a business for 22 years has been his biggest challenge due to the ups and downs that come with it. But he loves what he does and is inspired by the people he works with.

Growing up in Rochdale, Ady always knew he wanted to work in design, but had some alternative careers in mind including manager of Rochdale FC, a professional darts player or a joiner.

His weekends involve football, family and DIY and he enjoys watching Taskmaster due to it’s level of silly humour. However, Morecambe and Wise is closest to his heart. He’s met Eric Morecambe’s son, Gary, and is the very proud owner of Ernie Wise’s top hat, as seen in many dance routines, and the famous Angela Rippon sketch.

Beth was inspired to join Gaddum because of our values, how central we are to Greater Manchester’s history, and our work on bereavement support.

For the last twenty years, Beth has been working and volunteering in the charity and social policy sector. She is currently Regional Funding Manager for the National Lottery Community Fund in Greater Manchester and is passionate about collaboration and innovation to tackle social issues and inequalities. Growing up, however, she thought she’d be a zoologist living in the Galapagos islands!

Beth grew up in Sheffield with her Cockney parents, who moved north to find some green space to raise a family. Her biggest challenge in life has been struggling to conceive and pregnancy loss. It’s nice to know that she now lives with her Spanish husband and one son who she describes as “a tree climbing pirate renegade”.

The best advice she’s ever received is, “don’t do nothing just because you can’t do everything”.

Gaddum’s services appealed to Elaine due to her own experiences of being a young carer herself.

Manchester born and bred, Elaine originally wanted to be a teacher, but took a different career path, working at NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care as an Equality and Inclusion programme manager.  She confesses her biggest challenge in life has been breaking down barriers to career progression.

Elaine previously chaired a black-led mental health charity in Manchester in the 1990s and is a volunteer today with other local groups. This experience has helped her develop an understanding of mental health, particularly the need for culturally appropriate, accessible services.

When asked who most inspires her, without hesitation she said Maya Angelou, because she is a brilliant, motivational and inspirational wordsmith.

Coming from a family interested in campaigning for social change, Ian was drawn to Gaddum, hoping as a trustee to support and guide us to be the best we can be in serving the needs of people in Greater Manchester. He describes his role as a privilege.

Born in Oxford, Ian originally wanted to be a cricketer, though 50 years on he’s starting to think his England call-up is unlikely.

Before joining Gaddum, Ian worked in the NHS as a senior leader. His biggest challenge was helping to lead the NHS in Manchester through the Covid pandemic. This included setting up the Nightingale Hospital and ensuring the Covid vaccination campaign reached the city’s diverse communities.

He came to Manchester for University and stayed along with his wife, who also worked for the NHS. They have two grown-up sons and an old Labrador, Bronny. Ian watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with his boys again and again as they grew up, and now knows the dialogue off by heart.

John was attracted to Gaddum because of the services we deliver and our hard-working teams. However, it’s our Carers service that is really close to his heart as he has been a carer – and at a time when there were no commissioned services.

Born in Ireland, John now lives in Greater Manchester. Work wise, he is Chief Officer of The Brunswick Centre in West Yorkshire, an organisation in the field of HIV social care, HIV prevention and LGBT issues, particularly for young people. The biggest challenge in his working life has been tackling stigmas and the impact of (health) inequalities.

He is most inspired by Angela Davis, author and political activist, and his favourite quote is actually from her, which is “We must always attempt to lift as we climb.”

Jon joined Gaddum in January 2021 as Finance Trustee. He was born in London but brought up in South Manchester, where he now lives with his wife and two grown-up daughters.

Growing up, Jon wanted to be an air traffic controller, which is a world away from his current role as Finance Director at Hugh Jones Solicitors, specialists in mental capacity law and Court of Protection work. His current role is challenging, but making a difference gets him out of bed each day.

In work, his biggest challenge was owning his own business and not knowing where the money would come from next, though he persevered and succeeded, which he is very proud of.

At the weekend, Jon will do anything to avoid the supermarket shop.

Jonathan found Gaddum particularly appealing because of its long history of supporting people in Greater Manchester, and the inspiring work the charity continues to do today. He currently leads a team of NatWest relationship managers in Greater Manchester supporting SMEs and loves meeting ambitious entrepreneurs growing their businesses. Whilst remote working made it a challenge to help customers in the early stages of Covid, supporting businesses in the region through the pandemic was particularly rewarding.

Jonathan was born in London and  has seen plenty of the UK,  living  in Maldon, Grantham, Edinburgh, and Leeds. He moved to Manchester in 2018 after marrying his wife, whose family are from Altrincham.

His weekends are mostly spent with his 18-month-old daughter and when she has some downtime,  Jonathan will be out running, cycling, or watching Fulham.

Kabir Patel has over 15 years of experience in Finance and Technology. In his current role as Senior Director at AstraZeneca, Kabir oversees Finance and Transformation as Global Head of IT.

Prior to AstraZeneca, Kabir spent more than 10 years working in consulting roles with Thomson Reuters and Oracle where he focused on technology-enabled digital transformation and unlocking significant value.

Kabir holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from Sardar Patel University in Gujarat, India, and completed the General Management – Executive Education Programme from the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge. Kabir is keen on sports and acoustic guitar, enjoys food, travel, and interesting talks.

Sarah began her career in 2005, studying Health & Social Care. Over the years Sarah continued to study and has worked/volunteered for various organisations and mental health services. Sarah is enthusiastic and quite passionate about her work ethics which has enabled her to have a positive impact on contributing to the development of improving services including their policies and procedures.

Sarah is a qualified therapist with a vast experience of working with young people, adults and families.

Sarah currently works as a Step 3/3.5 Mental Health Practitioner for ‘Thinking Ahead’ Rochdale.