SAN Board Members
Lisa McMullan (Chair)
As Development Manager, Lisa works across The Women’s Organisation’s sites in Liverpool and Manchester, developing projects and partnerships at local, national and international levels.
Lisa has a wealth of experience in women's enterprise support and European projects, built throughout her career, initially as a Business Advisor and Trainer, at local enterprise agencies and Business Link Merseyside. From here she joined Liverpool City Council to manage an ESF project to support women's entrepreneurship that went on to be selected as a model of good practice by the European Commission.
Following this, Lisa became a self employed Business Advisor & Economic Development Consultant, successfully delivering contracts in the fields of women's enterprise, European project management and evaluation.
Lisa has worked with and supported The Women’s Organisation [formerly Train 2000] since its inception as a partner, associate and as a Manager, working to ensure contracts were delivered successfully and quality services were provided for women entrepreneurs.
She has also worked in EU programme management, spending for 2 years in the Managing Authority for the Northern Ireland / Ireland ERDF INTERREG programmes before returning to the North West to take up her most recent position at The Women’s Organisation.
Lisa has over 10 years experience of social accounting and audit, having gained accreditation in 2000. Since then she has prepared social accounts for Train 2000, assisted and delivered training to a wide range of community based organisations across the UK to support them with their own social accounting and audit processes. Lisa is an experienced social audit panel Chair and is working with Social Audit Forum Nepal to develop its own guide to social accounting and audit.
Lisa has a Masters Degree in Entrepreneurship from Stirling University.
Matthew Lanham (Vice Chair)
Matthew has been Chief Executive of the NeuroMuscular Centre for 6 years. He has seen the charity grow and develop hugely in this period. NMC has more than trebled the number of service users it supports and doubled its turnover to £800k this year.
NMC began more than 20 years ago, founded by a teacher and a physiotherapist who passionately believed that the bleak future (notably lack of therapy services, accessible training and support) faced by youngsters with md moving into adulthood needed to be addressed. They set up the user led centre to provide ongoing specialist physiotherapy, training and employment.
NMC has embraced the Social Enterprise movement and is held as an exemplar of charity’s trading with the public and private sector. NMC has won numerous national and regional awards including Best Social Enterprise 2008. More than 50% of NMC’s income is from trading activity.
NMC has completed Social Accounts for each of the last 4 years and remains enthusiastically committed to using this powerful measurement tool.
Matthew is active in the Social Enterprise sector locally and regionally (a Director of Social Enterprise North West and of the Cheshire and Warrington Social Enterprise Partnership) and has particular expertise in the Social Accounting field. He is also active in Disability networks locally.
Matthew has previously held senior operational management roles in the Royal Mail before taking this radical career shift – latterly he was Area General Manager for much of the West Midlands and central Wales. He lives with his wife and 2 teenage children in rural Shropshire.
Alan Kay
Alan has more that 30 years of experience in community development and social enterprise support in the UK and overseas. His background is in overseas development and he has lived and worked in East Africa and South East Asia attached to a variety of different organisations including HelpAge International, Action Aid and VSO. Since returning to Scotland in 1988 he has mainly worked with community-owned enterprises and social enterprises. He believes in empowering people so that they can get involved in economic activity to create sustainable communities. Over the years he has developed links with a wide range of social economy organisations and carried out research, planning, training/facilitation and evaluations. Alan is an Associate lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University and assisted them to establish a Diploma and MSc in Social Enterprise. He is also a Director of CBS Network, is the Treasurer for the Community Development Journal and is a Member of the Institute for Economic Development. Alan’s formal qualifications include a BSc (University of Aberdeen) and a MA in Rural Development (University of East Anglia).
Alan has worked with social accounting and audit for many years and helped to found the Social Audit Network. He co-authored the 2005 Social Accounting and Audit Manuals and more recently wrote the New Guide to Social Accounting and audit.
Anne Lythgoe (Treasurer)
Anne Lythgoe works as Principal Auditor at Salford City Council, a role which includes undertaking a broad range of internal operational and financial reviews. She is currently supporting commissioning and procurement colleagues by raising awareness of the importance of reviewing social value at the early stages of commissioning, particularly, but not exclusively from Third Sector providers.
Prior to her current role, Anne was the Finance and Evaluation Manager for Charlestown and Lower Kersal New Deal for Communities partnership in Salford, where she led a comprehensive programme of evaluation and learning from the elements which make effective place-making.
Originally training as a Landscape Architect, Anne has over 20 years experience in regeneration, community engagement and social enterprise initiatives initially in North-East England, before joining Community Technical Aid Centre (CTAC) in Manchester, where she managed a Government-sponsored programme which centred on sourcing local evidence from the third sector towards the success of national regeneration interventions. Whilst at CTAC she ‘discovered’ social accounting and audit, preparing three sets of social accounts and supporting SAN learning programmes.
She has published several articles and papers about evaluation, particularly focusing on the practice of social accounting and audit, is editor of the SAN newsletter and Treasurer of the Social Audit Network.
Mary McGarry (Company Secretary)
I became interested in social accounting and audit while managing a community owned resource centre on a large Hull housing estate from 2000 - 2003, I attended a workshop on the subject at the Development Trusts Association’s Annual Conference.
My knowledge of the process helped me to become a community development officer with Humber and Wolds Rural Community Council. The RCC enlisted the help of Train 2000 to teach social accounting to a group of 14 staff and trustees, including myself. I then taught 24 full and part-time RCC staff to study for Open College Network Units, using real social accounts to gain the qualification. This resulted in five sets of social accounts being produced for “in House” projects, three for community transport groups and five for other local and national organisations.
Later, as a full-time town clerk and then a part-time town plan officer, consultation methods and evaluation techniques learnt from SAN colleagues proved useful. Originally trained as an Art Teacher I taught in schools for six years and for the local adult education service for 26. I retired from paid employment in January 2011 and since then I have supported organisations in the Sheffield area in the preparation of draft social accounts and also acted as honorary company secretary for SAN.
Barbara Beaton
Barbara Beaton has more than 30 years’ experience of working both for and with social enterprise. She is a qualified and experienced social enterprise adviser, facilitator, and trainer and works with potential and existing social enterprises, voluntary and community initiatives and related stakeholders to support their development and the development of the social economy through her business Leafhopper Enterprise Support Ltd.
Barbara is south east regional coordinator for SAN and an active promoter of measuring and demonstrating impact. She has delivered support and training about social impact measurement as part of her business providing business development support for the social economy and those interested in its development. She is a social auditor.
Barbara’s specialist expertise in social enterprise and the social economy is paired with her practice as a lawyer. Until 2005 she worked as a solicitor specializing in the third sector and legal issues relating to human rights and public sector service provision. She brings practical experience gained from working in a number of different roles for local, regional and national level and including advising on policy and legislative change. This is coupled with experience of working with local rural communities to plan and implement change for local people. She now works with many different groups and bodies, including local authorities, voluntary and community organisations.
Barbara has a degree in Politics and Social Administration and ILM Level 5 Diploma in Social Enterprise support. Roles include: adviser and trainer and facilitator: West Sussex Social Enterprise Network, South East representative for Social Audit Network and Board member, Director KaMSEN CIC, Director KaMSEN [Kent & Medway Social Enterprise Network]
Liz Brooks-Allen
A Partner in The Connectives, Liz is known for transforming creative ideas into realistic deliverable solutions which grow company value and contribute to social changes. Liz has a comprehensive track record of creating and developing social enterprises. She has worked with enterprises to deliver public services, grow community assets and contribute to the sustainable economic regeneration of marginalised communities.
Her reputation for creating social enterprise activity that delivers change in communities, for managing such activity and for delivering highly effective social impact measurement has earned Liz respect across all sectors. Liz has a deep and broad experience of community based economic regeneration with a local, regional and national perspective. She has worked at the coal face as well as leading and establishing enterprises and systems which enable others to deliver and bring about change. Liz is a Director of SAN.
Liz has led initiatives which tackle social exclusion with practical solutions; using a collaborative approach between public, private and community sector organisations to improve the employability of individuals, increase the economic activity of communities and create lasting and effective community based economic regeneration.
Liz has completed a first degree in Business and Leisure Management and a masters degree in Social Enterprise. She is a qualified and experienced social accountant and auditor with excellent knowledge and proven practise in the field of social impact reporting. Liz is a strong proponent of corporate social responsibility encouraging clients to find effective ways to tell the story of their social, economic and environmental impact. Non-Exec Directorships & Memberships include Director of the Social Audit Network, Chair of 42nd Street, Deputy Chair of Liverpool Students Union, Fellowship of The School for Social Entrepreneurs and Associate of the Social Impact Analysts Association.
Sean Smith
Sean was as a lecturer in further education for 18 years and has been self-employed since 1999 working with a range of Third Sector organisations and social enterprises on funding applications, organisational development and preparing business/social enterprise plans.
He has been active in community development and regeneration in Wolverhampton and the West Midlands with a strong personal and professional interest in housing and social housing tenants. He was a correspondence tutor for Unison on their HNC and Professional Diploma housing courses for 13 years; worked with tenants on the Birmingham stock transfer options; and set up Estate Agreements and Estate Walkabouts for tenants in Wolverhampton which were adopted across the city.
He prepared Local Action Plans for local neighbourhood network groups in Wolverhampton and chaired a local network group in the area where he lives. Sean was a local resident community member of Wolverhampton New Deal for Communities (NDC) Steering Group and the Chair/Convener of Wolverhampton NDC Housing & Environment Theme Group responsible for coordinating the development of the delivery plan objectives.
He has worked with a number of temples in Wolverhampton and Birmingham and was an Executive Committee member of a Black Caribbean run housing association for 13 years. He is currently a member of the Wolverhampton Ethnic Minority Council and completed a number of research assignments for Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum.
As an international project manager in F.E. Sean obtained European funding to manage projects in Russia, Poland and India.
Sean became an auditor in 2005 and has chaired several Social Audit Panels. As an active member of SAN West Midlands he has facilitated – with SANWM colleagues - a number of Master classes and Prove Improve and Account (PIA) Workshops and Impact Measurement seminars in the East and West Midlands and London.
He is interested in social media marketing using platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google+ to market social enterprises, voluntary and community groups and local businesses and is a member of the Local Business Marketing Guild.
Sean has a degree in History and English and a PGCE.
Dr Dave Furze
Dave has 25 years experience in community development and empowerment, in neighbourhood regeneration, in supporting social enterprise and in social impact. He has worked in wide ranging situations and contexts across urban and rural, affluent and deprived communities. The key focus of his work has always been to gain people-centred engagement, participation, and involvement, as he believes this maximises community empowerment and the development of well-being and social capital.
He has worked across statutory, voluntary, community and faith sectors. He spent ten years working in Local Government at Wycombe District Council, the last two years as Community Development Team Leader. Here he lead his team in developing community planning, coproduction service design, older people’s action groups, arts based empowerment projects, crime and antisocial behaviour interventions.
In close collaboration with Bucks New University, he was involved in research on small area statistics, on the impact of community development interventions on crime and anti-social behaviour, and also in developing a Foundation Degree in Community Development.
Prior to this he spent seven years working in inner-city Manchester with young people at risk. He pioneered a relational youth work model of practice in Harpurhey, North Manchester, one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country, and also in Old Trafford.
Since 2008 he has run his own Social Enterprise consultancy, Footprints, and is part-time Project Coordinator for Community Transform, a social enterprise working in High Wycombe and Southern Buckinghamshire offering an informal training and mentoring project in trade skills to combat worklessness among young adults who are not in education, employment or training, NEETs.
He first became involved in social value, impact and social accounting and audit while working in East Berkshire and Slough assisting local public service commissioners and third sector groups to manage the transition from grant-aid to commissioning contracts and adapting to the changing landscape of civil society with the “Big Society” and open public services. Here he realised that for there to be a more level playing-field when competing for contracts, the third sector needed to invest more effort in demonstrating their social value, which is at times undervalued and often goes unheard.
He is Chair of Trustees of Churches’ Community Work Alliance, CCWA, and board director of Social Audit Network.
He originally trained as a materials engineer, and has a PhD in Tribology. He worked as a research scientist in Nanotechnology at Brunel University for six years with the UK Atomic Energy Authority, the MOD and international oil, automotive and steel companies.