Board of Trustees
- Andrew Cozens, Chair
- Mark Currie, Treasurer
- Patrick Healy
- Tania Fitzgerald
- Dr Edward O Wojakovski MPBF
- Elin Fitzpatrick
- Dr Peter Mayer
- Josephine Barrett
- Tim Poole
- Stuart Taylor
Chair of Carers Trust and former Vice Chair of PRTC, Andrew Cozens CBE has over 30 years of experience in social care in the public and voluntary sectors.
Until March this year he was a Strategic Adviser, Children Adults and Health Services for the Improvement and Development Agency for local government, Andrew spent ten years as a director of social services in Gloucestershire and Leicester. He was President of the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) in 2003/04 and is a qualified social worker and is now a Consultant on Health and Social Care Issues.
Andrew's involvement in the carers movement began in 1987 when he was working in North Yorkshire. He was ADSS spokesperson on carers' issues from 1997-2002 and, prior to becoming a Trustee for The Princess Royal Trust for Carers in 2005, he was a member of The Trust's Policy Development Committee
Honorary Treasurer of the organisation, Mark Currie joined Carers Trust. from Crossroads Care where he had served as Treasurer for two and a half years. He served on the Finance & General Purposes and Membership Sub-Committees of Crossroads.
Mark is currently the Chief Financial Officer of The Independent College Partnership, a business focussed on delivering excellence in the further education sector. During his 25-year career in business, he has held senior roles in a number of private equity owned business going through periods of significant change. He has also been the CFO of a quoted consulting business, a partner in KPMG’s transaction services business and was a private equity executive in Guy Hands’ Principal Finance Group at Nomura.
Mark is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountant’s in England and Wales, having won the Peat Prize for achieving first place in the Order of Merit in his professional examinations in 1987, and is a law graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Mark is passionately committed to ensuring that a charitable heart remains at the core of the care industry.
Patrick Healy is vice-chair of Carers Trust. Since 2007 he has been a trustee of Crossroads Care and its chair since 2010. His involvement at the national level had begun in 2006 assisting with fundraising.
Patrick became involved with Crossroads Care when his wife had been taken ill over a long period with a brain tumour. His local Crossroads Care had provided vital support when things became very tough. It was clear to Patrick that not everyone was able to get the level of help that he and his wife had received, either because they did not know how to find it or because it simply was not available where they were.
Patrick is a lawyer and accountant and has worked in the City for about 20 years.
Previously, a Treasurer of the Princess Royal Trust for Carers since 2009, Tania joined Carers Trust following the organisation’s merger with Crossroads in 2012 taking up roles on the Trustee Board, the Finance & General Purposes Committee and the Audit Committee.
Tania spent sixteen years in commercial finance roles, mostly in the travel and aviation sector, including British Airways, Harrods Aviation & Air Harrods Ltd, and First Choice Holidays PLC.
Her move towards the social sector was motivated by personal experience of disability and the challenges facing carers following an accident in which her sister suffered a traumatic brain injury. For three years, she served as the Finance Director of Scope - a national disability charity and is currently one for Historic Royal Palaces, an independent charity that looks after the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, the Banqueting House, Kensington Palace and Kew Palace.
Dr Edward Wojakovski first became involved with The Princess Royal Trust for Carers in 2005, when he attended a dinner at The Dorchester in the presence of Her Royal Highness. He joined the Board of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers in 2007 and has been an active Trustee ever since. He was a keen supporter of the merger with Crossroads Care and joined the Board of Carers Trust when it was formally constituted in April 2012.
Holding degrees in Law and Accountancy, a Masters in Land Economics and a PhD in Economics and Business Administration, Dr Edward Wojakovski’s career has evolved directly and indirectly with the real estate market in the United Kingdom and Europe. His business involvement is mainly through the Tonstate Group vehicle which holds or manages his interest in all sectors, with great emphasis on the leisure and hotels sector.
Dr Wojakovski is a keen art collector and enjoys the world of opera, violin and piano music. He is also an advisor and patron for various charitable organisations in the UK and abroad.
Elin first became involved with Crossroads Care 25 years ago when a colleague of hers in Ceredigion Social Services became the Co-ordinator of the newly created Ceredigion Scheme and she agreed to become a trustee.
During the intervening years, she held various offices and was Chair at the time Powys, Pembrokshire and Ceredigion merged to form Crossroads Mid and West Wales. Elin has also been a trustee on the National Board for the past 4 years and Chair of the Wales Committee for the past 2 years. Prior to retiring, she was Service Manager for Direct Services for Older People in Ceredigion and has also worked in the voluntary sector as a Development Officer with CAB.
She is hopeful that Carers Trust will provide much greater opportunities to raise the profile of unpaid carers and increase services for them. She will continue to be the Trustee up until April 2013.
A retired consultant in Geriatric and Stroke medicine, Peter has been involved in service development and setting standards for care throughout his professional life at local regional and national levels. Peter set up a regional award The Excellent Care award in the 1980s an early form of multidisciplinary peer assessment and this has run since then in alternate years.
Peter has been involved with our legacy organization Crossroads Care since 1982 when he helped form the first Birmingham branch. He remains the trustee of what is now Crossroads Care Birmingham and Solihull.
Peter Mayer is a panellist for the General Medical Council and continues to play an active part in local public life within the public involvement sector covering health and social care.
Josephine has been involved for over 15 years with the Princess Royal Trust for Carers (now merged with Crossroads Care to form Carers Trust); initially as the representative at the Scotland Trustee Network for the managing agent of 2 carer centres and over the last 4 years as a Trustee of her local carers centre.
During this period she has been active in supporting and strengthening the relationship between Scotland and the UK at various board, committee and forum levels and at present chair the Scotland Trustee Network and the Scotland Committee.
Before retiring, Josephine was a senior manager within the voluntary sector with responsibility for community care services for over 30 years. Josephine has a strong interest in carers’ issues through personal experience and as a member of the Scottish Children’s Hearing system for over 20 years.
Tim Poole
Tim has been the Chief Executive of Carers Gloucestershire since 2003 and has overseen significant growth in the organisation and services provided for Carers across Gloucestershire. Working with partner agencies in the voluntary sector, the Local Authority and the Primary Care Trust, Tim has helped to secure increased and improved support and services for carers in the county. In January 2007 Tim was appointed to the Gloucestershire PCT Professional Executive Committee (PEC) helping to ensure that carers issues remain a high priority on the PCT agenda.
In January 2008 Tim was elected as Chairman of the UK Partnership Council of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, a body made up of Network Centre Managers and Trustees to advise and inform the Board on the strategic and operational direction of The Trust. He is also a Director of the Forest of Dean Crossroads Care scheme which provides much needed respite care to local people.
Tim has long had a strong interest in carers issues from seeing first hand the impact caring for his grandparents had on the lives of family members. Coming from Zurich Financial Services and Allied Dunbar, Tim has worked with the voluntary sector since 1993, supporting children and young people and as Chair of the Staff and Corporate Grants Committee.
Stuart is a is Management Consulting Director for a global telecommunications client, and also for a major aerospace and defence organisation. He graduated from University of Strathclyde in 1985, and has been with Accenture for over 25 years where he currently leads their lead Accenture’s Talent and Organisation Performance business across its UK and Ireland CHT business.
Stuart has worked with many clients across Europe, and has lived abroad for six years in Zurich and Dublin working with retail and private banks. He brings experience from operating in a large corporate organisation that focuses on providing services that will help its clients businesses be more successful.
Stuart was closely involved with carers when both his mum and aunt contracted terminal cancer in 2002, and both were cared and supported through their short illness by various local support and health service bodies.
He has championed the Trust’s cause in his company since 2006, engaging many colleagues who have supported skills development initiatives for Carers through coaching and running training courses, reviewed policies for several central Trust functions, supported research for the policy development team and also raised funds.
Stuart is married with two boys, both keen sportsmen and lives in Cheshire.
