Our Trustees

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Sonia Bassey, MBE – Chair

Sonia was formerly the Director of Public Sector Transformation for Cheshire and Warrington leading transformation across the sub-region for people affected by multiple disadvantages. She is currently undertaking a PhD with the Open University into Black Leadership in Communities.

Sonia is also Chair of Mandela8 and Africa Oye, two major black-led charities in Liverpool and has recently founded the L8 Matters Community Land Trust and brings a wealth of experience in community engagement and empowerment.

Dorcas Akeju, OBE

Dorcas retired after practising as a midwife for over 30 years. She was a Team Leader for about 4 years and became the Lead for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Haemoglobinopathies (Sickle Cell Diseases and Thalassaemia), and Equality and Diversity for Liverpool Women’s Hospital until her retirement.

She has been active in the campaign against FGM since 1996 and was instrumental in Liverpool Women’s Hospital Trust having guidelines for caring for circumcised women. She has been involved in several initiatives such as setting up the West African Elders, now the African Elders Association, in 1999. She is very active in the community and a trustee of different organisations. She set up the Breathe Easy Foundation, supporting people with asthma and allergies, in memory of her daughter in 2014.

Dorcas has won several awards, such as the Royal College of Midwives Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007, Female Achiever of the year (Merseyside Black Achiever Award) in 2009, but the highlight of her life was the OBE Award from the Queen in 2003. She believes in teamwork and partnership and that all her achievements were possible by working with others, her family and God’s power.

Michael Salla

Michael Salla has made a significant contribution to promoting public health and tackling health inequalities across Liverpool for the previous 15 years.

Michael’s academic background includes attaining BSc (Hons) Sports Science and MSc Public Health degrees researching areas of physical activity, homelessness, diabetes, cancer, alcohol and smoking. Michael’s employment pathway includes working within the third sector on programmes promoting community regeneration and sports development alongside programmes within the public sector in the areas of health promotion, physical activity and the impact of housing on health.

Michael’s current role with Everton in the Community, the official charity of Everton Football Club, as the Director of Health and Sport involves reaching over 20,000 people each year leading on an evidence-based Public Health Strategy, an award-winning Disability Programme and an International Soccer Camps Programme. This work has been underpinned by Edge Hill University’s Department of Sport and Physical Activity resulting in innovative projects being co-designed, co-delivered and robustly evaluated.

Michael’s work has culminated in success at two prestigious national award ceremonies recently- The Times Higher Education Awards in 2016 and the Charity Times Awards in 2017.

Lou Scholes

Louise is a Partner in a Liverpool Law firm. Her practice area focuses on private clients and elderly and vulnerable clients. She is a member of the LCVS Investment Committee.

James Sloan

James Sloan is Chief Executive of Liverpool-based charity Imagine If Trust. James has a degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Health Psychology. After working in public health research and adult mental health services, James moved to the third sector in 2010. After gaining experience in fundraising and project management, he set up Imagine If Trust in 2012, taking on the role as CEO in 2015.

James is passionate about community transformation both at home and overseas. He has travelled extensively across East and Central Africa working with Non-Governmental Organisations and community organisations to improve the lives of some of the poorest people, including displaced people and refugees.

James is married to Hannah and they have two young children together.

Mike Thomas – Treasurer

Mike is LCVS’s Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Risk and Audit Committee. He is currently Director of Risk and Audit for the States of Jersey Government responsible for internal audit, risk, financial governance and insurance. He is passionate about the work of LCVS and ensuring the sustainability of the organisation and the development of its core aims and objectives.

Prior to moving to Jersey, Mike was a Director with Grant Thornton based in the Royal Liver Buildings with responsibilities for public sector external audit and advisory work across the UK. He has worked with a wide range of public sector organisations in various roles assisting organisations with their improvement journeys and challenging them to deliver better value for money for communities. He has been involved in a wide range of thought leadership work including promoting work on social value, purpose-driven business, industrial strategy, Brexit, financial resilience and data analytics.

Mike also spent 12 years as a District Auditor with the Audit Commission in Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside as well as leading a number of inspection teams carrying out reviews of major local authorities. Previous volunteering roles include as a Board member of a Housing Association in West Yorkshire, Director of Deeside Business Forum, Independent Member of the Information Commissioner Office Audit Committee and President of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.

Maxine Ennis

Maxine Ennis is the Chief Executive Officer at Rotunda Ltd, a highly effective charity based in North Liverpool delivering education, training and mental health support to young people and adults across the Liverpool City Region. She has worked at Rotunda for the past 11 years and has developed a culture within the organisation that has supported growth and success for the community. Her previous work has included supporting the cities response to The National Asylum Support Service, implementing a high-level strategy to deal with the statutory responsibilities of the city around housing and urban policy in this area. Maxine’s previous appointments on the Green and Open Strategic Review Board and  Routes Out of Rough Sleeping Board provide a wealth of experience and strategic leadership to LCVS.  On a personal level, she is a strong advocate for supporting people with multiple and complex needs out of poverty and passionate about putting lived experience at the heart of the commissioning process.

Gemma Shone

Gemma’s academic background includes achieving an MSc in Human Resource Management and she is Lean Six Sigma Green Belt accredited, alongside other professional qualifications including CIPD, Coaching and Organisation Development.

As a trustee of LCVS, she is excited about joining an organisation that puts well-being at the heart of the community! Liverpool is a place held dearly to Gemma – where her grandparents grew up and where she secured her first role in Social Housing… not to mention where all the fab restaurants are and truly the friendliest people.

Rosie Kaur

Rosie adopted Liverpool as her second home when she came to the university in 1987 and fell in love with the city. She is qualified as a GP in 1998 and has worked in Liverpool since in Garston, Kensington, Aintree and Anfield.

In 2009 she took up as role Governing Body Member for Liverpool CCG and then in 2019 with Mersey Care Foundation Trust as Deputy Chief Medical Officer.

Rosie is excited about joining LCVS as she has seen first-hand how the health of patients is directly impacted by poverty, social isolation and lack of opportunities.

Rosie is passionate about bringing her wealth of experience in the health care sector to support the aims of LCVS.

Anne Reading

“I am delighted to join a charity that makes such a positive impact in Liverpool. I am looking forwarded to working with a talented and committed team.”

Anne is currently Head of the Regulatory Compliance team at the Charity Commission, based in Liverpool. This is her second spell at the Commission, having previously worked on both Registration and Inquiries.

She spent ten years working for the national charity Age UK as a regional lead for governance, providing support to local partners across the country. This included support to Boards working on mergers.

Her voluntary work includes time as Chair of a local charity in Liverpool that provides residential support for older people and a school for children and young people with visual and other sensory needs.

Anne is a graduate of Liverpool John Moores University, MBA Executive Leadership. She also sits on Police Misconduct Panels as an Independent member.

Anna James

“I am truly honoured to be joining the board of LCVS. It’s an exciting time to be joining the organisation which is an invaluable asset to the charitable sector in Liverpool. I look forward to contributing my passion and expertise to further the mission and give something back to my home city”.

Anna has 15 years’ experience in development and regeneration and has led the development team at Torus since 2018.

She has a large and diverse network of contacts across the sector with a demonstrable track record of delivering high value complex developments. Anna is passionate about delivering good quality, affordable homes whether that be new build or remodelling and refurbishment.

Anna is a key contact for Homes England and has worked through five funding programmes delivering a range of tenures from Affordable Rent and Shared Ownership to Outright Sale and is always keen to learn and share the best practice to ensure the development ambitions of Torus and the North West can be realised.