Our People

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President Professor Lord Patel of Bradford OBE    Member of the House of Lords Chair of Social Work England Forrmer Chair of the Mental Health Act Commission

Patron Professor Gisli Gudjonsson CBE Emeritus Professor of Forensic Psychology Institute of Psychiatry of King's College London World-renowned expert on false confessions

Trustees

As a registered charity, NAAN is governed by a board of voluntary trustees. The board is made up of people elected by our membership from within our membership; and those appointed by the board to broaden its skills and experience. 

Chair

Ian Blackie (Appointed)

Ian is a retired social work manager for a London Emergency Duty team. Working in Lewisham in the 1970s he became concerned about the miscarriage of justice surrounding the Maxwell Confait case. He was involved in starting what was probably the first AA scheme. As a result of requests from all over the country for help and advice this led to the setting up of a national conference and the founding of NAAN.

Treasurer

Kevin Wheeler (Appointed)

Kevin is a Chartered Accountant who originally qualified as an auditor with Big 6 firm, BDO.  He has 10 years of experience running finance for organisations within listed and Private Equity backed SMEs. He is an experienced board member in growing organisations.

Non office-holding

Andy Ward (appointed)

With thirty years police service at the ranks of Constable and Sergeant, including six years as a Custody Officer, Andy retired from Durham Constabulary in 2019. He spent over 20 years of his policing career as a Police Federation representative, specialising in Health & Safety, Equality, Conduct & Performance, and Police Custody. Andy is now active as a Policing Advisor and Training Consultant.

Charlie Rose (Elected)

Charlie is an active volunteer appropriate adult, working in the London Borough of Southwark for the past ten years. He is a retired biotech business executive, experienced company director, business manager and fundraiser. Has set up and worked with various London-based charities and non-profit organisations as founding member and trustee.

Donna Buffong (Elected)

Donna is the Court Bail & Remand Co-ordinator for Wandsworth Youth Offending Team. Donna has over twenty years' experience as a social worker specialising in criminal justice. She is currently the Senior Court Officer assessing, supervising and managing interventions for young people between the ages of 10 -18, from first entry into the Criminal Justice System to Bail, Sentence or Disposal. Donna manages the Wandsworth Appropriate Adult Scheme.

Stephen Gray (Elected)

Stephen is the Chief Executive of Young Lives Foundation. He is a a specialist in the education and social care sector, starting as a Youth Worker and Advocate for looked-after children. He co-founded children's charity YLF in 2007 and has led it through a period of continuous development and improvement. He as managed the successful recommissioning of local authority contracts, launched new services and introduced a fundraising strategy to ensure the charity is sustainable. YLF provides volunteer AA services in Kent and Medway.

Lynn Frusher (Elected)

Lynn is one of three Regional Managers, and the national training lead, for TAAS (the UK's largest AA provider). Having previously working in acute nursing for 23 years, she has 10 years of experience on the frontline of AA work and 6 years in management. Lynn has co-ordinated the out-of-hours referral line, taking and filling referrals and dealing with out of hours safeguarding.

Matthew Haynes (Elected)

Matthew is a Team Manager at Coventry Youth Offending Service. Youth justice and protecting the rights of children and young people are his vocation. He has 22 years’ experience in the criminal justice system, including 17 as a manager in Coventry YOS and 12 as a qualified social worker. He has completed Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation’s (HMIP) assessor training and is currently working on a Level 5 diploma in Management and Leadership.

Michelle Dixon (Elected)

Michelle is Head of Service for Child Action North West's (CANW) Criminal Justice Service. Committed to the rights of young people, she is very involved in helping young people who have committed criminal offences to understand the consequences of their actions, encouraging them to say how they feel about the service, and to suggest ideas for continual improvement. CANW provides volunteer AA services, principally in the North West of England. 

Sue Nash (Elected)

Sue has twenty years of experience as a Social Worker for Wiltshire Youth Offending Team. Since 2012, she has been managing volunteers who undertake various roles including appropriate adults. She previously taught in a female prison but left wanting to do a job where she could try and prevent young people entering the custodial estate. 

Executive Officers

Chris Bath Chief Executive This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Grev Wallington Effective Practice Manager This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.