Trustees

Carole Sawyers - Treasurer

Carole Sawyers - Treasurer

Carole has 18 years’ experience as a Chief Executive in two social care charities. She retired as Chief Executive of The Brendoncare Foundation in June 2020. Prior to joining Brendoncare Carole worked for The Fremantle Trust. She joined the Trust as Director of Finance in 1992 and was appointed Chief Executive in 2002. Carole was a Board member of The National Care Forum and Honorary Treasurer. Her professional background is as a Chartered Accountant and she was a Senior Manager in the audit department of Ernst & Young prior to joining The Fremantle Trust. Carole enjoys walking, playing tennis, theatre, reading and sudoku puzzles.

Cathy Sharp

Cathy Sharp

Cathy is an Honorary Professor in the School of Health at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen and is the Director of Research for Real an action research consultancy based in Edinburgh.  In her professional life, Cathy has played an active and varied part in the evolution of My Home Life in Scotland, England, and Australia. With interests in appreciative action research, she is recognised in the UK and internationally for work that challenges thinking and practice about social research, leadership, participation, learning, and evaluation.  Reflective and always learning, a current focus is how to sustain caring conversations where lived experience and other perspectives are disputed, downplayed, or discounted by others.  Cathy is a regular and keen musician, allotment holder and beach walker. 

Des Kelly OBE - Chair

Des Kelly OBE - Chair

Des was a founder member of the My Home Life Charity movement chairing its Advisory Group for the first 10 years. He is also Chair of The Centre for Policy on Ageing and serves as a charity Trustee for Greensleeves Care, The Relatives & Residents Association and The Residential Forum. A qualified social worker, he managed a Local Authority care home and has worked in the voluntary and independent sectors in several senior management positions. For 13 years, until 2016, he was Executive Director of the National Care Forum. Des enjoys family and friends, music, art, travel and good food!
Julienne Meyer CBE - Secretary

Julienne Meyer CBE - Secretary

Julienne is Professor Emeritus of Nursing: Care for Older People at City, University of London. She co-founded My Home Life Charity in 2006 and worked as Co-Director for My Home Life Charity in England. Internationally, Julienne is a recognised expert in aged care, being former Vice Chair of the Global Ageing Network and holding several visiting professorships in Australia and USA. Since retirement in 2019, Julienne helped set up My Home Life Charity and has been working in a variety of roles that promote research and development across the health and social care sector. Julienne enjoys cooking, her grandchildren, and walking.

Sarah Penney

Sarah Penney

Sarah is Associate Director for My Home Life Northern Ireland & Lecturer in Nursing at Ulster University.

Sarah has a background in surgical nursing before managing several Health & Social care projects. She worked as a care home manager and a Dementia Lead for a Belfast charity. She is the chair of the regional frailty education working group who recently developed the regional frailty training programme. 

Specific interests are exploring leadership in long term care and how this impacts care delivery, developing knowledge & awareness around frailty, supporting staff to develop practice in dementia care and dementia design and quality care for older people. She sat on the Northern Ireland expert panel to assist with the development of the national dementia learning & development framework in 2014 and has contributed to the current review.   She won the RCN Nurse of the Year Learning in Practice award in 2017 for her work with NI care homes in the My home Life programme.

Sarah is an avid reader of all types of fiction, enjoys DIY, travel and chilling in her hammock.

Sylvie Silver MBE

Sylvie Silver MBE

Sylvie was a founder member of the My Home Life Charity movement and was Co-Chair of the Care Home FaNs: Intergenerational Linking Project. Until her retirement in 2019 she was the Executive Director of the National Activity Providers Association for 15 years. She now serves as an Ambassador for NAPA . Sylvie has worked in a range of health, education and social care settings all with a focus on wellbeing and engagement. Sylvie is a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellow and Trustee for 3 Air Cadet establishments. Sylvie enjoys gardening, reading, tap dancing and family time.

Tom Owen

Tom Owen

Tom Owen was a co-founder of My Home Life. He began his career working in care homes, before taking a research position at Oxford University and then, becoming Policy Research Manager at Help the Aged (Now Age UK). Tom also currently acts as Director of ‘My Home Life England’, based at City St George’s, University of London. Tom enjoys listening to and playing music, walking, pubs and good conversation.