Society Advisory Group members

Meg is an independent governance consultant. A governor at Sheffield Hallam University, a non-executive director of the Phone-paid Services Authority and a non-executive director of the Esh Group, Meg also works overseas on parliamentary processes, political party development, gender mainstreaming and women's leadership. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. From 2001 to 2015, Meg was the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Heeley, including being Minister for Women and Equality.

Currently Head of Governance and Programme Advocacy at CAFOD, Gweneth has over 15 years’ experience of civil society development in Africa and Asia, supporting organisations to develop advocacy and governance work with a particular focus on monitoring and evaluation. She developed the Voice and Accountability Tool, an innovative method for monitoring civil society advocacy work and led the establishment of a joint NGO/ DFID learning group on Measuring Results in Empowerment and Accountability.

Ryan is Head of International Communications for ActionAid International. He is also a Director of Stratagem International, an international public affairs consultancy. Whilst previously based in Pakistan, he ran a multi-channel award-winning campaign for education reform for DFID. He previously worked as Director of Penn Schoen Berland and Regional Manager for Peace Dividend Trust, an economic development NGO in Afghanistan. He is a former editor of Chile’s largest English language newspaper. 

Currently providing consultancy support and advice for a range of clients on a variety of issues including government relations, organisational governance and using sport to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, Monica previously worked for the Premier League and before that, the Football Foundation, where she spearheaded the development of professional football clubs using sport to effect social change in their local communities via a range of large-scale programmes.

Alexander leads on governance programming at M&C Saatchi World Services. His work is focused on applying innovation and communications expertise to governance challenges in fragile and conflict-affected states in support of US and UK development, defence and diplomatic agencies. He previously served as a US diplomat and Army officer focused on US-UK security cooperation. He is a policy fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and a World Economic Forum Global Shaper. 

Brandon has undertaken consulting and research work and participated in various peace and reconciliation initiatives in Liberia, Mozambique, Bosnia, the Basque Country and Sierra Leone, among others. He has lectured and taught at Colombia University, York University and Ulster University. He remains an Associate of the African Centre for Migration and Society in South Africa. Formerly the Director of INCORE at Ulster University, he is now the John Hume and Thomas P. O’Neill Chair in Peace.

After 33 years, John retired as CEO of Bryson Group, one of the UK’s largest social enterprises. He now chairs Social Enterprise NI and is on the board of social enterprises including Drumlin Wind Co-op, WorkWest community enterprise agency and a community Credit Union. John is a Life Fellow of RSA, was NI & UK Social Enterprise Leader of the Year in 2011; is a Distinguished Graduate of Ulster University; was awarded IoDNI 2012 & IoDUK 2013 Public & 3rd Sector Director of the Year.

Gerri is a freelance arts consultant, specialising in evaluation and strategic planning. She began work as a community artist. She has a long-standing commitment to exploring the contribution that arts and culture can make to nurturing social change. Her current interests include helping to establish Live Well Make Art, a network promoting arts and health as a social movement and working with film-makers with the aim of making evaluation reports accessible to a wider audience.

Servane is an innovation entrepreneur, helping organisations understand people’s needs in a changing economy. As the founder/director of Ogunte CIC , she has developed the first incubator for women in social enterprises in the UK. She also runs the International Women’s Social Leadership Awards. Her expertise includes women in social entrepreneurship; the gender lens on investment, activism and leadership; as well as open internet / tech-for-good initiatives.

Janet works as a consultant on equalities for clients in the UK and internationally, mainly focusing on women’s rights. She was a civil servant in the Medicines Control Agency, Department of Trade and Industry, and Cabinet Office amongst others. As Director of the UK Women’s National Commission, she worked with a wide range of women’s civil society organisations. She is vice-chair of the Equality and Diversity Forum and serves on the management committee of the UK Women’s Budget Group.