Meet the team

Meet our Executive Leadership team and our Board of Trustees.

Board of Trustees

John McLean Carers Trust

John McLean OBE, Chair

John has been Chair of Carers Trust since 2018.

He recognises the vital role that carers play in our society and is acutely aware of the challenges they face through lived experiences with family and friends. His role as Chair enables him to contribute to helping improve the lives of carers.

By background, he is a Non-Executive Chair who has extensive public and capital market experience which covers operations, acquisition integration and management internationally in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australasia. Additionally, through his capital market experience, he has a strong practical knowledge on corporate governance.

He was Chair of Humberts plc, the estate agent to lead its rescue and ultimate disposal and before this as CEO, he implemented the turnaround of Sanderson and William Morris. John co-led a management buy-out of ICS, the logistics Company and previously was Finance Director of Gresham House plc. He is a Chartered Accountant and was with Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in London and New York.

He is Chair for the Institute of Directors for the City of London.

John was Vice Chair of a Macmillan Cancer Appeal, a member of the VSO Council, Chair of VSO China and currently sits on the Lord Mayor’s Appeal Fundraising Board.

Linda Main Carers Trust

Linda Main, Treasurer

Linda is a chartered accountant and a partner in KPMG LLP where she leads the UK Capital Markets Group, working with clients of all sizes and sectors seeking to list their shares in London.

She also oversees HR issues for a group of around 750 people.

Linda’s interest in Carer’s Trust stems from her experience of caring for her elderly parents as well as her (now adult) son who has complex learning difficulties, autism and epilepsy and required full-time care. She is acutely aware of the demands caring puts on a family and the challenges of balancing work, caring  and family life.

When she is not working or caring Linda enjoys walking, gardening and trying to keep fit.

Leroy Bunbury Carers Trust team

Leroy Bunbury, Trustee

Leroy is a practising barrister, specialising in commercial law with a particular emphasis on complex commercial agreements, joint ventures and corporate governance. Called to the Bar in 1999, he has over 20 years’ experience representing and advising clients in contentious and non-contentious matters.

In addition to his experience in private practice, Leroy also brings to the Carers Trust Board wide-ranging experience of senior in-house roles.

These include Director of Legal Services at St Mary’s University, London and Head of Legal and Company Secretary at The Disabilities Trust.

Leroy’s legal expertise is highly regarded. He has lectured extensively at a number of universities on undergraduate and postgraduate law courses in the areas of contract, trusts and consumer law. He has also delivered a variety of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses for solicitors and other legal professionals on behalf of a range of local authorities, the Trading Standards Institute and the Office of Fair Trading (now the Competition and Markets Authority).

When not practising or training his fellow legal professionals, Leroy is also a contributing author to ‘Essential Human Rights Cases’.

Joanna Dodd Carers Trust team

Joanna Dodd, Trustee

Joanna Dodd has worked in PR almost her entire career and currently runs her own PR consultancy, Rochester PR Group, which specialises in helping international brands and companies launch in the UK. Her clients have included the Royal Hospital Chelsea (home of the Chelsea Pensioners) and work on other companies’ CSR programmes. 

Joanna has undertaken pro bono work for several charities with a focus on messaging, stakeholder engagement and reputational issues. Joanna recently completed eight years as a trustee of The Clothworkers' Foundation.

Christine Whiley Carers Trust

Christine Whiley, Trustee

Christine Whiley is the Chief Executive Office of the Carers Resource, a post she took up in October 2015.

Prior to that she was CEO for a children and young people’s emotional health and wellbeing charity in Cheshire.

She started her working life as a youth and community worker, operating in both the voluntary and statutory sectors in a wide variety of roles.

These included working in partnership with an extensive range of agencies.

In 2002 she became Head of Youth Service in Bradford, subsequently becoming an Assistant Director with responsibility for prevention and early intervention services for 0 – 19 year olds.

She also led on multi-agency responses to parental support, voice and influence work and anti-bullying initiatives. Christine was also an active member of the local children’s safeguarding boards in both Bradford and Cheshire.

Phil Worms Carers Trust

Phil Worms, Trustee

Phil has spent his entire career in the IT and telecoms sector. Currently the CEO of digital mental health and wellbeing company Frog Systems, Phil has had a varied career holding senior roles with companies such as BT, Centrica iomart Group and VarTec.

In 2017, he created an extracurricular digital skills charity for young people, the Digital Xtra Fund, on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Phil has sat on several national and parliamentary advisory committees discussing issues as wide ranging as the universal provision of broadband access to online child safety initiatives.

He regularly contributes to trade publications and national newspapers and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Rhys Moore Cares Trust

Rhys Moore, Trustee

Rhys is an experienced campaigner and leader in the social sector.

He helped build the UK’s Living Wage movement as founding Director of the Living Wage Foundation. He currently works as Executive Director for Public Impact at the National Housing Federation, representing England’s not-for-profit housing associations. His work has focussed on issues of social justice, poverty and changing public perceptions. 

Growing up in North Wales, Rhys was a young carer to his mum. He is passionate about ensuring the right support is in place for carers to live full lives. 

Rhys has been a non-executive board member of the London Community Foundation, Cambridge House (a London-based centre fighting social inequality) and Sir George Monoux College. 

Jennifer Twist Carers Trust

Jennifer Twist, Trustee

Jennifer is the Chief Executive of Care for the Carers – the organisation that supports and represents carers in East Sussex. 

She has over 15 years’ experience of working with carers, partners and stakeholders to champion carers’ rights, achieve the services, support that carers need, and deserve. She has a track record in leading impactful services, engagement and partnership work.

Throughout her career, Jennifer has specialised in caring, working in both voluntary and commercial sectors, with a focus on supporting unpaid carers and delivering regulated care services for older people.

Jennifer is a former carer, with an understanding of the impact of juggling care and work, and a longstanding commitment to improving the experience of caring. 

Mark Llewellyn, Wales Trustee and Chair of Wales Advisory Board

As Professor of Health and Care Policy at the University of South Wales, Mark has been immersed in the issues of carers and the third sector in Wales for many years. His work looks at the ways relationships between people, their carers, and the local and national organisations that support them can be improved.

Mark is particularly focused on the ways carers’ voice are heard and the amount of control they have over the things that matter most to them. His key aim is to maximise the positive contribution that independent research and data can make to the everyday experience of unpaid carers across Wales.

Executive Leadership Team

Kirsty McHugh Carers Trust

Kirsty McHugh, Chief Executive Officer

Kirsty joined Carers Trust in February 2022.

With extensive experience of working in the voluntary sector in a variety of public affairs and delivery roles, Kirsty has a deep commitment to improving the life opportunities of those from disadvantaged communities.

Before joining Carers Trust, she had 11 years’ experience as CEO of the Mayor’s Fund for London and the Employment Related Services Association. Before that Kirsty served as a director at Business in the Community, where she led community programmes across England and Wales.

She is a non-executive director of Gateway Housing Association in East London and has served as a panel member for the National Lottery’s Building Better Opportunities Fund.

Kirsty also has first-hand experience of what it means to be an unpaid carer. She has cared for a close family member approaching end of life, and for another with a long-term disability.

Rohati Chapman Carers Trust

Rohati Chapman, Executive Director of Programmes, Policy and Impact

Rohati joined Carers Trust in March 2021. She is energised and inspired by partnerships for inclusive growth and brings 20 years of social impact experience from a range of senior roles focused on partnership development, programme delivery, and evidence and learning.

Prior to Carers Trust, Rohati worked for a diverse range of organisations including The Prince's Trust, The Black Londoners' Forum, The Local Government Association and Youth Business International. 

Rohati also spent seven years as a management consultant in PwC's Government & Public sector practice, specialising in government pilot evaluation, programme delivery and social impact fund management.

Angharad Orchard, Executive Director of Corporate Services

Angharad joined Carers Trust in 2023 and is a chartered accountant with over 20 years experience in the charity sector.

Her previous roles include Chief Operating Officer at SafeLives, a domestic abuse charity, and Chief Executive of Katharine House Hospice, a palliative care provider in Oxfordshire.

Angharad leads our corporate services team which includes finance, people, ICT, quality and governance. She works closely with colleagues across Carers Trust to support the delivery of our strategy and ensure we make best use of our resources.

Directors

Alex Roberts, Director of Network and Innovation

Alex started at Carers Trust in January 2023 to lead on the brief of network development and innovation.

Alex joined Carers Trust from the National Lottery Heritage Fund where she was UK Head of Innovation and New Business.

Prior to that, Alex was at Mind for over a decade driving and shaping the charity’s network evolution first as a Network Development Manager and then as Head of Business Development.

Alex also has her own lived experience of being an unpaid carer.  

Darshana Dholakia, Director of Marketing and Communications

Darshana has extensive communications, marketing and PR experience gained across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors with a focus on providing public benefit.

She has worked in education, health, social welfare, criminal justice, public transport and sustainable travel.

Throughout her career Darshana has used her marketing and communications skills to change hearts and minds, inspire action and shape policy. 

Delivering everything from rebrands to web rebuilds and national media campaigns to mass participation events she has helped mobilise support for the likes of Sustrans, the Children’s Food Trust, the Restorative Justice Council, national e-learning provider Learndirect, the probation service and the NHS.

Dominic Carter, Director of Policy & Public Affairs

Dominic joins Carers Trust with over a decade’s worth of experience working in the voluntary sector for charities focused on health and social care, and refugee issues.

In all these roles he has worked to identify and develop the most impactful pathways to influence decision-makers and deliver positive change.

Most recently he was Head of Policy, Advocacy and Research at Hospice UK.

At Hospice UK, Dominic oversaw projects across the four UK nations to ensure palliative and end of life care sat firmly on governmental and public agendas. Key focus areas included the cost of living, equity of access for end of life care and modernising the sector's approach to data.

Nation directors

Becky Duff, Director for Scotland

Becky has joined Carers Trust with 20 years of experience in Scotland’s charity sector, with a strong track record of high-level communications, network building, fundraising and influencing.

She joins from Edinburgh youth mental health charity U-evolve, where she has been CEO since 2020.

In charge of the charity’s day-to-day operations and financial viability, Becky has driven increased community and youth engagement at U-evolve while working with partners across schools, community groups and the private sector.

Prior to joining U-evolve, Becky was Head of Communications, Campaigns and External Relations at MS Society for eight years. In that post she developed new and dynamic ways to engage with stakeholders like the Scottish Parliament and supported the delivery, promotion and connection of local services.

In addition to her professional roles, Becky is a non-executive board member for Edinburgh College and was previously a trustee for the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. She has also served as chair of the Neurological Alliance of Scotland.

Kate Cubbage, Director for Wales

Kate rejoined Carers Trust in 2023 and has a broad range of senior experience in the charity sector with a strong track record of developing effective relationships with high-level decision makers across the Welsh Government, local authorities, education organisations and local health boards.

Since 2021 she has worked at BookTrust where she is the Head of External Affairs (UK) and National Director for Wales, influencing the Welsh Government’s approach to improving vulnerable children’s access to books. Before that she worked at Carers Trust as its Head of External Affairs (Wales).

Alongside her professional roles, Kate is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, a member of Wales Advisory Board for the National Deaf Children’s Society and a trustee of Bridgend Carers Centre.