Circles South West appoints trustees and staff

Circles South West is growing! This month we are delighted to welcome three new trustees and two new part-time staff to the team.
Our New Trustees:
Our three new trustees bring a range of different experience and will be fantastic additions to our Board.
Leonie Cole: Leonie is a lifelong resident of the South West and has worked in a variety of settings, as a Careers Advisor, a teacher, and as a Safeguarding Officer.
Leonie currently works for an infrastructure charity supporting local communities with their post-COVID response, and in partnership with local government to engage people with services, focussing on the improvement of accessibility for disabled people across Somerset. Leonie has experience of facilitating peer support groups for bereaved parents, to improve perinatal mental health, and increasing employability.
Rob Starling: Rob has five years’ experience working with UK and global leading consultancy and risk management companies, providing regulated advice on tax efficient products that support mental health and wellbeing in the workplace, ensuring policies are compliant with legislation and regulations, and helping employers set up trusts for beneficences.
He is a Current Collection and Ingestion Volunteer, focused on intelligence led global human trafficking and modern slavery data and research.
Rob previously worked in professional roles for four years, including underwriting, fraud investigations, complaints and administration.
Ian Keys: Ian’s background is in public service, as a senior manager in local government and subsequently as a director of three private companies delivering public services. His roles spanned service and resource management; public affairs and national lobbying; business development; and management consultancy. In 2007-9 he held a Public Appointment in local government commissioning.
His current volunteer roles include being a trustee of the Fan Museum, London; a director of Shepton Mallet Arts and Culture CIC and Bowlish Arts & Events; and Honorary Secretary of Historic Houses Wessex. In recent years he was Chair of Signpost Housing Association, a main board member of Spectrum Housing and a member of the Governance Committee of Curo Housing Group.
Our New Staff:
Both of our new part-time staff join us after volunteering with us for some time. They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team.
Andy Clowser – Part-time Dorset Coordinator: Andy retired from Dorset Police as a Detective Superintendent after a thirty year career during which he worked on a regular basis with both those who had committed sexual offences and the victims and families of those perpetrators. As the Director of Public Protection he was responsible for the overall management of serious violent and sexual offenders in Dorset and the investigation of rape and serious sexual offences across the county; in addition, he had operational responsibility for domestic abuse and child protection matters. He was also co-chair of the MAPPA Strategic Management Board and the Police Lead for MAPPA Serious Case Reviews.
Since his retirement from the police service, Andy has worked as the Independent Chair of a number of Domestic Homicide Reviews and volunteered for Circles South West.
Ellie Grudgings – Administrator: Ellie has a background in criminal justice and a passion for supporting charities to work efficiently with her excellent administration and organisation skills. Previously a Circle volunteer, Ellie has long been an advocate for the work of Circles South West.
Ellie is a trained restorative justice facilitator and has delivered workshops in collaboration with people in prison and people with criminal records in the community.