Lisa Hopkins, Chief Executive Expand Lisa Hopkins became the Chief Executive of SeeAbility in September 2016. Having initially worked in Canada as a clinician for charities which support people with disabilities, she emigrated to England in 2007 and was Executive Director of Autism and Challenging Behaviour at Adepta. Lisa later became the Managing Director of Dimensions, a service provider for people with learning disabilities and autism. Lisa sees a main component of her role as one of listening, particularly to the people we support and their families, as well as employees. She is determined to ensure that everyone has a say in what we do and how we do it, so that SeeAbility can provide effective support and be a great place to work. Lisa is passionate about inclusion and fostering ambition for everyone in order that we can all live our best life and contribute to the communities in which we live. Outside of SeeAbility, Lisa is known as being (slightly!) competitive, particularly during her weekly pub quiz!
Paula Spinks-Chamberlain, Director of External Affairs Expand Paula has had two spells at SeeAbility, rejoining in 2005 to lead our Eye to Eye campaign. She is now our Director of External Affairs. Having moved from Australia in 1990, Paula initially started at The Royal School for the Blind as a support worker, before we changed our operating name to SeeAbility! She then oversaw residents moving from long-stay environments to the community, and ran staff learning and development until 1997. As SeeAbility's Director of External Affairs, Paula is responsible for all of our public health work with adults and children, our work with policy makers, our marketing and communications department, our specialist support team of speech and language therapists and rehabilitation workers, and our fantastic team of volunteers. Paula's proudest achievement at SeeAbility is the Children in Focus campaign, which has delivered over 1,000 specialist sight tests in nine special schools, and continues to lobby for national change.When Paula is not at work, she enjoys spending time in her garden with her family and entertaining friends. She is always keen to visit new countries when she finds the time!
Hannah Du Gray, Interim Director of Fundraising Expand Hannah Du Gray heads up SeeAbility’s enthusiastic fundraising team that works hard to raise voluntary income for SeeAbility’s specialist support work and Children in Focus Campaign. She is here for a second time, having previously been with us for six months in 2014. Hannah has also worked at Diabetes UK, Macmillan Cancer Support, and Leonard Cheshire Disability. Hannah’s particular specialisms include major donor, events and community fundraising, which are all growth areas for SeeAbility. Ultimately our Director of Fundraising is responsible for the fundraising strategy, managing the fundraising team and ensuring fundraising targets are met, tracking progress and developing new and creative income streams to support SeeAbility’s important work. Outside of work, Hannah likes to keep active and enjoys getting out on the weekend with her two daughters for bike rides and walks. Being married to a Canadian she is also a frequent flyer and an expert at dealing with jet lag!
Sukhraj Dhadwar, Director of Finance and Resources Expand Sukhraj joined SeeAbility in 2014 as our Director of Finance and Resources. Previously he was the Vice President of Financial Operations for Cineworld cinemas and has over 20 years of financial management experience within various organisations and businesses. He is responsible for the management of our finance, IT, and property services departments. It's a role with a wide reach and no two days are ever the same! Sukhraj's biggest achievements at SeeAbility include the delivery of new properties for the people we support in Maidstone, Aylesbury and Aldershot, overseeing large-scale IT and building projects, and enabling the introduction of an internal audit, conducted by an industry leading organisation.Outside of work, Sukhraj loves spending time with his three daughters and has an extremely busy family life. But he is a self-professed workaholic and is also a non-executive director for Rosebery Housing Association.
Brian Robinson, Operations Director Expand Brian Robinson joined SeeAbility having worked in social care for over 25 years. He started off as a support worker and has gained experience by working in a variety of different organisations at various levels, including Registered Manager, Area Manager and Regional Managing Director. Brian has overseen services for people with learning and physical disabilities, and autism. This has included supporting people to move away from traditional service styles such as registered care homes and ATUs to more community based support and individual service designs. Seeing people being in control of their lives and being truly part of their community is what Brian is truly passionate about. As SeeAbility’s Operations Director, Brian’s position is incredibly varied. He is responsible for the operations team and ensuring they deliver great services for the people SeeAbility support. He is keen to look into how we can work more effectively together as an organisation to create real outcomes for the people we support and employ. When Brian’s not in the office, he enjoys spending time in the great outdoors. He particularly loves mountaineering and is climbing to Everest Base Camp later this year!