Our Executive Team Archives - Community Integrated Care

Mark Adams

Chief Executive Officer

In September 2017, Mark Adams joined Community Integrated Care as our Chief Executive Officer.

Having previously lived in Dubai, Mark successfully designed and launched an innovative healthcare management business, Anglo Arabian Healthcare (AAH). Comprising an integrated network of 40 clinics, diagnostic centres, hospitals and pharmacies, AAH also included state-of-the-art greenfield hospitals and pioneering secondary care facilities dedicated to women's health and medical oncology.

Throughout his career, Mark has demonstrated exceptional leadership and team-building skills for a wide range of leading healthcare companies, including Denplan, AXA PPP, Virgin Healthcare and Netcare UK, driving successful negotiations, partnerships, increasing company revenue and launching exciting new initiatives. In 2021 Mark was awarded the ‘Care Leadership’ accolade at the 23rd National Care Awards for his role in steering our charity’s 5,000-strong workforce during the Covid-19 crisis and acting as a ‘standout voice’ for the sector.

Jim Kane

Chief Financial Officer

In December 2019, Jim Kane joined Community Integrated Care as Chief Financial Officer. Jim, a Chartered Accountant, joined us from Interserve Healthcare, where he held the role of Business Development Director for over two years.

Previously, Jim held a number of senior roles at Virgin Care, including Head of Finance, Director of Business Development and Commercial Director. He has also recently been appointed as a Trustee at Home-Start, a charity that provides support to families with young children during challenging times.

In his role as Chief Financial Officer, Jim ensures that we are using our resources wisely and always getting the best value. By managing our finances well, we are able to invest in better and more innovative services and exciting initiatives.
Jim says: “I’m really excited to see how I can help shape and mould the future for Community Integrated Care. I’ve been really struck by the level of energy and enthusiasm our teams have for delivering great care and support. This is a fantastic charity and I’m looking forward to many years of success here.”

Karen Sheridan

Chief Operating Officer (Independent Living)

Karen Sheridan is our Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Karen leads our Operational Teams across Scotland and England – ensuring that they provide modern and high quality support. She also oversees many of our national partnerships with leading community, voluntary and Governmental groups.

Karen was previously Assistant Director for Business Development at the Scottish learning disability charity, Enable Scotland. She has extensive experience of Scotland’s Health and Social Care sector and of overseeing a diverse portfolio of care services.

Karen says: "Community Integrated Care does fantastic work and benefits from a hugely dedicated workforce, which provides excellent services to the people we support. I am beyond proud to be a part of this charity and look forward to what the future holds for our teams, communities and the entirety of the social care sector.”

Teresa Exelby

Chief People Officer

Teresa Exelby joined Community Integrated Care as Chief People Officer in January 2020. Teresa joined us from Morrisons Supermarkets, where she held the role of People Director for Manufacturing, Logistics and Head Office, and was responsible for talent, workforce planning, and all people-related activities across these groups.

Her career in retail spans 25 years, with notable achievements including leading the people agenda in relation to mitigating the risks from Brexit for Morrisons, and managing the people changes throughout a series of mergers, which made Morrisons the largest fresh food manufacturer in the UK.

Speaking of her appointment, Teresa says: “It’s an honour to be working with such talented and committed people. The efforts of our Support Workers and other frontline colleagues is absolutely life-changing, but comes with many challenges too. I’ve been overwhelmed by the commitment and passion that our teams demonstrate every day, and my focus is now to support those teams in enabling the people we support to live the best lives possible.”

Carolyn McConnell

Chief Quality & Risk Officer

Carolyn brings a wealth of diverse experience to her role as Director of Quality, including time as an EFQM assessor and Head of Patient Experience, encompassing Patient Safety and Clinical Governance Outcomes, at the Walton Centre NHS Trust. Before joining our charity, Carolyn was Deputy Chief Executive of Merseyside Police Authority.

Since 2013, Carolyn has been a volunteer at the learning disability charity Mencap Liverpool, becoming involved in the charity’s projects during her time with the Merseyside Police Authority. Carolyn later became a Trustee for Mencap Liverpool in 2013 and has an interest in improving the accessibility of people with learning disabilities in the community.

David Hedley

Company Secretary and Legal Counsel

In July 2017, David Hedley joined Community Integrated Care as Company Secretary and Legal Counsel. David is responsible for the governance and administration of our charity, ensuring all corporate, statutory and regulatory compliance requirements are met. He also oversees the implementation of our Executive and Trustee decisions and leads our charity’s Legal function.

David joined us from digital communications group, Join the Dots (Research) Limited, where he was Group Legal Counsel and Company Secretary. David has enjoyed a successful career spanning three decades, working in a legal and company secretary capacity for a variety of organisations including Pochin’s PLC and The Emerson Group. David is also a valued member of The Law Society.

On his appointment, David said: “I am really proud and excited to be part of an organisation that puts people at the heart of everything it does. The work we do with our Senior Leaders and Board of Trustees ensures the charity continues to deliver the highest standards of care, and I look forward to what the future will bring for Community Integrated Care.”

Rebekah Adey

Managing Director - South

Rebekah Adey joined Community Integrated Care in September 2021 as the Managing Director for our South region. She has over 25 years’ experience in the care sector, with a background in Human Resources and mobilisation.

Joining the sector in the mid 90’s, Rebekah started her career in social care at Verna Care (formerly Nightingale Healthcare), where she worked closely with local authorities as they embarked on the journey to outsourcing care services.

Rebekah then spent 12 years at Direct Health, a national domiciliary care provider, as part of the Executive Board. Here, she carried out the roles firstly as Head of Human resources then as Director of Operations as the organisation expanded from just 5 branches to 18 branches, providing care to over 4,000 people across the Midlands, North East, North West & Wales.

Most recently she has been working at MiHomecare as a Mobilisation Manager in London. In the last two and a half years she has worked with four local authorities on six successful mobilisations – two of these at the height of the pandemic.

Samantha Brennan

Managing Director - North West

Sam Brennan joined Community Integrated Care in 2014 as a Regional Manager in the Cheshire region, overseeing services for people with learning disabilities, mental health concerns and age-related needs. Soon after joining, Sam was appointed to Regional Director for the North West region in recognition for her commitment to driving service quality. Sam has consistently pionneered new partnerships and led innovative programmes of care that have been adopted across the charity, leading to her appointment as Managing Director for Community Integrated Care’s North West region in October 2018.

Sam has worked in the social care sector for over 20 years in a variety of settings within the NHS and the community. She has experience in all fields including Home Care, Children's Services, Homelessness and Extra Care.

Marc Brodie

Managing Director – North East & Yorkshire

With over a decade of social care experience, Marc joined Community Integrated Care in 2017 as the Regional Director of our North East region.

Having made an incredible impact in a short period of time, Marc was appointed Managing Director of our North East and Yorkshire region in October 2018.

Marc currently oversees our charity’s pioneering Technology Enabled Care project. The project aims to create new models of care that are flexible, tailored to each individual, and sustainable by using a series of specialist assistive technologies. Throughout 2021, Marc has been leading on introducing a range of Technology Enabled Care approaches throughout our organisation - helping us meet the needs of the sector as an innovative, modern and responsive care provider.

Allison Cochrane

Managing Director - Scotland

Joining Community Integrated Care in December 2018, Allison Cochrane is the Managing Director for Scotland. Allison began her career working with the Greater Glasgow Health Board before moving on to spend almost three decades in the charitable sector. Most recently, Allison has provided operational and strategic direction as Divisional Director for Affinity Trust. Allison now holds over 28 years' experience in health and social care and continues to bring considerable skill and knowledge across the sector.

In her role, Allison works closely with our Local Authorities, partner organisations and community groups to achieve the ambitious goals set out in our previous We Dare strategy. Allison's role also involves developing our teams and services to better reflect the evolving models of social care in Scotland.

Candice York

Managing Director – Central

In January 2021, Candice York joined Community Integrated Care as Managing Director of the Central Region. Prior to this, Candice provided operational and strategic direction as Divisional Director for Affinity Trust.

Her entire career has been spent working for charitable organisations, supporting people with learning disabilities. During this time, Candice has gained operational management experience of Supported Living, Residential, Outreach and Day Opportunities services. Having also spent time as a Quality Assurance Auditor in the past, Candice has a passion for, and is committed to, developing service quality to ensure that colleagues are providing exemplary support to assist people to live the life they want as independently as possible.

Garry Leach

Director of Strategic Projects

Garry joined Community Integrated Care in June 2014 as a Regional Manager in our Central region. He oversaw a time of exciting change in the region, including the win of Community Integrated Care's first services in Wakefield, and in 2016 he was appointed Regional Director for the Central region.

Recently, Garry has led our strategic projects team in multiple innovative and pioneering initiatives across our charity, with the aim of creating an organisation that leads the way in social care.

Throughout the pandemic, Garry led our charity's Covid-19 Response Senior Team, becoming our internal expert on all protocols, policy and best practice. It was his wealth of knowledge and expert guidance which meant that our charity could navigate its way through the pandemic, keeping colleagues and people supported safe and protected.

Diane Ferguson

Director of Service Innovation

Diane Ferguson joined Community Integrated Care in 2015 and has held a number of roles within that time, including two Interim Managing Director posts for our charity’s Central and South regions.

In February 2022, Diane joined our Executive Team permanently as our Director of Service Innovation. In this role, she leads multiple strategic initiatives and projects under our Best Lives Possible Strategy, including National Deregistration and Self-Directed Teams, whilst also playing a pivotal role in our Technology Enabled Care and Care & Support Planning projects.

Diane has considerable experience in social care, joining the sector in 1985. She joined Community Integrated Care from Enable Scotland, where she undertook seven different leadership roles including Head of Practice & Participation and Manager of Operations & Development.

She is passionate about promoting the needs of people with complex conditions and is also a subject matter expert in the Reach Standards – a nationally recognised tool to support people with learning disabilities and autism to live an ordinary life.

John Hughes

Director of Partnerships and Communities

John Hughes joined Community Integrated Care as Director of Partnerships and Communities in March 2020. In this role, he leads the development and promotion of the charity’s national corporate partnerships, including collaborations with major sporting, arts, cultural and academic institutions, as well as community and family engagement strategies.

John has a long-term association with our charity, having enjoyed a decade working within Community Integrated Care’s Marketing and Communications function between 2007 and 2017. His time at the charity was marked with leading honours from both the Chartered Institutes of Marketing and PR.

He went on to hold the position of Director of Communications and Digital Engagement at Super League rugby league club Widnes Vikings. He also operated his own freelance company, working with leading sporting, commercial and national healthcare organisations. He has collected the international Best Sponsorship Award at the Leaders Sports Awards, a HSJ Award and campaign honours from the Chartered Institute of Marketing for projects conceived and delivered during this spell.

John is a Chartered Marketer and Accredited PR Practitioner.

Danielle Chan

Director of Communications & Engagement

Danielle joined our Executive Team as Director of Communications and Engagement in December 2021, after 15 years with Community Integrated Care.

In her new role, she leads the delivery of an exciting Communications strategy which celebrates our culture and values, showcases our charity as a Great Place To Work, and enhances our reputation as a high-quality care provider and leading voice within the social care sector.

Paul Thompson

Director of Information Technology

Paul Thompson is our Director of Information Technology and joined the Executive Team in December 2021. He has spent two decades at Community Integrated Care, holding a number of senior positions throughout this time.

Paul has been instrumental in positioning Community Integrated Care at the forefront of the huge advances in technology since joining, including the introduction of key systems such as Office 365, Nourish, Maxtime and Technology Enabled Care.

In his new role, he is responsible for the development of Community Integrated Care’s Information Technology strategy, implementing infrastructure, platforms, and systems to ensure that the charity stays at the cutting edge of care delivery by offering models and methods of support that create true independence.

Leading our Information Technology function, Paul is responsible for a multidisciplinary team spanning Infrastructure, Service Operations, Technical Support, Business Applications and IT Development.