Bio

Kate joined Alzheimer’s Society, the UK’s largest voluntary provider of dementia support, as Chief Executive in March 2020. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, since joining she has driven transformational change in both culture and strategy; introducing new values, restructuring expenditure, and building a shared understanding and organisation-wide focus on the impact Alzheimer’s Society delivers to people affected by dementia. This role is the latest in a voluntary sector career that spans nearly 30 years, including as CEO at children’s cancer charity Young Lives Vs Cancer (CLIC Sargent), where she won Charity Times CEO of the Year, and Myton Hospice, a large adult palliative care charity in Coventry and Warwickshire. Kate is driven by leading by example. A keen supporter of partnership working, she founded both the Young People’s Cancer Coalition and the One Dementia Voice Group. She has led sector-wide initiatives to improve the openness of charitable reporting, producing award-winning trustee accountability reports publicly discussing the successes, but also the failings, of the charities she has led. She is a passionate advocate of equality, diversity and inclusion and has spoken openly about her own mental health. A proud Yorkshire woman, Kate now lives in Coventry with her husband and two teenage children; she loves gardening and tea. She is on the Board of World Child Cancer and an Ambassador for Championing Social Care.