Who we are
Collaborate is an innovative social consultancy building the thinking, culture and practice of collaboration to help us meet the challenges of the twenty-first century together.
We are living in a time of transition. The complex and global nature of the issues we face are becoming rapidly clearer. Social inequality is growing. The climate crisis is accelerating. Public services are struggling to help people who need their support. So, we are asking: what must we transition to, and how do we get there?
Our vision is of a collaborative society: equitable, caring and sustainable. People and organisations can create a better future together than they can alone.
To achieve this vision, we help grow the movement for change and blend cutting edge thinking with the ability to support local partners and leaders to reshape organisations, public services and places with collaboration for the public good at their heart.
Founded as a not-for-profit social enterprise by public services champion Lord Victor Adebowale, we work across boundaries alongside everyone from local authority chief executives and social activists, to NHS trusts and civil society leaders. We start from the belief that change is always possible and bring a positive spirit to everything we do.
We believe the places and projects we work on represent the green shoots of the future we want to create.
The future is collaborative.
Let’s build it together.
Our Team
Anna Randle — Chief Executive
As Chief Executive, Anna leads a growing team working with places and leaders across the country.
Anna is an expert in collaborative public services and organisational change. She is a lead facilitator on Ignite, a SOLACE/Collaborate system leadership programme for local authority Chief Executives, and on the NHSE ICS Population Health and Place Development programme (2021–22). Anna convenes coalitions of diverse local partners and actors to develop new place-based strategies and collaborative approaches to public services, organisations and leadership.
Prior to joining Collaborate, Anna was Director of Policy for the London Borough of Lambeth, where she helped lead strategy and innovation with a focus on building new models of collaborative public services. She was also a Special Advisor in two government departments, and worked on the Lyons Inquiry into Local Government for HM Treasury and for the New Local Government Network (now New Local).
In their own words:
I believe in public services as a force for good and I am motivated by working with people to create positive change that will directly help improve people’s lives. I bring curiosity, determination and an ability to see the bigger picture, including the human nature of organisations and services.
My mantra at Collaborate is to be positive, constructive and helpful. I love working with my colleagues in this spirit to build an organisation that helps create change alongside our partners. The team is on a journey of discovery about how to collaborate effectively and why collaboration can help public services, building an ever stronger set of insights and resources about how to do it well. I am constantly amazed at how a good team can create something greater than the sum of its parts, which is what good collaboration is about.
Dawn Plimmer — Senior Head of Practice
Dawn joined Collaborate in 2018 and is a member of the Senior Management Team. She leads Collaborate’s practice development, and its work on learning partnerships and funding and commissioning. She currently works with partners including Save the Children, the Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime, NHSEI, and local authorities.
Dawn is a co-author of the report Exploring the New World: practical insights for funding, commissioning and managing in complexity and Human Learning Systems: Public Service for the Real World. She convenes a number of related peer learning networks.
Dawn previously worked at The National Lottery Community Fund where she worked to develop and test new grant-making approaches, and help establish a new UK-wide knowledge and learning function. Before Collaborate, Dawn was a Senior Consultant at NPC, a charity think tank and consultancy, and has worked in local, national and international grantmaking roles.
Dawn has a MA in Social Policy from the University of Birmingham. She is trustee of a local grantmaking trust, and Xenia, a charity in Hackney which brings together women to promote language learning, social connections, and cultural exchange.
In their own words:
I love working at Collaborate because of the opportunity to look beyond traditional silos and help people and organisations work together. So much of our work is about weaving relationships, shifting perspectives, and learning together — things that are often invisible and overlooked, but essential for helping people and places thrive.
One question I hold throughout my work is the potential of civil society organisations in place, particularly when we can overcome traditional power dynamics between sectors. I’m inspired by civil society organisations like Exeter CoLab, Black Thrive and Surrey Youth Focus. These organisations play a ‘stewardship’ role to build relationships, enable mutual learning, and help shift power dynamics so that local people are central in shaping change.
At Collaborate, colleagues say my strengths are making connections (between people and ideas), creating space for others to be curious, and being values-driven.
Adam Cantwell-Corn — Project & Strategic Communications Consultant
Adam is interested in building organisations and teams with a radical social purpose. With a background in human rights law and youth work, Adam co-founded The Bristol Cable, an internationally recognised 100% community-owned magazine redefining local media. He was the recipient of a British Journalism Award in 2019 and has worked on policy solutions for the broken market of quality journalism.
Adam is currently studying at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at UCL, learning more on how public policy can be mobilised to put big ideas — from social care to the climate crisis — into practice. Adam is a project manager and strategic communications lead at Collaborate. He works on client projects whilst also shaping Collaborate’s insights on the conversation about the future of public services.
In their own words:
Public services in all their forms — public sector or broader civil society — are rooted in the values of collective solidarity and care for one another. For me, Collaborate’s hopeful commitment to “doing better things” not just “doing things better” is what makes us stand out as we chart the path forward for the services we all rely on. I like to bring a critical and creative problem solving approach to Collaborate’s culture of continual learning and improvement.
Jeff Masters — Senior Head of Practice
Jeff has 25 years of experience working to change public policy and practice, first as a public interest lawyer and then as a policy adviser at the heart of government, in politics and in think tanks. He has been at Collaborate since 2017, leading place-based work and supporting the development of our growing collaborative leadership practice. He is the co-author of Changing Local Systems, a practical guide for people working to improve local responses to homelessness, and Systems Leadership in HLS, writing the chapter Human Learning Systems: Public Service for the Real World. In addition to his legal qualifications, Jeff has a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School and was a policy fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy.
In their own words:
The world I want to see is fairer, kinder and less judgemental, with people and communities more in control of their own lives. This has motivated me to work for change across my career, and to support others doing the same.
I enjoy (almost) every aspect of my work, but particularly like being in the room supporting groups to make progress on the work they need to do. I’m not afraid of discomfort, and I balance encouragement with challenge. I work hard to listen to discordant or ignored voices and bring their perspectives into the conversation.
Inside and outside the room I have often been valued for my abilities to simplify complex problems, to give them shape, and craft narratives to help organisations, groups and places find a path forward.
Ellen Care — Head of Practice
Ellen joined Collaborate as Head of Practice in June 2019, bringing six years of experience working in local authorities on transformation, organisational development and service design.
Ellen has led work on organisational development and place-based change in the London Borough of Barnet, and prototyping and public service reform in Barking & Dagenham. She has explored ways to empower communities alongside Thurrock Council and with housing association Soha, as well as supported learning and evaluating systems change with Save the Children UK.
Ellen co-authored two reports as part of the New Operating Models Handbook. ‘From The Margins to the Mainstream’ explores how to create the conditions for new operating models in local government to thrive; and ‘Reframing Risk’ considers how to adopt new mindsets around risk that enable innovation.
In their own words:
My experience as a public servant showed me the difference that dedicated individuals can make. However, I wondered what they could achieve if their efforts were amplified and enabled by the systems and connections around them. This drew me to Collaborate’s mission to tackle social issues through collaboration and systems change.
Whether in my role working with communities, local authorities and funders; as a trustee/director at my local community-run swimming pool; or playing with my folk-rock band; I am passionate about unlocking the unique magic of people and places to deliver positive experiences and outcomes that build community and help us to thrive. I love bringing creativity and energy to my work, and learning from the inspiring people and colleagues I am privileged to work with.
Elle Dodd — Senior Head of Practice
Elle joined the Senior Management Team at Collaborate in 2020 and leads our system leadership practice, working to share our learning and increase our impact.
Elle started her career as a diplomat and economist in central government, including negotiating the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She then shifted to focus on disparities in economic development within the UK, working as Head of Policy for Liverpool City Region and as a Project Director at FutureGov, supporting 101 places to bid for the Towns Fund.
At Collaborate, she has delivered transformative place-based and leadership programmes for change-makers across the public and third sectors. She coordinates our work to take a more systemic approach to multiple disadvantage, and sits on the DLUHC Expert Stakeholder Group.
Elle has a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School, and coached there in Adaptive Leadership. She is also Treasurer of Open City, a charity which seeks to make cities more equitable, accessible and open.
In their own words:
From my experience in local and national policy-making, I learnt that the most persistent challenges often have either a known solution that is resisted, or no known solution but lots of costly activity in its place. I’m excited to work at Collaborate because we tackle this head-on by thinking systemically and developing collaborative people and organisations to lead change and progress despite uncertainty.
I value the team’s deep commitment to honesty and learning, and the determination to make the most of different skills and perspectives. Having come from much bigger institutions, it’s really refreshing and empowering.
The team says I’m good at looking at a problem from different angles, I see patterns and connections that others may miss, and I explain complex ideas clearly. They also say I love an analogy and am often laughing!
Lewis Haines — Head of Practice
Lewis joined Collaborate in 2021 and specialises in our Learning projects. This includes work evaluating Save The Children UK’s Early Learning Communities and with Sport England’s Local Delivery Pilots as part of the National Evaluation and Learning Partnership. Lewis also has a focus on our projects that support those experiencing severe and multiple disadvantages.
Prior to working at Collaborate, Lewis worked at Crisis as their Research & Evaluation Manager for Place-based Programmes and as an analyst at The Children’s Society. In his spare time, Lewis is a volunteer Homelessness Advisor and delivers Advice Services across the Crisis at Christmas Project.
In their own words:
I enjoy the variety of Collaborate’s work and the challenge brought by working across the breadth of our experience, which was a welcome change from my previous roles in research and evaluation.
What I most enjoy about projects is when you really feel that you have helped someone bring a different perspective to their thinking. Sometimes this happens as part of groups and sometimes it’s just at the end of catch-ups. It makes you feel like you’ve really done something that they couldn’t do themselves.
In a broader sense, I am also interested in how we approach answering challenging and complex questions. I studied Theoretical Physics at university, and see a lot of synergy between that and working with systems and complexity.
Naomi Diamond — Head of Practice
Naomi joined Collaborate in Spring 2021, having worked in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector for 20 years. She has supported and trained many individual groups and communities, and worked on regional and national sector programmes. At Locality, she supported a network of community anchor organisations, delivering training and action research programmes in community assets, enterprise and engagement. Previously, Naomi has also developed innovative environmental sustainability partnership projects for a county council, including a groundbreaking local food programme. Naomi came to Collaborate to build on systems change approaches to social change, bringing her love of facilitation, qualitative research skills and adaptive programme management.
In their own words:
I’m a deeply curious person who loves to learn. I’ve been shaped by the impact of mental illness and addiction on people I’m close to, and by my grandparents’ experience as Jewish refugees from the Nazis. These influences help drive my work for a world that is equitable, just and compassionate. I am most proud of my past work developing community organising programmes for collective action and social change. I’m currently inspired by young people organising for justice in Leicester. At Collaborate, I’ve enjoyed getting to grips with Human Learning Systems and loved working with Merton Borough Council, helping them to develop a holistic, systems approach to working better with communities.
Leigh Brown — Project and Relationship Manager
Leigh brings interdisciplinary experience spanning design, facilitation, and management to their role as Project Manager & Research Consultant, including backbone support for a collective impact initiative, directing the production of public artworks, and convening creatives to create community archives.
Leigh’s career was jump-started at the Democracy at Work Institute, an affiliate of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives. They coordinated the New York City Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative, one of the largest American municipal efforts to address inequality through worker ownership.
Leigh also helped launch Best for NYC, a partnership between local government and service organisations for guiding local businesses to improve job quality and community impact. Leigh holds an MA from the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London.
In their own words:
Through my undergraduate studies and early experience, I grew to diagnose and intervene in critical urban issues, drawing from research on systems, social science, ecology, and visual arts. The emphasis on systems stuck, becoming a throughline in my career. The systems change approach Collaborate lends to interventions is a big part of what drew me in.
People who work with me appreciate my ability to see the whole picture, spotting patterns and synthesising. Like my team members, I am oriented both toward infrastructures and also to the needs and capacities of people — and how they shape each other. Every day, I recommit to radical imagination and transformation, to participatory action for greater equity and collective liberation.
Amy Hurst— Head of Practice
Amy joined Collaborate in February 2022 as a Head of Practice. She brings experience in commissioning, partnership development and place-based approaches in relation to community safety, policing, criminal justice and safeguarding. Prior to joining Collaborate, Amy worked with leaders across England as part of the Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme to improve strategic responses to child exploitation and extra-familial harm.
Amy believes relationships are at the heart of the work we do, and serve as a powerful driver for social change. She is interested in understanding power, and how that influences our approach to complex challenges. She is motivated to open up opportunities that centre a range of perspectives, working towards collaborative approaches that hold the needs of local communities at their heart.
In their own words:
I’ve been struck by the breadth and depth of work we are taking forward as a team at Collaborate, the links between our projects and the learning which sits in the spaces created by them. I’d like to explore opportunities for us to ask questions of each other and those we’re working with to make connections which span geographic and sector boundaries.
The thing I love most about working at Collaborate is the diversity of ideas, thinking and experience which sits across the team. Coming from different professional and personal backgrounds means we all bring a unique perspective, share ideas and constructively challenge one another. We have a culture of learning woven throughout all that we do. That is something which feels really exciting and motivating to be a part of.
Katie Pincham — Communications and Administration Manager
Katie joined Collaborate in May 2018. She is originally from New Zealand but has been living and working in London for the past eight years. Her previous work experience has focused on administration and logistics within the fashion and design industry.
Katie really enjoys being part of a team who is passionate and focused on improving public services for social and economic progress. As an Administration Manager she aims to support and strengthen its operations by implementing and improving internal processes, systems and infrastructure and to ensure overall efficiency of the workplace.
As a communications manager she oversees the internal and external communications to make sure they are consistent and engaging. She also helps to support the development of communication strategies which help advance Collaborate’s impact through the sharing of ideas and practices, some of these strategies include publications, social media, podcasts and events.
Emma Hindle — Communications and Administration Manager (Maternity Cover)
Emma joined Collaborate in May 2022 as a maternity cover for the Communications and
Administration Manager role. She works to support Collaborate’s internal operations and processes, as well as supporting external communications. Emma graduated with an MSc at from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she studied social representations of minorities and migrants. Before that she completed an interdisciplinary BSc at the University of Amsterdam, focusing on refugee politics and policy. Aside from working at Collaborate, she also acts as a housing procurement volunteer for the Housing First team at Crisis (London).
In their own words:
Having spent a lot of my time at university critiquing the exclusionary ways in which most policy is designed, I graduated with the hopes of finding a place that tackled social issues by listening to the voices of those most affected by them. I have definitely found this at Collaborate! Since starting I’ve enjoyed being part of the growing community of people actively working against siloed public services, driving collaborative solutions which recognise the complex reality of human experience. I love the constant willingness from my team to listen, reflect, and learn. It is ultimately this which assures me that Collaborate will continue to prioritise the human in its attempt to tackle social challenges.
Hannah Tomlinson — Director of Finance and Operations
Hannah first joined Collaborate in 2017, and is now the Director of Finance & Operations and serves on our Board.
A varied background in bookkeeping, teaching and recruitment have combined with her passion for social change to feed into her current role. Hannah tries to perform the practical and analytical requirements of her role with humanity and empathy. With colleagues at the forefront of her mind, Hannah considers the principles of parity, context (organisational and individual) and fairness as essential for creating a healthy workplace.
As a growing organisation, Hannah is focusing on how Collaborate can adapt to embrace the new experiences, skills and qualities across the team to better further our mission.
In their own words:
I could do the role that I do in any sort of organisation, but I choose to do it at Collaborate because of the team and the work we do. With the change that they are trying to make and the hope that they inspire in others, I am always challenged to be better and I love working in this genuine culture of learning.
I am most proud to have been part of the evolution of our recruitment practice. Thoughtfulness and collaboration across the team have sought to reach different people in our application processes and strived to create a more inclusive, fair approach that redresses inequalities.
It has also been an absolute delight to get to know new team members and all that they can contribute to our organisation and culture.
Fanny Olsson — Practice Development Manager
Fanny started at Collaborate in 2017 as a research consultant and is now Practice Development Manager. She combines external project work with managing the development of our consultancy practice, including leading the Research and Project Management team. Fanny has worked with a range of people and places to build collaborative approaches to social change, designing and delivering culture change and learning work with local partners and community members across whole systems, places and organisations.
Before joining Collaborate, Fanny worked at Dialogue by Design as a data analyst and in the research strategy team at Cancer Research UK. While working at an NGO in South Africa, Fanny engaged with civil society groups, government and business to initiate collaborative projects for community-based health hubs.
In their own words:
I joined Collaborate with an interest in what conditions are needed to enable collaboration and how we can support each other to build the foundation for a more relational, human and collaborative society. I have learnt a lot during my 5 years at Collaborate and I am able to support people and organisations through bringing new thinking and perspectives, and creating spaces to build relationships and surface insights. This, together with the ongoing work to understand and support our own organisational growth, is one of the things I enjoy most about my role.
Tiffany Aikens — People Development Coordinator
Tiffany joined Collaborate in 2022, after completing her studies in Business Management and Human Resources. She has experience in assisting the progression of personal and organisational development goals. Tiffany brings an enthusiastic outlook to new ways of working, applying strategic thinking and fostering valuable relationships with Collaborate’s clients and partners. Tiffany has joined the team to learn more about how to best support effective social change.
In their own words:
I am driven by the need to pursue social change because of the impact it has on our communities and future. Against this background, I enjoy providing support and enabling others to achieve their unique and undiscovered potential at work. I am extremely proud of previous projects where I have developed learning workshops for team members specialising in management and leadership. Others enjoy my diverse and inclusive approach when embarking on these learning journeys, which ensures that they feel safe and supported as they come up with new ideas.
Ann-Sophie Freund — Research Consultant
Ann-Sophie joined Collaborate in October 2019, with a background in International Relations and experience in the German public sector and international NGOs.
As a Research Consultant & Project Manager, Ann-Sophie works closely with people across the team to support the design and delivery of our projects. This includes systems change and place-based projects, as well as learning and evaluation focused work. Most recently, she has facilitated the development of a systems change plan for the charity Missing People, supported the London Borough of Merton to develop an approach to working better with communities and alongside Diabetes UK to better capture impact and learning from its leadership programmes.
In their own words:
I really enjoy hearing about what different people, places and organisations are doing to improve people’s lives. While the specific issues our projects focus on vary, the underlying concerns are often closely related. I love getting to draw these connections and ask these questions across our work.
I’m currently thinking about how we can most effectively build a more equitable society, in particular when it comes to the relationship between how bottom-up localised action feeds into widespread and systemic policy change. I’m also very interested in the idea of belonging and more specifically the role that place and community play in it.
Tajwar Shelim — Research Consultant
Tajwar Shelim is our Junior Research Consultant & Project Manager. He manages many of Collaborate’s projects, supporting in their delivery and implementation. He also administers Collaborate’s ongoing equity, diversity & inclusion work.
Taj is a qualified Barrister, completing the BPTC with an LLM in Asylum and Refugee Law. Before joining Collaborate, he worked with numerous charitable organisations, including Redress, Immigration Aid, the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association, and the Spanish League for Human Rights. Taj is also the founder of the ‘The Lads Project,’ which hopes to change how young men speak about mental health issues.
In their own words
I have always been passionate about social change. At first, I thought the best way to pursue this was through the Law. However, I quickly realised the power of taking a more systemic approach to injustice. Therefore, I applied to the Charityworks graduate scheme in hopes of finding a new avenue to pursue social change. I arrived at Collaborate and was immediately convinced by their Human Learning Systems approach.
At Collaborate I have learned what it takes to change the systems we live and work in, to co-design better outcomes for the people we work with, and to collaborate even when we feel worlds apart. I look forward to working on projects that prioritise providing more cohesive and effective services for those that need it most and shape the reality of the world we live in for the better.
Jenni Lloyd — Head of Practice
Jenni joined Collaborate in 2021 as an associate before joining the team on a permanent basis in 2022. She brings over 20 years’ experience in a broad range of fields — from digital and data, user experience, organisational design and culture change, to social and public sector innovation.
Jenni has led a participative policy development process in Barking & Dagenham around Community Assets and worked with a place-based partnership in East Sussex on a systems approach to loneliness, in which the development of a network of community hubs played a huge part. Currently, she is developing a systems approach to multiple disadvantage with Southwark Council and helping Watford Council take a more strategic approach to working with communities.
Prior to joining Collaborate in 2021, Jenni was responsible for the development and delivery of government innovation programmes at Nesta, including the Upstream Collaborative. This learning network of 20 pioneering local authorities, co-organised with Collaborate, led to the production of the New Operating Models Handbook.
In their own words:
I’m a designer — it’s a mindset which influences the way I think about and do just about everything. I just can’t help but think about how things can be made better — from simple things like utensils, to processes like buying a train ticket to big, complex things like how people and organisations work together to get things done.
At Collaborate I am most inspired by our work with local government. Councils hold the closest relationship between the state and the citizen, so have immense power to shape the way places operate and affect the lives of the people who live in them.
Sophia Luk — Project and Relationship Manager
Sophia joined Collaborate in 2022, leading on engagement, project management and delivery across our systems change projects, with an approach that is trauma-informed and rooted in access and social justice.
Her previous roles involved developing a number of collaborative and purpose-driven programmes in the charity and arts sectors, including developing a movement curriculum with Disabled adults, and co-creating Tate’s Mental Health Awareness Week campaign.
Sophia is also a video editor and a somatic practitioner. Her work emphasises digital accessibility, communication and understanding how the individual and collective body can be sites for activism and resilience. Sophia has a MA (Hons) in Sociology & Theatre Studies with a particular focus on anti-racism and belonging, and is a fellow of the Charityworks Leadership and Creative Access programmes.
In their own words:
The fundamentally human and ecological approach to my colleagues’ and Collaborate’s work interests me as it creates possibilities of change to emerge within and beyond existing systems. To me, these approaches play a significant part in imagining an alternative future — in developing new routes of bringing connection to ourselves, community, and ecosystems.
A specific curiosity I’m currently holding is around language, and I’m co-leading an organisational enquiry to surface how our definitions shape our interventions towards the intersections between the personal, collective and systemic.
The people I work with appreciate my intentional, person-centred approach. I feel that change requires a sense of safety, so it is important that every part of my practice seeks to deeply listen and contemplate questions of care, power and agency.
Hannah Anderson — Associate
Prior to moving back to New Zealand, Hannah was our Director of Practice and was responsible for overseeing Collaborate’s consultancy work, developing our practice and learning, managing a consultancy team and leading a number of Collaborate’s place-based projects. Hannah has contributed to the development of Collaborate’s thought leadership around the future public service reform and place-based change, and has co-authored a number of Collaborate’s reports including Building Collaborative Places: Infrastructure for System Change, Forms and Features of Collaboration, and the New Operating Model series.
Now in Aotearoa, New Zealand, Hannah is a senior associate for Collaborate and is exploring connections and opportunities for mutual learning between practice in NZ and the UK.
Annabel Davidson-Knight — Associate
Annabel Davidson Knight joined Collaborate in July 2016 to develop practice in support of social initiatives and services, with a particular focus on the Voluntary and Community Sector and its funders.
Annabel is deepening Collaborate’s practice around the role of citizens, communities and the VCS in enabling place-based change. She is helping local leaders from across sectors to develop thinking and practice around new models which purposefully blend community capacity investment with Public Service Reform.
Annabel also continues to grow the Funding Ecology programme, which helps those who support social change to better understand the ecology in which they operate.
Annabel brings experience in strategy and programme development alongside strong project management skills. Her areas of expertise include multiple and complex needs, ageing and social innovation techniques. She has worked for 10 years in the Voluntary and Community Sector, including leading national and international programmes at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. She spent eight years working in the Ageing sector, supporting the establishment of the Campaign to End Loneliness and intergenerational initiatives.
Charlie Adan — Associate
Charlie is an associate and board member at Collaborate. She has been driven to lead change in local government and public services to achieve better outcomes for people and places throughout her entire career.
Charlie has worked in public services for over 25 years. She started as a lawyer and is an expert in good governance and its connection to constructive system leadership, a common shared sense of purpose and strong relationships. Charlie was then Chief Executive of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames until 2018, where she led the Thrive London Mental health multi-agency oversight group, creating a movement for change to improve the mental health of Londoners. Prior, she fulfilled the same Chief Executive role for two councils in Suffolk. There, she developed a whole system approach to public service reform and transformation. More recently Charlie has been working with the Connected Places Catapult (CPC) as an Associate, leading a small network of senior local government colleagues to help develop and tailor their offer to the sector.
In their own words:
In my experience, Collaborate is a unique organisation. They explore new ideas, push boundaries, support others to be their best, learn and reflect continuously. They are a small team of dedicated public servants who want to make a real difference, reflecting the same ethic that I bring to my own roles. What Collaborate does works. Accordingly, I choose to be involved because I want to spread the word that they can help tackle some of the most wicked issues facing our places and communities. I find the work with Collaborate challenging and exciting and it is a privilege to be a part of.
Jo Blundell — Associate
Jo joins Collaborate to work with local leaders designing and implementing collaborative ways of working. Jo was previously Deputy Director of the Government Outcomes Lab and led the Lab’s work on collaborative practice published in the report Rallying Together. This work explored different models of local collaboration and how systems of accountability and learning work in collaborative context.
She was previously involved in social impact investing, as a Director of GO Lab, developed Social Impact Bonds with commissioners as a consultant and worked as an Investment Director for Big Society Capital to develop and implement their strategy around investing in the problems associated with ageing.
Jo has worked in and around public services in the UK and overseas for over 30 years. Initially an NHS Manager working mainly in mental health services, she went on to be part of the Deloitte Public sector consulting practice and then to develop new services and markets for major providers of services to the public sector. She went on to train as a service designer at the Royal College of Art and combines her commercial and commissioning expertise with user-led design practice.
Sophia Looney — Associate
Sophia joined Collaborate as an Associate in February 2017. She has extensive operational and strategic experience working in a range of local authorities. Sophia has a particular interest in how public bodies deliver outcomes with local people and how the relationship between the citizen and state needs to change. Most recently she led Essex County Council’s customer and technology functions, working closely with citizens to improve their experience and to support reductions in demand for the council’s services through proactive and sophisticated interactions.
Sophia was a Director at Lambeth Council, leading the policy, strategy and transformation teams. Here she worked to bring to reality the political ambition to change the Council fundamentally, so she coproduced, designed and developed the Cooperative Council programme, working with local people and partners to re-frame the way public services and citizens operate to deliver better outcomes.
Rebecca Eligon — Associate
Rebecca joined Collaborate as a Senior Associate in February 2017. She is a values-driven leader with a strong track record of working together with a range of stakeholders to deliver service transformation and sustainable change.
Rebecca has particular expertise in diagnostic and improvement work relating to poor performing public services and has worked as both a public servant and consultant to the public sector (at Which? magazine, the Home Office, Ipsos MORI and Lambeth Council). Highly collaborative and outcomes-orientated, she has a strong background in partnership working, governance, performance improvement, policy development, innovation, community engagement, research and intelligence. Rebecca has worked consistently for Collaborate over the last three years on our projects to support Sutton, Barking and Dagenham, Hounslow, Tower Hamlets, South Tyneside, Ealing, Brent and Central London Forward.
Our Board
The Collaborate Board is comprised of successful leaders with a vision for improving Collaboration for public services.
Lord Victor Adebowale CBE — Chair and founder
Victor is Collaborate’s founder and chair. He has led in a number of challenging public policy fields, as a manager, an advisor to government and a campaigner in the areas of housing, health and social care, youth policy, criminal justice and public service reform.
He is also the chair of Social Enterprise UK and the NHS Confederation, as well as a non-Executive Director of the Co-Operative Group, Nuffield Health, Visionable and Leadership in Mind. Prior, Victor acted as CEO of Turning Point, a social enterprise providing health and social care interventions to approximately 100,000 people on an annual basis.
Victor has an MA in Advanced Organisational Consulting from Tavistock Institute and City University. In 2001, he was awarded a CBE for services to the unemployed and homeless, and became a crossbench peer.
In their own words:
Now, more than ever before, services to the public require a new paradigm. Seeing the same results, from doing things the way we have always done them, has become increasingly unacceptable. This holds particularly true for those at the sharp end of the inverse care law, or the law that states that those in need of services the most tend to get the least of them, as posited by Julian Tudor Hart.
At the heart of this new paradigm is collaboration. More and better collaboration, within and across organisational boundaries, would better services to the public, improve their impact and their costs. This is why I founded Collaborate. In providing support, ideas and interventions, Collaborate’s role is to create the new paradigm for the current and future delivery of services to the public.
Mark Cook — Company Secretary
Mark Cook is Collaborate’s company secretary. He is a partner at Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP, advising people and organisations on how to work together across the public, business and social sectors. He is a leading expert in sustainable procurement, including partnership working, contracting, commissioning and procurement of services between the social, public sector and business sector. With over twenty years of experience of public private partnerships and the legal framework that enables them, Mark brings wisdom and practicality to the many situations he is asked to advise upon. He works hard to deliver solutions that involve people in local communities and he believes in the ability of those on the ground to make the difference.
In their own words:
Fundamentally, I support Collaborate because I am inspired by the collective of individuals that have and do work under its banner. Collaborate’s work is aligned with my conviction that those on the ground make the real difference to the neighbourhoods where they live and work. I also believe that conventions, rules and regulations should not get in the way of better public services. In turn, I offer Collaborate my experience as a lawyer who has pioneered in helping disparate organisations to work together, confounding traditional views about what can and cannot be done. Collaborate gives me hope that lateral cross-working can endure rather than the linear lines that are often entrenched in the public sphere.
Dr. Axel Heitmueller
Axel is Managing Director of Imperial College Health Partners, an innovation consultancy owned by and focused on the NHS. He is also Visiting Professor at the Institute of Global Health Innovation and Senior Associate at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
Prior to joining the Partnership, Axel was Executive Director of Strategy and Business Development at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. He brings a broad range of experience from academia and central government where he was Deputy Director and Chief Analyst at the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit in the Cabinet Office and No 10 as well as National Director for Innovation and Testing Strategy at NHS Test and Trace.
In their own words:
My experience has taught me that today’s public services will only be able to strive if we solve challenges through collaboration across sectors, experiences and views. Admitting that we don’t always have all the answers and being curious are vital attributes. I joined Collaborate because these values are hard-wired into the DNA of the organisation.
Jim Minton
Jim is Chief Executive of Toynbee Hall, a vital organisation in East London, working to help the community shape a fairer and happier future locally and beyond. In a career spanning 20 years of strategic leadership across public and non-profit sectors. Jim has worked at senior level within government, the voluntary sector and in corporate social responsibility across a range of interrelated issues including: social justice, young people, homelessness, immigration, police and crime, alcohol misuse, HIV and Aids.
Jim has been Chair of Dost, an East London charity for young refugees since 2017, and is also one of the Mayor of London’s first cohort of Civic Futures leaders, a team of civil society volunteers and professionals looking to create a better London together. Outside of work Jim writes stories; goes to see music and theatre; plays football, tennis and pool; and follows Sunderland AFC. Jim has a very strong belief in the power of people and communities and first and foremost in collaborative working — so is delighted and proud to have joined the board of Collaborate CIC in 2020.
Anna Randle, Hannah Tomlinson and Charlie Adan (above) complete the board.
Collaborate CIC
Clarence Centre for Enterprise & Innovation
St George’s Circus
London SE1 6FE
Email: enquiries@collaboratecic.com
Twitter: Collaborate CIC
Company Number: 08259430
