Board of Trustees

Elizabeth is a retired medical doctor, with a degree in psychology as well as postgraduate medical qualifications. She has long experience of being a trustee of two charities involved in working inside prisons, & was chairman of the board of a large, lively & successful Sixth Form College before taking on trusteeship & then the chair of Ataxia UK three years ago. Elizabeth has three daughters, one of whom has Friedreich's ataxia.

Simon is an Insolvency Practitioner which means that he provides advice to companies in financial difficulty, and, if they cannot continue, helps with bringing them to an orderly end.  He also provides advice to individuals in financial difficulty.  His sister, Harriet, who (also a Trustee of Ataxia UK), has ataxia.  Outside work, he has a young son who keeps him busy and on rare occasions, he makes it out on the golf course.

Chris is a retired public company treasurer and corporate finance consultant, and has worked in several industries in the UK and USA in large multinational businesses, including 12 years as Group Treasurer of Saatchi & Saatchi. He has degrees in electrical engineering from Cambridge and an MBA from London.

Harriet was initially diagnosed with Friedreich’s Ataxia in 1991 but the diagnosis has since been revised to an idiopathic cerebellar ataxia.  She grew up in Lancashire and moved to Glasgow in 1995 to study Medicine at the University where she graduated with a BSC(Med Sci) and an MBChB .  Harriet now lives in Glasgow and works as a Speciality Doctor in General Adult Psychiatry.

Alison has spent 20 years living and working in Lancaster, returning ‘home’ two years ago to Renfrewshire, Scotland where she lives independently.  She was diagnosed in 1996 with Friedreich’s Ataxia and use a manual wheelchair all the time.  She is active in a number of disability related groups, campaigns and initiatives, including Renfrewshire Access Panel and Disability Equality Training. Alison is also chairman of the Ataxia UK West of Scotland Branch.  She enjoys going to different places and meeting different people and spending time with friends and family.  She has taken part in lots of different activities and will try doing most things at least once to see if they are fun.

Marta was diagnosed with FA when she was 10 some 30 years ago. She has been volunteering since ‘retiring’ from a software engineering job for the railways.  She tries to represent the voice of disabled people wherever she can.  Marta has her “fingers in various different pies” and likes nothing better than reminding the suits in ivory towers just how the end user of their service feels and how the real world works.  Marta lives, works and plays in Derby, employing 6 Personal Assistants to assist her in daily living activities. She also runs the Derby support group for Ataxia UK.

Barry has been a Trustee of AtaxiaUK for more than ten years joining shortly after one of his daughter’s was diagnosed with Friedreich’s Ataxia. In the early days he was responsible for establishing and still currently chairs the Scientific Advisory Committee. This committee is a key part of the charity’s research governance and provides advice to Trustees on all research funding applications.
He works at the University of Hertfordshire as Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) and also Dean of the Faculty of Health and Human Sciences and Director of the associated Research Institute. He is Chairman of the University’s Ethics Committee. Additionally he has had a long term association with the review of clinical trials for the pharmaceutical industry and is chairman of one of the few Independent Ethics Committees for Phase 1 clinical trials recognised in the UK.

After serving as an Army Officer and Inspector in the Hong Kong Police, Howard started his career in Financial Services initially with large national and international firms before setting up his own business seven years ago. He is Vice Chair of Disability Action Yorkshire a charity that provides services that create opportunities for disabled people to live the lifestyle of their choosing. Howard is married and has two children who have Friedreichs Ataxia.

Martin was born in Scotland, of Irish descent, grew up in England and now lives in Wales! He has been employed in the financial sector for about 20 years and currently works for an international banking group. Martin also served in the Territorial Army. He is an Ataxian, which he says “makes me sound like I come from a planet in a distant solar system”. He lives by the sea with his wife Angie, and his fabulous dogs, Rogart & Alfie.

Peter is a retired Finance Director with experience in several commercial sectors (including private healthcare) and in the NHS. Non-executive board/trustee experience includes a hospice, a community centre, a secondary school, a college, community and acute NHS hospitals and a charity running care homes and other services for the elderly. He is a qualified accountant with a Master's degree from a business school. Peter has a  young grandson with Friedreich's Ataxia.

Alan was diagnosed with ataxia 21 years ago. Since retiring (as a self employed electrician) he has combined his disability together with his interest in IT- becoming UK manager for online support group livingwithataxia.org. Alan is passionate to make the world as inclusive as possible for citizens with “rare” or “life limiting” conditions, and has been asked for his experience by many major organizations. He has been able to raise the profile of ataxia by being chairman of Ataxia South Wales, facilitating the launch of West Wales Neurological Alliance and taking on the responsible role of Trustee of Ataxia UK.

Darran is a very active Ataxian working to hopefully find a cure one day through his fund raising, raising awareness of Ataxia and role as a Trustee of Ataxia UK. His working back ground is in Business Management and his last employer was BMW.