Officers
Chair
Richard Harrison
Richard was elected Interim Chair for the Reading Advice Network Project in 2015, prior to our incorporation as a Charity. He was then elected Chair of the Board of Trustees of the newly-formed Charity at the 2016 AGM.
Outside of RAN, Richard was Chair of Citizens Advice Reading (one of our Member Organisations) from 2014 until 2020, previously serving as Deputy Chair from 2011 and as a Trustee since 2004.
Vice-Chair
Hazel Wright
Hazel was a Trustee of the RAN Project in 2014 before being elected to Vice-Chair of our Charity at the 2016 AGM. She stepped down from that role in October 2021, but resumed it at the end of February 2023. Hazel is the CEO of Graft (Thames Valley) Ltd., (one of our Member Organisations): a charitable organisation that gives advice and information about employment to disadvantaged job seekers
Treasurer
Peter Kayes
Peter joined the RAN Board in 2018 and has been a Trustee at one of the founding members of RAN, the Reading Community Welfare Rights Unit since 2006. Peter has broad experience of the voluntary sector including a number of local charitable organisations and school governorships.
His career was in the computer industry followed by working in higher education, including management roles at a senior level. He is now retired and lives in Reading.
In 2019, Peter took on the role of RAN Treasurer.
Our thanks to Rob Walker who stood down as Treasurer in 2019, after steering us through our first years as a CIO.
Trustees
Francesca Yates
Francesca was a member of the original RAN Partnership Board from 2014, before being elected to the RAN Board of Trustees in 2016 as we became an independent Charity. She was also a member of the committee created to develop RAN into a sustainable organisation beyond the end of the original Project and funding.
Francesca is CEO of CommuniCare (one of our Member Organisations): an advice, information and support charity in Reading.
Andrea West
Andrea joined the RAN Board in 2022 and is the former CEO of Berkshire Women's Aid, (BWA), one of our Member Organisations, which provides refuge, support and advocacy for victim/survivors of domestic abuse across Berkshire. She has a broad career in senior management roles across the charity sector working in health, disability and with vulnerable families.
All the members of the Trustee Board serve as individuals, not as representatives of their organisations.
Our Constitution provides for up to nine Trustees.
Are you who we are looking for?
If you think you might like to join our Trustee Board, please contact our Chair, Richard Harrison, for a no-obligation discussion.