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Meet Our Team
We are extremely honoured to have the most passionate and dedicated team here at Neo Community, with each member committed to playing their part in the teams’ success.
We offer a comprehensive volunteer programme, designed to enrich life skills and to encourage a more diverse range of activities. Most of our volunteers come from the local community, the majority of whom are or have been service users. We currently have 48 core volunteers with around 120 volunteers in total, a few of our team are pictured below
Ema Wilkes
Chief Executive Officer
Adam Mellor
Development Manager
Adam is a fully qualified youth and community worker. He is passionate about giving young people the best service and support.
Adam has managed youth clubs, setup a full-time outreach project and supported voluntary youth clubs in starting up in local communities. He has worked in careers advice and guidance and youth personal development and employability training. Adam volunteers his time locally as a school governor at Woodlands Primary School.
Adam has worked his way through the ranks, becoming the very proud Chief Executive of The Hive Youth Zone in early 2019.
Adam and Ema have together forged strong network links across the local and wider community and his expertise in Safeguarding our young and vulnerable people continues to be invaluable to Neo Community.
Alison Hodgson Ad. Dip Couns and CBT
Trustee and Ambassador
CEO & Counsellor of Evolve, which is a national charity providing age appropriate Education & Awareness, Counselling and Support on the dangers of substance abuse, especially Volatile Substance Abuse (VSA) & Former Legal Highs/New Psychoactive Substances (NPS).
In addition to supporting Neo, Alison continues to work with Youth Federation - National Citizens Service as a wave leader, engaging, motivating and supporting young people taking part in the National Citizen Service (NCS) Programme.
Alison has won numerous awards for her efforts and work within the community and made the top 100 Inspirational Women list for 2019.
Our Trustees
Our trustees ensure that Neo has a clear strategy, and that its work and goals are always in line with Neo’s vision.
They are our ‘guardians of purpose’, making sure that all decisions put the needs of the beneficiaries first.
Our trustees meet at least quarterly and communicate regularly in between formal meetings.
Judi Blacow JP
Trustee
Chair - Civil Servant, Lean (Continuous Improvement) practitioner and Magistrate.
Judi has been involved with NEO since 2016 and brings many years operational leadership
experience. She is a key member of the Neo team and provides hands on support for many
projects, including our annual Christmas Hamper campaign
Judi is passionate about community, the environment and about empowering people to help
themselves.
Elaine Owen
Trustee
Elaine Owen FRSA is a multi-award winning coach and leadership trainer and mentor. She specialises in developing people and helping businesses to get started and to grow. She has an impressive digital marketing background and skill set having started and run the organisation Designated for 24 years.
Elaine owns and runs the online platform www.womeninbusiness.co.uk
Danny Hart
Trustee
Danny's relationship with Neo evolved from an introduction whilst working for Cammell Laird as their Head of HR; Since then Danny has always been keen to help Neo and has been with them on their incredible journey during the last 3 years.
During his career Danny has gained experience working across many different industries, both in multi-site and single site roles, in fast paced businesses which require adaptability, resilience and dynamic change; all of which is beneficial to Neo.
As a skilled HR professional Danny supports Neo Community with advice and guidance when required, using his experience in employee relations and employment law to challenge and advise on a range of complex matters, including delivery of policy changes, enabling growth and transformation.
Sheena McDermott
Trustee
Sheena is a Programme Manager for a national charity working to improve the productivity of UK businesses. She's previously worked in local government, higher education and in the private sector.
Sheena's been involved with NEO for the past few years, supporting our business planning and bid writing where possible. She also does a regular food pickup!
In her spare time, Sheena runs a social enterprise providing business coaching for sandwich generation women and is a governor of an Ellesmere Port primary school.
Matt Davies
Matt is our newest Trustee and member of the NEO team. Matt is a Senior Manager for a leading food retailer and has worked throughout many stores in the region for the last 12 years.
Matt has always had close ties with local communities and projects and is looking to bring his experience to help build the NEO project.
Although Matt has only just become one of our Trusteees. he has worked closely with NEO for the past four years through the Fareshare surplus food donation scheme as well as supporting through other projects in that time.
Lindsey Edwards
Trustee
Lindsey is a fully qualified Youth and Community Worker, she now works for Wirral Borough Council in a family support role.
Lindsey is passionate about supporting, safeguarding and empowering the families and young people she works with.
Outside of work, Lindsey has 2 children and enjoys spending time together with close friends and family.
Lindsey enjoys being active with her children and is also a member of her local gym.
Lindsey will be supporting Neo by bringing her skills and energy as well as her vast safeguarding experience. Lindsey will also have
input into updating and developing our current safeguarding policy and procedure.
Luke O'Dowd
Trustee
Luke is the Centre Manager at Gautby Road – Play, Youth & Community Centre.
Luke has been at Gautby Road for 10 years and his lived experience of the area means he brings skills first hand to the role, working both within the community and with young people.
Luke has skills in community management, is fully qualified in youth & play work and has the ability to forward think, meaning he is passionate about giving the community the finest results possible.
From coordinating Wirral’s Emergency Food Hub to many partnership projects, both Gautby Road and Neo Community work hand in hand to achieve the best outcomes for local communities.
Volunteer with us!
Want to have a positive impact on your community?
Anybody can help – You will make a valuable contribution and boost your own wellbeing along the way!
The skills you gain add value to your CV, and the social links you make can often lead to other opportunities.
We are always on the lookout for enthusiastic, willing volunteers to join our team.
Please complete the form below, indicating the type of role you would be interested in.
