Who are we?

The Association of Volunteer Managers is a company limited by guarantee governed by a board of directors:

Sean Cobley (Chair)

Sean served in the Army for 7 years and then worked for 3 years as part of an HR team in the business sector. He worked for Breakthrough Breast Cancer for over 11 years where he was responsible for head office volunteers, building the team from a handful of volunteers to more than 120 people who volunteered throughout the year.

Sean then worked for Attend for 2 years as Membership Services Manager.

Rachael Bayley

Rachael was the Director of the Retired and Senior Volunteers Programme (RSVP) at CSV. RSVP is a community development programme with over 13,000 volunteers across the UK. Previously she was Head of Volunteering at Samaritans and the Director of Service at Volunteer Reading Help.

Rachael's experience is in strategic development, volunteer management, recruitment, retention and training. Part of her work is to champion the role of volunteers as volunteer managers. Rachael has presented and delivered training at regional, national and international conferences and events about volunteering and volunteer management.

Rachael is currently a Trustee of Barnardo's and links with Barnardo's network of fundraising volunteers. She is a member of the England Volunteering Development Council and the National Network of Volunteer Involving Agencies.

Kate Bowgett

Kate has been working in volunteer management for the last ten years. Her first job was managing London Nightline where she was the only paid member of staff, working with 100 volunteers. Since then she has worked in a variety of different volunteer management roles including National Volunteer Manager at Terrence Higgins Trust and Information Officer at Volunteering England. She has also managed projects making volunteering more accessible; spearheading the campaign to allow volunteers on benefits to receive lunch expenses, and creating the first ever set of good practice resources around involving service users as volunteers.

Currently she is the Volunteer Management Advisor for the London Museums Hub, working with museums across London to support the development of sustainable, good quality, volunteer involvement. She has had several books on volunteering published including the 'Good Practice Guide', 'Deciding Whether to Involve Volunteers' and 'Selecting Volunteers' for Volunteering England, and 'Working With Volunteers: a Good Practice Guide for Refugee Community Organisations' for the Evelyn Oldfield Unit.

Patrick Daniels

After studying politics and international relations, Patrick got the volunteering bug working for six months in New Delhi, India, with an Indian disaster management NGO. After this experience, Patrick worked as a full time volunteer for ATD Fourth World, a French anti-poverty NGO, in a number of different projects in London, Paris, Brussels and Guatemala City. During seven years of involvement, Patrick worked on a range of educational initiatives with children and young people.

In the UK, Patrick has worked in a number of volunteer management roles, in particular with the Octopus Community Network, a partnership of nine community organisations in Islington, London. He currently works for YouthNet, an online information and advice charity, as Head of Engagement and Support. For the last five years, Patrick has been co-chair of the Guatemala Solidarity Network which recruits volunteer international accompaniers, and sits on the editorial committee of Central America Report. He is also a trustee of the ATD Fourth World Trust.

Mike Gale

Mike has worked and volunteered in the voluntary sector since leaving education in 1997. Several of these roles have included volunteer management, including at a SureStart children's centre which had never had volunteers before, a hospital radio station where he increased volunteer levels by over 100% and a HIV/AIDS support charity with 700+ volunteers.

Mike has recently joined NCT (National Childbirth Trust) as Volunteering Strategy Manager, giving him responsibility for 10,000+ volunteers in 320 branches across the UK. Prior to this, Mike worked for Volunteering England as Senior Officer for the Inspiration and Legacy from the 2012 Games Project, where he focused on developing 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games inspired volunteering nationwide. He also acted as PR & Media Consultant for Volunteers' Week 2011, enabling the campaign to achieve its highest value press coverage in its 27 year history.

Mike managed a recruitment centre for the London 2012 Ambassadors volunteer programme on behalf of London Development Agency. He has previously worked for the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation, Volunteering Nottinghamshire and The Children's Society, and been a trustee of his local CVS and volunteer centre. As a former Millennium Volunteer, Mike was selected from over 700 volunteers to become a Regional Ambassador for the scheme.

Mike undertakes consultancy work for a range of charities, covering areas such as policy development, volunteering strategy, communications and organisational set-up.

Steve Gee

Steve was a store manager, area manager and then buyer in mainstream retail before joining the Imperial Cancer Research Fund as Area Manager. After the merger with Cancer Research Campaign, he joined the Volunteering Department of Cancer Research UK as Volunteer Development Manager. Steve has also acted as Head of Volunteering at Cancer Research UK covering a secondment.

Steve has managed a series of recruitment campaigns that have attracted over 7000 new volunteers to Cancer Research UK over the last three years. He has also introduced a series of new training systems, ensuring that volunteers and their managers are given induction training and development opportunities. Steve represents Cancer Research UK at the England Volunteering Development Council and the Heads of Volunteering Peer Group. He volunteers in youth and community work via his local church where they have also successfully raised funds for aid charities.

Alan Murray

Alan is Head of Volunteering Development at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which has over 17,000 volunteers and a network of 160 volunteer run local groups. He is responsible for developing, encouraging and maximising the impact of volunteering in the RSPB.

Alan has spent his working life working in the conservation/environmental sector with both local authorities and voluntary organisations. He started out as a full time volunteer with the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers in 1989 and still volunteers for a number of organisations today. He has also been the Community Opportunities Co-ordinator for BTCV in Sheffield, Country Park Ranger for Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire and Head Ranger for Derbyshire Countryside Service (NE).

Alan has presented at regional, national and international conferences on many aspects of volunteering and delivered training for people on working with and managing volunteers in the UK and abroad.

Nikki Squelch

Nikki Squelch is the Head of Volunteering Strategy for Scope, a national disabilities charity. Nikki originates from Australia where she gained a Bachelor of Social Work specialising in Community Development. Moving to the UK in 1995, Nikki initially worked in the NHS, where she established volunteering programmes in Renal Services, before moving to the voluntary sector to develop an Intergenerational programme that received local and national acclaim. She then moved to the Volunteer Centre networks providing a range of training, support and advice in the best practice of volunteer management. Nikki then went on to work at Age Concern England as the National Volunteering Development Manager. She has presented at national, regional and international conferences on many aspects of volunteering.

Nikki is currently a member of the England Volunteering Development Council Scrutiny Committee and the National Network of Volunteer Involving Agencies. Her volunteering experience includes, volunteer trainer, driver and former trustee of the Domestic Violence Intervention Service and Greater London Volunteering.

Debbie Usiskin

Debbie started volunteering regularly at the age of 14 and is still an active volunteer as a trustee in a local housing organisation as well as counselling on a telephone crisis line.

After a career in social worked Debbie moved into training and development which included being responsible for design and delivery of training to volunteers working with victims of serious crime, as well as being the lead officer in all aspects of training around volunteer management, and representation on the working party developing National Occupational Standards for Managers of Volunteers.

Debbie established a volunteering programme at Europes largest residential home for older people and then went on to become Head of Volunteering in a national organisation providing services for children and families, and adults with a learning disanility.

After 10 years of volunteer specific work Debbie has recently started freelancing as a consultant on volunteer issues.

Carola Vorlop

Carola has been working in the voluntary sector for 15 years and has been the Community Development Manager for Business in the Community. Previously she worked as Volunteering Development Manager at the Eden Project and was the Volunteering Manager at Bristol Zoo.

Carola has presented at regional, national and international conferences on many aspects of volunteering and delivered training for people on working with and managing volunteers. She currently sits on the England Volunteering Development Council (South-West), is the chair of the Bristol AVM Peer Group and a Learning Loop Advisor on the Excellence in Volunteer Management Programme for Volunteering England. She has written a handbook for volunteer managers entitled 'Working with Volunteers in Zoos: a Good Practice Guide'. Carola was presented with the 'Manager of the Year' award during the UN International Year of the Volunteer in 2001.