Our board:
Chair: Baroness Glenys Thornton
Glenys Thornton has a wealth of experience both within and beyond the Co-operative movement, starting as a member of the Bradford Co-operative Society at 16. Glenys worked in the voluntary sector and for Michael Young at the Mutual Aid Centre, Institute of Community Studies, before moving to the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society 1981 to work for the Political Committee, then the CWS until 1992. She was Chair of the London Labour Women's committee 1982-86, then Chair of the Greater London Labour Party from 1986 - 1992. Active in Labour Women's Action Committee, Labour Women's Network and Emily's List. Glenys worked for the Fabian Society as Director of Development and General Secretary 1993 -7 Glenys became active supporting Social Enterprise London in 1998 as member of Social Enterprise London. Founded Social Enterprise UK 2001 and was chair until 2008, now its Patron. Glenys is an Emeritus Governor of the LSE and Hon Doctor of Social Science at University of Bradford. Glenys became a Labour and Co-operative life Peer in 1998. She became the Lords Health minister and Equalities minister in 2008, Shadow Health minister from 2010 - 2013, and DCMS and Equalities shadow minister from 2013 - 15. After the 2015 General Election Glenys became the CEO of the Young Foundation turning around a failing organisation. She returned to the Lords to be Shadow Health Minister. Currently a Board member of the Whittington Hospital Trust and a Commission member of the Good Governance Institute.
Paul Gerrard
After twenty years in the UK Civil Service, Paul joined the Co-op, the world’s oldest co-operative business, in 2016. As Campaigns and Public Affairs Director, he leads the Co-op’s engagement with government across all their interests on a range of public policy issues. He also leads the Co-op’s campaigning activity through their multi-award winning campaigns on modern slavery, loneliness and their current campaign on shopworker violence and crime in community. He is a trustee of the Cooperative Heritage Trust.
Helen Grayshan
Helen is a long term co-operator and advocate of community renewable energy, and a member and current Director of Spirit of Lanarkshire. She first became involved in the sector when working for the community development trust in Berwick upon Tweed, which came up with the idea of generating income for social projects through building a community owned wind turbine. In 2012 she moved to Scotland and undertook an MSc in Renewable Energy at Dundee University, after a career in transport, regeneration and community development down south. She is currently developing a community owned solar energy park in Dundee. In 2016 she returned to England and currently develops low carbon energy projects for a local authority. She has also been an area committee member for the Cooperative Group, and is a former Director of The Phone Coop.
Our team:
Vivian Woodell - CEO
Prior to becoming our Chief Executive, Vivian was founder of The Phone Co-op, a new national consumer co-operative providing telecoms and internet services. He served as its Chief Executive for 19 years, overseeing its growth to some 30,000 business and residential customers.
He also holds a number of non-executive roles, including as Vice-President of The Midcounties Co-operative (a regional retail consumer co-op with gross sales of £1.3 billion), and Trustee of its pension fund, with assets of over £250 million, Board member of Co-operatives UK, the national apex body for co-operatives, Board member of The Co-operative Loan Fund, Board Member of Student Co-operative Homes, and Trustee of The Co-operative College. Vivian is also a founder and board member of West Oxfordshire Community Transport.
From 1990 to 1998 Vivian was Executive Director of the Social Economy Consortium, which brought together a range of co-operative organisations in the UK and Belgium to run development projects supporting co-operatives in Central and Eastern Europe following the fall of the Berlin wall. He was also co-ordinator of ARIÉS, an online European information network for co-operatives, mutual and non-profit organisations. This involved him in extensive contacts with the European Commission and national and European politicians in a variety of countries and settings. During this period he served as Vice President of CECOP, the European Confederation of Worker Co-operatives
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Chames Zaimeche- Project Manager
Chames is the full-time project manager for the Foundation. Whilst studying political science at The University of Birmingham, Chames was one of the Co-founders of the first student housing Co-operative in the UK- the Birmingham Student Housing Co-operative. Seeing the success of a co-operative solution in empowering students from a diverse set of often marginalised backgrounds, Chames became involved in a number of democratic projects and initiatives, including Co-ops West-midlands whilst still at university. After graduating he went on to work for The Phone Co-op in a number of roles, culminating in becoming their Key Account Manager. Outside of work, Chames was elected onto the Coop Groups National Members Council for a two-year term. Chames can often be found bending the ear of anyone willing to listen to him about the role technology can play in democratising society, the need for the proliferation of redistributive economics and all things Preston Model.