Our Executive

Annie joined CVAA as CEO in April 2015. She began her career as a secondary school history teacher before joining the civil service where she worked in the Department for Education and the Ministry of Justice. Most recently she was Head of Early Years Funding; prior to that she was Head of Adoption Reform, overseeing the development of many of the reforms and legislative changes now being implemented in the adoption system. Other roles include work on early intervention, youth justice and schools policy.

Alex joined CVAA in July 2015. He is currently responsible for working with system policymakers to maximise the contribution of the VAA sector in a regionalised adoption system, developing proposals for adoption funding reform, overseeing ALB and CVAA data collection, analysis and dissemination, as well as policy analysis and development for the ALB. Before joining CVAA Alex studied philosophy at the University of Southampton and King’s College London, and worked at the Department for Education in the Permanent Secretary’s Office.

Contact Alex with questions related to policy and data analysis. alex.wylde@cvaa.org.uk

Jessica is CVAA’s Head of Strategy and Engagement. She leads CVAA’s work on practice and service impact, oversees the development and delivery of high quality services to members, and supports CVAA’s sustainability. She has over ten years’ experience in the voluntary sector in a variety of policy, development and engagement roles. Most recently she lead the Policy and Research strategy for a national children and families charity, and prior to that managed a national participation programme with young adults in the criminal justice system.

Contact Jessica for queries related to CVAA's practice excellence work programme. Jessica.southgate@cvaa.org.uk

Chris provides expert advice to help guide CVAA's practice excellence work programme. Chris is a trained social worker, having worked in both local authority and voluntary settings. She has previously been CEO of St Francis’ Children’s Society, a Voluntary Adoption Agency rated Outstanding by Ofsted. Whilst in this position Chris was involved in the development of several areas of innovative practice including work with young adoptees, recruitment of black and dual heritage adopters, and provision of independent counselling services to birth relatives of children being adopted from care. After ‘retiring’ from full time work, Chris took up an interim post as Director of the Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies in 2010 and held that position until 2014, working alongside Norman Goodwin and Mark Owers as members of the CVAA Leadership Team. She then took on the role of Grant Manager when CVAA was successful in becoming the body responsible for managing the £13.5m DfE Expansion Grant programme.

Chris Briggs is the Chief Finance and Operating Officer of Caritas Care, a voluntary adoption agency covering the North West of England where she oversees the charity’s central support services which includes Finance, HR, Administration, ICT, Data Analysis, Properties and is also the charity’s Health and Safety Lead. Since 2008 Chris has supported CVAA in the management of its finances through the preparation of the Charity’s financial accounts, budgets and latterly in the facilitation of the financial elements of the Department of Educations Expansion Grant programme.

Simon’s role at the CVAA is to aid the collection of data relating to adoption from VAAs and LAs and to interrogate this data to provide additional insights to help the sector understand trends and anticipate needs. Simon joined the CVAA from PACT, where he built and led their Adopter Champion Team – a group of experienced adopters who raise awareness about adoption and help other adopters through the process. Previously he worked in media and marketing data analysis, his last role in this field being as the Director of Media Analytics for the Nielsen Company’s Online division. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics. Simon’s interest and enthusiasm for adoption is personal, being an adoptive parent.

Leah works on CVAA's practice excellence grant, organising practice and networking events. Before joining the CVAA Leah was living in the Netherlands, where she earned a Master’s degree in European Studies at the University of Amsterdam.

Contact Leah with general enquiries and any questions regarding CVAA's practice excellence work programme. leah.mair@cvaa.org.uk

Patrick joined CVAA in January 2017. He provides support to CVAA’s executive, Board, and subcommittees. He also assists member agencies and the general public with general queries and concerns. Prior to joining CVAA Patrick worked in a variety of roles in the voluntary sector. He has a Master’s degree in Writing from the University of Warwick.

Contact Patrick with any general enquiries. Patrick.sarsfield@cvaa.org.uk

Grace joined CVAA in November 2016 as Policy and Business Support Officer. She currently provides a secretariat service for the Adoption Leadership Board, and supports the ALB’s quarterly data collection and communications. Before joining CVAA Grace studied English at the University of York.

Contact Grace regarding any questions related to ALB data collection. grace.toller@cvaa.org.uk

Annie's role at CVAA is to support the ALB Management Service with programme and project management. Annie has extensive experience of policy development and implementation in both the voluntary and public sector. This includes various roles at the Department for Education working in the children's social care arena (including the Adoption Reform Programme). Annie was the Director of Participation at the Office of the Children's Commissioner where she established the Commissioner's strategy for engaging with children and young people. Since leaving the civil service in 2013 Annie has combined her work with voluntary agencies with her creative side. When not at CVAA Annie teaches at the London Jewellery School.