Sonia Thompson

I have substantial experience of working at all levels and leading teams of varying sizes from small community projects delivering at a neighbourhood level to influencing policy through research and shaping practice by working with Government departments. For instance I have worked as a member of the Department of Health and the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) working group on developing the training framework for community development workers in BME communities. I have International community development experience - Jamaica including working at the International Red Cross and over twenty years community development experience including 15 years Board experience on Credit Unions. I am currently a Board Director of one of the UK’s largest and most successful Councils for Voluntary Services. Part of the capacity building service delivered to members includes governance development – e.g. training, and constitution support and advice. As a founder board member of two Black women’s refuges in the East midlands I have overseen the creation and flourishing of both associations which have been operating for over two decades. Other community based Boards I have been an active member of include housing associations, a BME infrastructural organisation and an advice agency. I have been an Acting Director for Programme Management & Finance  and an Evaluation Manager at a New Deal for Communities programme which is a 10 year £50m regeneration programme working closely with a range of stakeholders. New Deals forged the way for partnership working which is now being delivered across public sector agencies via Local Area Agreements.  I am a trainer for a national tenants’ capacity building organisation (Tenants Participation Advisory Service) specialising in areas of governance and a former NHS Non-Exec Director for a Primary Care Trust. Non-Executive Directors are appointed by the NHS Appointments Commission working strategically to develop plans to provide improved health services, reduced health inequalities and ensure the best use of the money available. NHS boards play an important part in the Secretary of State for Health's plans for improving the way in which the NHS provides services for patients. I am currently a regional development agency Women’s Ambassador which is a roll out of a national programme designed to support women in business in order to reduce the gap in their involvement in enterprise. I have worked in partnership with emda (the East Midlands Development Agency), Business Link and Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chambers of Commerce – to develop and deliver a series of Women’s business support services. I am currently working with a community based project to deliver business support packages within a neighbourhood area. I have recently been appointed by the Chartered Management Institute as a regional Vice Chair for their network Women in Management.