Trustees - YMCA England & Wales

Reg Bailey CBE, Chair

Reg was the Chief Executive of Mothers’ Union – an international charity concerned with supporting children and families in 82 countries around the world – from 1999 until he retired in 2015.

In 2011 he was appointed by the government to review the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood and made a far-reaching series of recommendations which ranged across parental controls for internet enabled devices, the introduction of age ratings for music videos, improving the effectiveness of media literacy in education, to getting retailers to adopt a code of practice on marketing to children. He believes that our responsibility as a society is to ensure that children grow up as emotionally resilient young people as anything that can be done to protect children from inappropriate sexualisation and commercial pressure can only ever achieve limited success.

His recommendations were all accepted by government, and he was asked to continue as an advisor to ensure that they have been properly implemented. He is a member of the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) Council; the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) Advisory Panel on Children’s Viewing, and is Chair of SANDS, the still birth and neo-natal death charity.

Married with an adult family, he was appointed CBE in 2013 for services to children and families. He is an Honorary Canon of St Alban’s Cathedral.

Martin Houghton-Brown, Vice-Chair

Martin Houghton-Brown is Vice-Chair of the National Council of YMCAs.

Martin was previously Chair of National Council of YMCAs. He is also a member of the Executive of YMCA Europe, which serves to strengthen YMCA National Councils across the continent.

His early career began in teaching and then church-based youth work, supporting young people affected by substance use, mental and sexual health issues as well as homelessness. He was ordained in 1996 and went on to lead daily devotions at YMCA Cheltenham.

He has recently taken up a new role as Chief Executive at St John Ambulance after serving Depaul UK as Chief Executive. He began this role following a similar Chief Executive position at Missing People, a charity that provides support for missing and runaway children and vulnerable adults, and a Deputy Director role at The Children’s Society.

Through his youth sector roles, Martin has engaged regularly with Government on policy matters while also contributing towards statutory guidance on children who go missing.

He was a founder member of the Prime Ministerial taskforce on missing persons and served as a member of the Office for the Children’s Commissioners’ Inquiry into Children Sexual Exploitation in Gangs and Groups.

Graham Bratby

Graham Bratby is Director and owner/co-owner of several companies, having previously worked for Lincolnshire Co-operative Society for over 20 years as Corporate Services and Motor Group Controller being responsible for personnel, HR, Training and Development, car dealerships, marketing, estates and property maintenance division and group security.

Graham has a degree in Social Sciences as well as a post-graduate diploma in Personnel Management and is a fellow of CIPD. His skills include significant interpersonal and communication abilities; project planning and managing large and complex programmes as well as analysis of issues and presentation of solutions.

Graham’s experience includes over 30 years at Board level in private and third sector organisations, running his own company with 10 employees, acting as secretary for a pension fund of 1500 members, and bid writing for third sector and commercial. He also sat on Employment Tribunals for 25 years.

Graham has been involved in charitable work and fundraising throughout his career including setting up a charity to provide accommodation for young, homeless at risk. Having previously been Chair of Lincolnshire Young Enterprise he is currently an active Board Member at Lincoln YMCA and has a strong personal belief in Christian Values and principles.

Maxine Green

Maxine trained as a youth worker in the 1970s and studied Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics. Her commitment is to support young people and services that work with them.

Currently Maxine is the former Principal and Chief Executive of YMCA George Williams College. Her management roles include National Youth Adviser to the Church of England, Youth Service Development Manager for Essex County Council and Principal Youth Officer for the London Borough of Camden. In addition, Maxine has been a Consultant at Friends House, London and an Associate Consultant at the National Youth Agency.

Her area of special interest is the Spiritual Development of Young People and this has been the focus of her writing. She has a strong commitment to interfaith work as a result of living in the Middle East for ten years and is a Trustee of the Interfaith Youth Trust and the Endowment Fund of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf.

She brings a huge range of policy and practise experience to the Board including strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, change management, analysis and team building. Maxine describes her interests as youth and community work, spirituality and living well.

Paul Laffey

Paul Laffey has been CEO of YMCA Burton since 1998.

He has extensive knowledge and experience of the private, voluntary and statutory sectors. Prior to joining YMCA, Paul worked in a number of senior management roles for a local authority in south west London, Pizza Hut UK Ltd in south London and Look Ahead Housing Association in central London.

Paul held down a demanding job while studying with the Open University and gained a degree in Social Sciences. He also sits on the Board of a number of smaller charities and believes good governance should be at the heart of a well-run charity.

Paul attends the Elim Church, in Burton, and supports a strong church leadership network in the town. This, in turn, attracts wide support for YMCA Burton.

He is passionate about the needs of young people and homeless people and manages a number of community projects to help transform lives. In his spare time, Paul enjoys salsa dancing with his wife and is a member of a book club.

Emma Osmundsen

Emma Osmundsen is Chair of YMCA Exeter, a local YMCA charity and Housing Association that provides supported accommodation for young people as well as community outreach projects including job clubs, prison projects and youth work.

Emma has more than 20 years of professional consultancy experience in property, construction and development and is a qualified Chartered Building Surveyor.

She is Shadow Director (Development) at Exeter City Council and was elected to the National Council of YMCAs’ Board of Trustees in 2016.

Ian North

Ian North was the Chair of YMCA West London before it merged with London South West to become the St Paul’s gr. Ian had been a board member for 9 years on its Board of Trustees.

Awarded the Housing Heroes Inspirational Board Member of the Year 2009, Ian is also Chief Executive of the East Staffordshire Family Support Service that incorporates the Harvey Girls, Dads4Dads and Family Support Service. Ian is also a former East Staffordshire Borough Councillor and has held Chair positions at Homes for Northumberland; Three Valleys Housing, in Derbyshire; and Trent and Dove Housing, based in Burton.

Ian is a practicing Christian and regular church goer and was elected to the National Council of YMCAs’ Board of Trustees in 2016.

Peter Calderbank

Peter is the Chairman of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee at YMCA England & Wales.

He is a qualified chartered accountant and is currently the Chief Executive of Field Lane, a charity providing care, accommodation and support for adults with learning disabilities and vulnerable families. In his early career he undertook a number of commercial finance roles before becoming the Finance Director at BSS, a national charity providing information, support and advice to people through the delivery of high quality information services. In 2002 he was appointed Chief Executive of BSS and then, in 2015, Peter joined Field Lane as Chief Executive.

In addition to his executive experience, he has sat on a number of boards in a non-executive capacity. These have included being Chairman of the London Early Years Foundation, Chairman of The Helplines Association (THA) and being a trustee of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO).

In addition to his role at YMCA England & Wales, he is also currently a non-executive director at Inquilab Housing Association which provides social housing and related services for a wide range of London communities.