Secretary General

Ed Mayo is joining Co‑operatives^UK following a career promoting social and economic innovation. Ex-Chief Executive of Consumer Focus, a new statutory body, Ed helped to found the Fairtrade Mark and has been described by The Independent as "the most authoritative voice in the country speaking up for consumers".

Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive

Zena carries out all administrative duties related to the office of the CEO, from diary management to travel arrangements. She also carries out all administrative and logistical duties related to the Board of Directors meetings.

Secretary and Head of Legal Services

As the Secretary of Co‑operatives^UK Helen is responsible for maintaining a relationship with the Board and ensuring their meetings are run effectively, and that Co‑operatives^UK internal corporate governance is managed. As Head of Legal Services she is responsible for the overall management of the Legal Office considering new products and the delivery of the legal services to members and third sector organisations.

Helen is also responsible for the policy in relation to the legislative framework for co‑operatives in the UK and works closely with the Financial Services Authority and HM Treasury in this regard. Along with the Chief Executive and the other members of the Senior Management Team she plays a key role in establishing the strategic direction, structure and culture of Co‑operatives^UK.

Deputy Chief Executive

David leads on the development of our membership base, the identification of trading opportunities that support our core purpose, monitoring the performance of the co‑operative economy and of individual co‑operatives, the development and use of information technology systems that support our operations and members’ needs.

David is also responsible for the overview of management of Holyoake House. Along with the Chief Executive and the other members of the Senior Management Team he plays a key role in establishing the strategic direction, structure and culture of Co‑operatives^UK

Finance Manager

Phil has overall responsibility for the operation of the Finance team within the organisation and is part of the Senior Management Team responsible for the strategic direction and operational efficiency of the business.

He is also the Secretary for the Co‑operative Performance Committee (CPC) of Co‑operatives^UK which bring together accountants and other professionals from all parts of the co‑operative movement providing recommendations and guidance to its members on best practice for accounting standards, KCPIs and CESPIs. Phil is a member of the Audit & Control Committee for Co‑operatives Europe, having previously carried out the same role with the ICA from 2003 until 2008.

Support Officer, Reception

Sarah is the main receptionist and switchboard operator for Holyoake House, being the first point of contact for visitors entering the building. She manages the booking system for the conference suite and liaises with Belinda as House Keeper regarding the requirements for each event.

Sarah monitors Companies House for changes filed by members and key organisations, updating the database appropriately. In addition she sets up and maintains the records for unincorporated food co‑operatives.

House Keeper

Belinda is responsible for efficient running of Holyoake House particularly with regard to ensuring the building is cleaned and well presented. She manages the meeting rooms and conference facilities by making sure they are ready for use by staff and customers, ensuring the rooms are layout as required and any catering requirements are managed. She is also a first aider and a fire warden.

Business Process and Portal Development Officer*

Ryan is employed on behalf of the University of Salford, as part of a ‘Knowledge Transfer Partnership’ (KTP) project. The aim of the KTP project is to bring together sound academic theory (from the university) to apply it in a ‘real-life’ environment here at Co‑operatives^UK. The project itself is now in its final eight months of a two year project. Ryan’s role is to ensure the successful delivery for a range of objectives; most predominantly (i) improved business-process efficiency through a range of new information systems; and (ii) the development of an online ‘business-networking site’ for Co‑operatives^UK members.

Currently Ryan’s two main areas of work are: (i) the development of a ‘customer relationship management’ (CRM) system – called SugarCRM for handling membership data; and (ii) implementing key online business-networking features that members have expressed an interest in (including a facility for advertising Co‑operative events to the movement and an interactive ‘yellow pages’ of all UK co‑operatives). 

Corporate Affairs, Research and Information Officer

Paul provides a research function for the senior management team, researching new legislation, topical issues, news or events of interest to Co‑operatives^UK. Paul is responsible for looking after the organisation's website, providing members with passwords and ensuring other staff keep their pages updated. He assists the Secretary in their role in the corporate governance of Co‑operatives^UK which includes serving the meetings of the Co‑operative College trustee board, and compiling an electronic library of governance materials.

PA to Management Team

Kika is responsible for co-ordinating all building works with Holyoake House liaising with contractors and being the first point of contact to deal with queries and complaints from Tenants. Kika provides the administrative support for a number of events runs by Co‑operatives^UK including the accountants forum and the sectional councils. She is secretary to the Health and Safety Committee and the first point of contact for all health and safety issues.

Events Co-ordinator

Joe’s role is to assist in the planning, organisation and management of all Co‑operatives^UK's events including the National Retail Consumer Conference; the Accountants’ Forum; the Secretaries’ Forum and Co‑operatives Congress and Education Forum. Joe acts as a point of contact for the event management company the Conference People, working closely with our event manager dealing with all event related issues.

Joe works on a part time, two day a week basis, as he is currently a full time student studying an Event Management Degree at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Management Accountant

Michael is part of the finance team he assists in producing reports, budgets management and statutory accounts for Co‑operatives^UK, the Co‑operative Press and the Co‑operative Party. He is responsible for ensuring the finance function keeps up to its ISO 9002 Quality standard, as well as being the Money Laundering Reporting Officer. In addition Michael manages the finances for Co‑operatives^UK’s externally funded projects and acts as Treasurer and renewal officer for UK Society for Co‑op Studies and well as supporting the Finance Manager with the Co‑operative Performance Committee. 

Finance Administration Support Officer

Lesley is part of the Finance Team and is responsible for the daily input onto the Sales/Purchase and Nominal Ledgers of Co‑operatives^UK, Co‑operative Press and the Co‑operative Party. This includes the issuing of sales invoices, payment of suppliers, credit control and staff and committee expenses. She works closely with Michael on the reconciliation of membership subscriptions which involves updating and maintaining records on the database. 

Payroll/Personnel Officer

Pat is part of the Finance Team and is responsible for the payroll for Co‑operatives^UK, Co‑operative Party, Co‑operative Press and Co‑operative Press Pensioners as well the payroll service which is provided as a membership service. Pat monitors the bank balances for the above organisations and invests any surpluses to ensure assets are used effectively. She is also responsible for all banking matters, electronic transfers etc and monthly reconciliations.

Legal Officer

Linda’s work involves providing legal and governance advice to existing co‑operatives and assisting organisations and individuals that wish to form a co‑operative.

As well as providing legal and governance advice to organisations working in the third sector, such as not for profit organisations and charities. This includes, taking initial enquiries over the telephone and email, advising on the different legal structures available, as well as assistance with registration and, where appropriate, charity registration both with the Charity Commission and HMRC. Providing legal and governance training and presentations to organisations working within the third sector is also part of her work.

Legal Officer

Ged works in the Legal Services Team. He provides legal and governance advice to existing co‑operatives and assists organisations and individuals that wish to form co‑operatives, as well as providing advice to organisations working in the Third Sector, which predominately includes not for profit organisations and charities. Ged also assists with the registration of co‑operatives and other Third Sector organisations, drafting amendments and liaising with the relevant regulatory body on the client's behalf. As part of his role with the Legal Services Team, Ged has also recently undertaken research projects in order to help define the sector.

Senior Legal Officer

Emma manages a team of two Legal Officers and the day to day running of the Legal Office, and takes responsibility for managing new areas of work, attending internal working groups that require a Legal input.

Along with the other Legal Officers Emma provides legal and governance advice to members, new co‑operatives and other third sector organisations, including providing advice on choosing an appropriate legal form, drafting of the governing document and the registration of the organisation. She is responsible for organising the annual Secretaries’ Forum, an event aimed at the secretaries’ of industrial and provident societies providing information on legislative change and other topics of interest.

Worker Co‑operative Development Officer

John’s role is to promote, support and be the liaison between Co‑operatives^UK and its 170 worker co‑operative members, as well as raising the profile of Co‑operatives^UKwith the worker co‑operative sector engaging them as new members. John also acts as a Secretariat for the Worker Co‑operative Council, which nominates two positions to the main Co‑operatives^UK Board.

Consumer Co‑operatives Liaison Officer

John is responsible for maintaining a close relationship with the President, Secretary, and or Chief Executive of each retail Consumer Co‑operative with a view to understanding the current successes, challenges and problems that each society faces. The consumer sector is in a period of consolidation and change and at this crucial moment in its development requires resources within Co‑operatives^UK to ensure that senior managers and the Board are fully informed and able to respond to the needs of its retail consumer members.

John is also responsible for the organisation and management of the consumer sectional councils and their meetings and together with the Events team the planning and organisation of the Annual National Retail Consumer Society Conference.

Membership Development Officer

Sundeep is responsible for delivering effective campaigns for recruitment and retention of Co‑operatives^UK’s members and providing leadership within the organisation in terms of best practice and strategic direction with regards to membership.

Sundeep is responsible for all members, other than worker co‑operatives, and works closely with the Worker Co‑operative Development Officer to encourage wherever possible our members are engaged and informed about and in our work. On a day to day basis, Sundeep has a good degree of engagement with members, through general enquiries on the telephone, via email and through member visits.

Data and Analysis Officer

Steve is responsible for monitoring and reporting upon the performance of co‑operative enterprises. This is done by utilising a database of all known Co‑operative Enterprises which is maintained and updated regularly from external sources and from the enterprises via surveys. The results are consolidated together and presented in an annual report to Congress providing an assessment of the economic and social impact of the co operative movement in the United Kingdom economy, the Co‑operative Review.

Also, Steve, compiles Performance Monitors for each of the member consumer co‑operatives. The monitors report on the society’s commercial performance, co‑operative environmental and social performance, and compliance with best practice in respect of corporate governance and accounting standards.

Head of Policy and the Regions

John co-ordinates Co‑operatives^UK’s policy work on behalf of the movement, including responses to UK Government consultations and developing policy on areas that the members consider important (eg regeneration, health & social care, finance, the environment). He works with colleagues who lead on some areas of policy (eg Helen Barber on legal issues) and work closely with Mary Rayner, Policy and Research Officer.

He is responsible for the Co‑operative, Environmental and Social Performance Indicators and has the housing brief for Co‑operatives^UK, working closely with the Confederation of Co‑operative Housing. At the moment this is mainly focused on the Commission on Co operative and Mutual Housing. John is also responsible for supporting the Regional Co‑operative Councils (RCCs) which operate in each of the 9 English regions and in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Policy and Research Officer*

Mary’s post is funded by the Office of the Third Sector – part of the Cabinet Office - under its Social Enterprise Strategic Partners programme, funding for which runs until March 2011. She works alongside Giles Simon and provides a policy voice for worker, community, multistakeholder and consortia co‑operatives. She supports Co‑operatives^UK’s core policy work, reporting to John Goodman, Head of Policy and the Regions. Her role involves responding to Government consultations, developing proactive policy stances, building alliances with organisations within and without the co‑operative movement and assisting the development of Co‑operatives^UK research work.

Project Co-ordinator - Making Local Food Work*

The Good Food, Good Governance programme has the overarching aim of reconnecting people and land through food and has created a series of delivery strands which work towards that goal, i.e. food co‑operatives and buying groups, local distribution and supply, farmers markets, country markets and so on. Our strand plays a supporting role in providing training and support on governance and legal issues.

Sarah’s role as the Project Co-ordinator is to manage the successful delivery of the project. The day to day work oversees this through regular supervision, co-ordinating the writing, design and publication of a series of legal and governance resources with external agencies, managing the project budget, writing interim reports and developing and maintaining relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

Greener Together Project Officer*

Michelle is responsible for delivering a two year project funded by Defra’s Greener Living Fund. Greener Together – the co‑operative way aims to actively engage with 3600 individual members and encourage them to take measurable actions to reduce their environmental impact in the areas of energy, waste and personal transport. Michelle will be working with its member co‑operatives including housing, worker owned, community owned and consumer co‑operatives. Through its network of member co‑operatives, and will reach a further 200,000 individuals with targeted information and advice on sustainable living.

Projects & New Ventures Officer

Petra’s role includes co-ordinating the work of the Co‑operative Business Development Panel (formerly New Ventures Panel). She currently manages the Community Shares (Government funded 2 year action learning research project promoting raising finance from community share offers), Health & Social Care (Department of Health funded 2 year project to develop mutual responses to delivery of social care) and Greener Together- the co‑operative way projects. She also co-ordinates the meetings of the UKCF Forum and delivers events and conferences as appropriate.

Field Officer, Good Food, Good Governance*

Mark is a peripatetic development worker, delivering training to other development workers helping to set up community food enterprises. He works directly with nascent community food enterprises to ensure that they choose the most appropriate structure and governance and assist existing organisations with any governance problems. Mark’s work is accomplished through delivering workshops, generating paper and web-based resources, administering the Good Food Good Governance pages of the Making Local Food Work website (www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk) and running a legal and governance helpline. He also works closely with Co‑operatives^UK membership section to bring new and existing community food enterprises into membership where appropriate.

Communications & Development Officer

Giles is funded by the strategic partnership with the Office of the Third Sector to help provide a voice for small and medium sized co‑operatives. This includes writing articles and press releases for media, promoting co‑operatives via social and business networking sites, developing a bank of case studies, speaking and speaking and exhibiting at events. There is a focus on communicating the strength of the co‑operative model to key decision makers in five sectors: mainstream business, rural, regeneration, social enterprise and renewable energy sectors.

International Officer

Bernadette is the first contact point for any enquiries regarding international issues.

Support Officer, Reception

Sarah is the main receptionist and switchboard operator for Holyoake House, being the first point of contact for visitors entering the building. She manages the booking system for the conference suite and liaises with Belinda as House Keeper regarding the requirements for each event.

Sarah monitors Companies House for changes filed by members and key organisations, updating the database appropriately. In addition she sets up and maintains the records for unincorporated food co‑operatives.

Project Co-ordinator - Making Local Food Work*

The Good Food, Good Governance programme has the overarching aim of reconnecting people and land through food and has created a series of delivery strands which work towards that goal, i.e. food co‑operatives and buying groups, local distribution and supply, farmers markets, country markets and so on. Our strand plays a supporting role in providing training and support on governance and legal issues.

Sarah’s role as the Project Co-ordinator is to manage the successful delivery of the project. The day to day work oversees this through regular supervision, co-ordinating the writing, design and publication of a series of legal and governance resources with external agencies, managing the project budget, writing interim reports and developing and maintaining relationships with internal and external stakeholders

Worker Co‑operative Development Officer

John’s role is to promote, support and be the liaison between Co‑operatives^UK and its 170 worker co‑operative members, as well as raising the profile of Co‑operatives^UKwith the worker co‑operative sector engaging them as new members. John also acts as a Secretariat for the Worker Co‑operative Council, which nominates two positions to the main Co‑operatives^UK Board.

Legal Officer

Linda’s work involves providing legal and governance advice to existing co‑operatives and assisting organisations and individuals that wish to form a co‑operative.

As well as providing legal and governance advice to organisations working in the third sector, such as not for profit organisations and charities. This includes, taking initial enquiries over the telephone and email, advising on the different legal structures available, as well as assistance with registration and, where appropriate, charity registration both with the Charity Commission and HMRC. Providing legal and governance training and presentations to organisations working within the third sector is also part of her work.

Secretary and Head of Legal Services

As the Secretary of Co‑operatives^UK Helen is responsible for maintaining a relationship with the Board and ensuring their meetings are run effectively, and that Co‑operatives^UK internal corporate governance is managed. As Head of Legal Services she is responsible for the overall management of the Legal Office considering new products and the delivery of the legal services to members and third sector organisations.

Helen is also responsible for the policy in relation to the legislative framework for co‑operatives in the UK and works closely with the Financial Services Authority and HM Treasury in this regard. Along with the Chief Executive and the other members of the Senior Management Team she plays a key role in establishing the strategic direction, structure and culture of Co‑operatives^UK.

Consumer Co‑operatives Liaison Officer

John is responsible for maintaining a close relationship with the President, Secretary, and or Chief Executive of each retail Consumer Co‑operative with a view to understanding the current successes, challenges and problems that each society faces. The consumer sector is in a period of consolidation and change and at this crucial moment in its development requires resources within Co‑operatives^UK to ensure that senior managers and the Board are fully informed and able to respond to the needs of its retail consumer members.

John is also responsible for the organisation and management of the consumer sectional councils and their meetings and together with the Events team the planning and organisation of the Annual National Retail Consumer Society Conference.

Deputy Chief Executive

David leads on the development of our membership base, the identification of trading opportunities that support our core purpose, monitoring the performance of the co‑operative economy and of individual co‑operatives, the development and use of information technology systems that support our operations and members’ needs.

David is also responsible for the overview of management of Holyoake House. Along with the Chief Executive and the other members of the Senior Management Team he plays a key role in establishing the strategic direction, structure and culture of Co‑operatives^UK

Legal Officer

Ged works in the Legal Services Team. He provides legal and governance advice to existing co‑operatives and assists organisations and individuals that wish to form co‑operatives, as well as providing advice to organisations working in the Third Sector, which predominately includes not for profit organisations and charities. Ged also assists with the registration of co‑operatives and other Third Sector organisations, drafting amendments and liaising with the relevant regulatory body on the client's behalf. As part of his role with the Legal Services Team, Ged has also recently undertaken research projects in order to help define the sector.

Head of Policy and the Regions

John co-ordinates Co‑operatives^UK’s policy work on behalf of the movement, including responses to UK Government consultations and developing policy on areas that the members consider important (eg regeneration, health & social care, finance, the environment). He works with colleagues who lead on some areas of policy (eg Helen Barber on legal issues) and work closely with Mary Rayner, Policy and Research Officer.

He is responsible for the Co‑operative, Environmental and Social Performance Indicators and has the housing brief for Co‑operatives^UK, working closely with the Confederation of Co‑operative Housing. At the moment this is mainly focused on the Commission on Co operative and Mutual Housing. John is also responsible for supporting the Regional Co‑operative Councils (RCCs) which operate in each of the 9 English regions and in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Secretary General

Ed Mayo is joining Co‑operatives^UK following a career promoting social and economic innovation. Currently Chief Executive of Consumer Focus, a new statutory body, Ed helped to found the Fairtrade Mark and has been described by The Independent as "the most authoritative voice in the country speaking up for consumers". He takes up the position from November 2009.

Membership Development Officer

Sundeep is responsible for delivering effective campaigns for recruitment and retention of Co‑operatives^UK’s members and providing leadership within the organisation in terms of best practice and strategic direction with regards to membership.

Sundeep is responsible for all members, other than worker co‑operatives, and works closely with the Worker Co‑operative Development Officer to encourage wherever possible our members are engaged and informed about and in our work. On a day to day basis, Sundeep has a good degree of engagement with members, through general enquiries on the telephone, via email and through member visits.

Finance Manager

Phil has overall responsibility for the operation of the Finance team within the organisation and is part of the Senior Management Team responsible for the strategic direction and operational efficiency of the business.

He is also the Secretary for the Co‑operative Performance Committee (CPC) of Co‑operatives^UK which bring together accountants and other professionals from all parts of the co‑operative movement providing recommendations and guidance to its members on best practice for accounting standards, KCPIs and CESPIs. Phil is a member of the Audit & Control Committee for Co‑operatives Europe, having previously carried out the same role with the ICA from 2003 until 2008.

Data and Analysis Officer

Steve is responsible for monitoring and reporting upon the performance of co‑operative enterprises. This is done by utilising a database of all known Co‑operative Enterprises which is maintained and updated regularly from external sources and from the enterprises via surveys. The results are consolidated together and presented in an annual report to Congress providing an assessment of the economic and social impact of the co operative movement in the United Kingdom economy, the Co‑operative Review.

Also, Steve, compiles Performance Monitors for each of the member consumer co‑operatives. The monitors report on the society’s commercial performance, co‑operative environmental and social performance, and compliance with best practice in respect of corporate governance and accounting standards.

Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive

Zena carries out all administrative duties related to the office of the CEO, from diary management to travel arrangements. She also carries out all administrative and logistical duties related to the Board of Directors meetings.

Senior Legal Officer

Emma manages a team of two Legal Officers and the day to day running of the Legal Office, and takes responsibility for managing new areas of work, attending internal working groups that require a Legal input.

Along with the other Legal Officers Emma provides legal and governance advice to members, new co‑operatives and other third sector organisations, including providing advice on choosing an appropriate legal form, drafting of the governing document and the registration of the organisation. She is responsible for organising the annual Secretaries’ Forum, an event aimed at the secretaries’ of industrial and provident societies providing information on legislative change and other topics of interest.

Greener Together Project Officer*

Michelle is responsible for delivering a two year project funded by Defra’s Greener Living Fund. Greener Together – the co‑operative way aims to actively engage with 3600 individual members and encourage them to take measurable actions to reduce their environmental impact in the areas of energy, waste and personal transport. Michelle will be working with its member co‑operatives including housing, worker owned, community owned and consumer co‑operatives. Through its network of member co‑operatives, and will reach a further 200,000 individuals with targeted information and advice on sustainable living.

House Keeper

Belinda is responsible for efficient running of Holyoake House particularly with regard to ensuring the building is cleaned and well presented. She manages the meeting rooms and conference facilities by making sure they are ready for use by staff and customers, ensuring the rooms are layout as required and any catering requirements are managed. She is also a first aider and a fire warden.

Business Process and Portal Development Officer*

Ryan is employed on behalf of the University of Salford, as part of a ‘Knowledge Transfer Partnership’ (KTP) project. The aim of the KTP project is to bring together sound academic theory (from the university) to apply it in a ‘real-life’ environment here at Co‑operatives^UK. The project itself is now in its final eight months of a two year project. Ryan’s role is to ensure the successful delivery for a range of objectives; most predominantly (i) improved business-process efficiency through a range of new information systems; and (ii) the development of an online ‘business-networking site’ for Co‑operatives^UK members.

Currently Ryan’s two main areas of work are: (i) the development of a ‘customer relationship management’ (CRM) system – called SugarCRM for handling membership data; and (ii) implementing key online business-networking features that members have expressed an interest in (including a facility for advertising Co‑operative events to the movement and an interactive ‘yellow pages’ of all UK co‑operatives). 

Projects & New Ventures Officer

Petra’s role includes co-ordinating the work of the Co‑operative Business Development Panel (formerly New Ventures Panel). She currently manages the Community Shares (Government funded 2 year action learning research project promoting raising finance from community share offers), Health & Social Care (Department of Health funded 2 year project to develop mutual responses to delivery of social care) and Greener Together- the co‑operative way projects. She also co-ordinates the meetings of the UKCF Forum and delivers events and conferences as appropriate.

Policy and Research Officer*

Mary’s post is funded by the Office of the Third Sector – part of the Cabinet Office - under its Social Enterprise Strategic Partners programme, funding for which runs until March 2011. She works alongside Giles Simon and provides a policy voice for worker, community, multistakeholder and consortia co‑operatives. She supports Co‑operatives^UK’s core policy work, reporting to John Goodman, Head of Policy and the Regions. Her role involves responding to Government consultations, developing proactive policy stances, building alliances with organisations within and without the co‑operative movement and assisting the development of Co‑operatives^UK research work.

Events Co-ordinator

Joe’s role is to assist in the planning, organisation and management of all Co‑operatives^UK's events including the National Retail Consumer Conference; the Accountants’ Forum; the Secretaries’ Forum and Co‑operatives Congress and Education Forum. Joe acts as a point of contact for the event management company the Conference People, working closely with our event manager dealing with all event related issues.

Joe works on a part time, two day a week basis, as he is currently a full time student studying an Event Management Degree at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Management Accountant

Michael is part of the finance team he assists in producing reports, budgets management and statutory accounts for Co‑operatives^UK, the Co‑operative Press and the Co‑operative Party. He is responsible for ensuring the finance function keeps up to its ISO 9002 Quality standard, as well as being the Money Laundering Reporting Officer. In addition Michael manages the finances for Co‑operatives^UK’s externally funded projects and acts as Treasurer and renewal officer for UK Society for Co‑op Studies and well as supporting the Finance Manager with the Co‑operative Performance Committee. 

Field Officer, Good Food, Good Governance*

Mark is a peripatetic development worker, delivering training to other development workers helping to set up community food enterprises. He works directly with nascent community food enterprises to ensure that they choose the most appropriate structure and governance and assist existing organisations with any governance problems. Mark’s work is accomplished through delivering workshops, generating paper and web-based resources, administering the Good Food Good Governance pages of the Making Local Food Work website (www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk) and running a legal and governance helpline. He also works closely with Co‑operatives^UK membership section to bring new and existing community food enterprises into membership where appropriate.

Communications & Development Officer

Giles is funded by the strategic partnership with the Office of the Third Sector to help provide a voice for small and medium sized co‑operatives. This includes writing articles and press releases for media, promoting co‑operatives via social and business networking sites, developing a bank of case studies, speaking and speaking and exhibiting at events. There is a focus on communicating the strength of the co‑operative model to key decision makers in five sectors: mainstream business, rural, regeneration, social enterprise and renewable energy sectors.

Corporate Affairs, Research and Information Officer

Paul provides a research function for the senior management team, researching new legislation, topical issues, news or events of interest to Co‑operatives^UK. Paul is responsible for looking after the organisation's website, providing members with passwords and ensuring other staff keep their pages updated. He assists the Secretary in their role in the corporate governance of Co‑operatives^UK which includes serving the meetings of the Co‑operative College trustee board, and compiling an electronic library of governance materials.

PA to Management Team

Kika is responsible for co-ordinating all building works with Holyoake House liaising with contractors and being the first point of contact to deal with queries and complaints from Tenants. Kika provides the administrative support for a number of events runs by Co‑operatives^UK including the accountants forum and the sectional councils. She is secretary to the Health and Safety Committee and the first point of contact for all health and safety issues.

Finance Administration Support Officer

Lesley is part of the Finance Team and is responsible for the daily input onto the Sales/Purchase and Nominal Ledgers of Co‑operatives^UK, Co‑operative Press and the Co‑operative Party. This includes the issuing of sales invoices, payment of suppliers, credit control and staff and committee expenses. She works closely with Michael on the reconciliation of membership subscriptions which involves updating and maintaining records on the database. 

International Officer

Bernadette is the first contact point for any enquiries regarding international issues.

Payroll/Personnel Officer

Pat is part of the Finance Team and is responsible for the payroll for Co‑operatives^UK, Co‑operative Party, Co‑operative Press and Co‑operative Press Pensioners as well the payroll service which is provided as a membership service. Pat monitors the bank balances for the above organisations and invests any surpluses to ensure assets are used effectively. She is also responsible for all banking matters, electronic transfers etc and monthly reconciliations.