Our Directors
Simon Barrable
Co-Chair
Simon has spent 25 years working in post-16 education, holding key positions at senior leadership level. He has supported local schools as a governor and gained valuable experience as an Ofsted Inspector. His wider voluntary roles in the city include periods on the boards of Express FM and EBP South, membership of the city Climate Board, as well as chairing the Portsmouth Education Partnership Teacher Recruitment and Retention group.
Passionate about the life chances that education can offer people, he believes in building an environment that will help develop personal and social growth, alongside educational outcomes. Of particular interest, and an area of expertise, is the use of technology in education, and how this can enhance teaching and learning. He is a great believer in what this can add to 21st century education.
Simon is married with 3 teenage children and in his spare time enjoys the great outdoors in all its many forms.
Simon Barrable
Mark Waldron
Mark Waldron
Co-Chair
Mark Waldron has been editor of The News in Portsmouth since September 2007. It marked a return to his ‘hometown’ paper as he grew up just outside the city and started his journey into journalism through training at Highbury College.
Mark’s career has taken him from the Aldershot News and Mail to the Sunday Sun in Melbourne, the Hull Daily Mail and the South Wales Echo in Cardiff. He sealed his first editor’s post at the Swindon Advertiser in May 2004, where he worked until the move to The News.
Mark is married with four children and is passionate about Portsmouth and spreading the word about the joys of living and working in the city. He likes nothing more than spending time with his family, watching football, cycling and falling off his surfboard.
Salina Ali
Diversity & Equality
Salina was born and raised in Southsea. Her family origin is from Bangladesh and embraces both cultures. She left Portsmouth for a brief period to complete her Accounting and Finance degree and to become a qualified Certified Chartered Accountant. Salina has many years of broad accounting experience from large national and international organisations, starting her accounting career at IBM and continuing with organisations such as World Duty Free and Babcock. Currently she is teaching within the Business and Law School at the University of Portsmouth and has just completed two further qualifications, Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education and Fellowship of Higher Education Academy.
Salina likes to be involved in community projects within Portsmouth, from an early age her parents have encouraged her and her brothers to be involved in the family business and various community events. She is very passionate about continuing this with her own children. Salina has been a local School Governor and is a board member for Chat over Chai and a board member for Portsmouth Bangladesh Business Association.
Salina is looking forward to being part of this team and being involved of the future of Shaping Portsmouth.
Salina Ali
Yvonne Clay
Yvonne Clay
Marketing & Branding
Having grown up in Lincolnshire, and then worked across the Midlands, Yvonne settled on the South Coast twenty years ago. Since working in Portsmouth for Landsec, based at Gunwharf Quays, over the last 5 years Yvonne has been impressed by the energy and passion that the people of the city have to offer, and is keen to do all she can to see our great city thrive.
With over 25 years of marketing experience, working for Boots the Chemist and the Virgin Group amongst others, Yvonne has gained a broad marketing and communication skill set, with a real passion for digital and social marketing channels. Yvonne’s goal is to add value to Shaping Portsmouth, to help drive the brand forward, work collaboratively with our financial sponsors, and support the city in its quest to improve and grow.
Chris Hillman
Community Programmes
Born, raised and educated in the city, Chris is now Head of Employability and Apprenticeships at Minstead Trust, which supports over 300 people with learning disabilities to develop skills that allow them to gain greater independence and lead fulfilled lives. They provide housing, day opportunities and also operate the Lily&Lime Cafés around the city.
Chris is also Programme Lead for Shaping Portsmouth’s Charity Support Network.
Chris Hillman
Emily Howes
Emily Howes
HR Advisor
Emily graduated from Bournemouth University with a Food Science and Business Management degree in 2001. After completing a University placement year at Marks & Spencer Head Office, she began her career designing and developing food products for Marks & Spencer, before specialising in the Training sector.
CIPD qualified in both Training and generalist HR, Emily’s career has progressed through HR in the manufacturing and luxury retail sectors, before joining Griffon Hoverwork as Head of HR in 2011 and moving into Group Head of HR role in 2013. More recently, Emily has taken on the role of Group People Director driving the HR strategy across all Bland Group businesses. Within this role, Emily is responsible for maintaining and adhering to best HR practices across all Group Companies. Emily provides a wealth of experience within all aspects of HR including employment law, recruitment and selection, compensation and benefits as well as training and development.
Jane Lamer
Business Programmes
Jane Lamer is Head of Economic Development and Skills within the Regeneration Directorate of Portsmouth City Council. She originally joined the council in 2019 leading the skills and employment agenda for the local authority and running the extensive unemployment programmes to meet business needs. Starting her career in retail management, Jane moved into business support and training and has over 20 years professional training and delivery experience, including leading business engagement within 2 further education colleges. She has held senior management roles focused on quality in education and partnership. This experience ensures she is passionate about vocational learning and apprenticeships and their role in business growth.
Jane was the joint lead for our Employability and Skills programmes from 2019-2022 working particularly with skills partners to meet business needs. Partnership and collaboration are key drivers for her and she is keen to support the plans for the city turn in practical solutions and programmes that ensure sustainability for the businesses in and around Portsmouth.
Jane Lamer
Alison Lee
Alison Lee
Company Secretary
Having been born in St Marys Hospital, Alison has lived in and near Portsmouth all her life, apart from when she studied for her Law degree in the Midlands. Alison is now Managing Director of a Portsmouth Law firm, Biscoes, which has been part of the city’s business community since 1854, and now employs 140 local residents.
Alison is entirely passionate about this city, its people and its military heritage, being the daughter of a Royal Naval chief petty officer. She worked as a care lawyer in the city for 20 years, working with some of the most disadvantaged in our city, which made her even more determined to see aspirations raised through good education and community support. Alison has been a Trustee of Pompey in the Community for the past 8 years, and Biscoes have been supporters of Shaping Portsmouth since its inception. Alison is very honoured to be part of it now and in the future.
Sam Singleton
Financial Compliance
Sam is Head of Finance at the Guildhall Trust, and is a 6-year post-qualified management accountant with a specialist Masters in the Charity sector, which had a significant focus on social impact. Having previously led as Financial Controller another significant Charitable Group worth over £90m with over 35 Restricted funds, Sam has specific knowledge on working with multiple boards that have multiple objectives and ensuring strategic support to CEOs of those organisations. He currently sits as a Treasurer for HomeStart Arun, Worthing and Adur a Children’s charity that has a vast volunteer network.
Sam Singleton
Hayden Taylor
Hayden Taylor
Education & Schools Programmes
Hayden was born and educated in Portsmouth, setting up his first business aged 16. At the age of just 17, Hayden was appointed as the Corporate Relationships Manager for a fast-growing technology start-up called Hubbub, managing large University clients. At the age of 18, Hayden was selected to represent his company and the United Kingdom at the ‘One Young World’ global summit in Dublin, the world’s pre-eminent global forum for young leaders from 196 countries. He has since attended the global forums in Bangkok (Thailand), Ottawa (Canada) and Bogota, (Colombia).
In 2017, at the age of 20, Hayden was selected to be one of 10 UK Jo Cox Memorial Scholars. These young leaders are selected by the US Government for their work on community cohesion, and Hayden travelled to Washington DC to spend time exploring community cohesion initiatives in the US. Hayden, now 23, is focusing on his own social enterprise, Unloc, which provides innovative education programmes to over 100+ schools and colleges.
Karolina Graham
Executive Assistant to the Board
Born in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz, Karolina moved to the UK in 2007. She spent 4 years in Glasgow studying Human Resources Management at the University of the West of Scotland. While studying, Karolina managed various hotels and restaurants in Glasgow. During her last year at University, Karolina met her future husband who was born and lived in Portsmouth and after graduating she moved to Portsmouth instantly falling in love with this beautiful city and its people.
In 2012, Karolina joined the Gunwharf Quays Customer Services Team working in the Centre Management Reception. Four years ago, Karolina progressed to an administrative role working as the Assistant to the Senior Management Team and Centre Director. Currently, Karolina looks after finance, office management and hosting, whilst supporting Centre Director, Centre Operations Manager, and the Operations Team. Feeling incredibly grateful for a very diverse role and the opportunity to work with people who are extremely fervent about what they do.
It is the hosting part of Karolina’s role at Gunwharf Quays that introduced her to Stef and the Shaping Portsmouth Team, where she arranged board meetings and attended the annual conferences. The passion for people and the city was so infectious Karolina was absolutely thrilled when she was presented with the opportunity to join the Team as an Executive Assistant.
