Board of Trustees
Graeme Miller (Chair)
Graeme plays a very active role in local politics and is particularly passionate about mental health as the basis for good overall health and wellbeing and is a Health and Mental Health Champion for the City of Sunderland.
He is Chair of Age UK Sunderland and a governor at the Oak Learning Trust. He also represents Sunderland council a number of bodies and organisations including the North East Local Enterprise Partnership and the North East Combined Authority Leadership Board where he is the lead for Economic Development & Digital.
As Leader of Sunderland City Council, Graeme’s focus is continuing to work in partnership on the city’s economic regeneration, building on progress in relation to housing and infrastructure development alongside the creation of skills and employment opportunities.
Roy McLachlan (Vice Chair)
Roy is a retired senior manager with the NHS. He has held Chief Executive posts in four NHS statutory organisations around the region including two in Sunderland. He also has considerable third sector experience including seven years as a Non Executive Director with Community Foundation and two terms of office as chair of St Oswald Hospice. Roy has also recently been appointed as a Non Executive Director at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.
Matthew Jackson
Matthew brings with him wealth of experience built up from more than a decade of professional work in the not for profit sector. In his professional life Matthew is experienced in project management, customer service, community engagement and strategic development and joined the board so that he could use his skills and experience to benefit the older people and wider population of Sunderland.
Away from work Matthew is involved in a variety of grass roots campaigns and community based projects and lives locally.
Ann Lawson-McLean
Ann is the Washington representative on the Age UK Sunderland Board. Ann started work as a Shorthand Typist/Bookkeeper moving onto the Civil Service after a few years. Ann qualified as a Youth Leader and volunteered at a girl’s remand home helping to prepare residents for life outside the home.
Since retiring, Ann has volunteered for the following Organisations; Bridge Education and Training for Women, Governor for City of Sunderland College, Benenden Health (North East), Barmston Village Association, Woodlands Home Carers Group, Patient Participation Group, and several other groups. Ann has just attained 25 years volunteering with Age UK Sunderland in the Washington area.
Sunderland City Council Representative Councillor Fiona Miller
For eleven years Fiona has been the elected member for Washington East Ward, and represented the ward as Vice Chair Area Committee, Integrated Transport Board, and now the Deputy Cabinet Member for Health.
Fiona is a carer for her mother and have two grown up children.
Fiona trained as a counselling psychologist and volunteered for a women’s advice centre in Ashington Northumberland and lectured at Sunderland University in Exercise Psychology and was the Module leader for Sports Psychology.
As a member of the British Psychological Society and a supporter of MIND and CRUSE, Fiona is honoured to serve as a Trustee for Age UK Sunderland.
Nicola Thomson
Nicola is an experienced Private Client Solicitor which means that she deals with matters such as drafting and execution of Wills, preparation and registration of Lasting Powers of Attorney, advising on Trusts and dealing with estate administration on a daily basis.
Having worked in this area of law for seven years, Nicola has extensive experience in dealing with elderly and vulnerable clients while assisting with their legal matters and strives to use this experience to contribute towards making a difference to the health and well-being of the older residents of Sunderland who need it. Nicola was born in Sunderland and has always lived here, spending the majority of her academic and working life here too and is eager to contribute to her local community in her role as Trustee at Age UK Sunderland.
Anthony McDermott
Anthony is a multi-award-winning marketeer and fundraising consultant who supports and works closely alongside a number of not-for-profit and community-led organisations from across the city.
An Armed Forces Veteran, Anthony now runs a social media and marketing consultancy, he is employed by the North East BIC to support social enterprises with strategic business advice and is also a Non-Executive Director at Media Savvy CIC. As someone who admits to being one of Sunderland's biggest 'cheerleaders' and wishes to continue "Helping good people do amazing things", he is delighted to be part of the board of trustees at Age UK Sunderland.
Colin McCartney
Colin is an experienced Housing professional who has worked for over 34 years delivering a successful housing management service across the City of Sunderland covering Washington, Houghton and Sunderland areas, both with the City Council and Gentoo. Colin has experience at a senior management level managing housing teams to ensure a supportive and responsive service is delivered to residents in our local communities.
Working across local communities, Colin has coordinated many local projects and successfully managed operational performance with the local housing teams delivering an effective service to residents of all ages. Colin believes in strong partnerships being developed across the City of Sunderland to ensure services are delivered that provide support and independence for local people. As an Age UK Sunderland Trustee Colin uses the skills he has developed in his housing management career to make a positive contribution to the Charity.
NHS Representative on Age UK Sunderland Board
Awaiting appointment