Trustees

WEN Wales’ Trustees are elected from our membership for three year terms, and can stand for a second term if they wish.

The Trustees form our Management Committee, which is responsible for the organisation’s strategic development and governance.

• Mary Ann Brocklesby

  Chair

  Mary Ann has spent a lifetime standing up for people’s rights across the world. From campaigning for better support for sexual abuse survivors, to making the voices of people in poverty count in delivering International Aid.  For 30 years, she has worked across Asia and Africa on community development, gender equality and women’s empowerment.  Mary Ann has worked in rape crisis centres and lectured in Development Studies and now runs her own international advice and coaching business. She is a town councillor and school governor and as a proud graduate of WEN’s mentoring scheme was supported to stand in the May 2020 Senedd elections. She is a fellow of Every Woman Global Coalition.

  

• Rhian Davies

  Trustee

  Rhian Davies has been Chief Executive of Disability Wales since 2001 and is a longstanding advocate of disabled people’s rights and equality.

  She’s led on developments including Disability Equality Training, Direct Payments and Disability Hate Crime. Rhian chairs Welsh Government’s National Steering Group on the Framework for Action on Independent Living.

  She recently gave evidence to the UN Committee on the Rights of Disabled People in Geneva. As a Trustee, Rhian will contribute actively to raising WEN’s profile as the lead national gender equality body in Wales and progressing its agenda to achieve the empowerment and equality of all women and girls in corporate and civil life.

  

• Suzy Davies

  Treasurer

  Suzy held a number of Shadow Ministerial positions during her ten years in the Senedd.  She served on various committees and co-chaired the Cross Party Group on Women. The first woman to stand for leadership of the Welsh Conservative group, she is currently acting co-chair of Conservative Women’s Organisation.  She is also chair of Women2WinWales; both organisations promote gender equality in elected office. Before she became an AM/MS, Suzy worked in arts management and as a solicitor.  Since stepping back from frontline politics, she has been appointed Chair of the Wales Tourism Alliance and is on the boards of Colleges Wales and the Iris Prize Film Festival Outreach.  She is delighted to be joining the WEN Board.

  

• Kate Ellis

  Trustee

  Kate is currently Head of Digital Communications at the Senedd, having previously worked in UK Government communications and at the Office for National Statistics.

  Kate has played a part in changing the abortion law in Wales, making abortions more accessible for all women, and helped lobby the Welsh Government to make period products available in schools, so no young person misses school because of their period.

  She’s delighted to be part of WEN’s board, having been a mentee on WEN’s inaugural mentor scheme in 2018.

  

• Katy Hales

  Trustee

  Katy is the director of philanthropy for Community Foundation Wales. Her job mainly revolves around connecting with potential philanthropists, whilst nurturing existing supporters of the Foundation. She works in partnership with legal and financial advisors to match their clients with the community groups and geographical areas that best suit their philanthropic wishes. She has worked in the academic and third sector for over 13 years, and loves having a job that she enjoys and that has meaningful impact on the lives of people. She is passionate about improving the lives of women and girls in Wales, and doing what she can to help WEN Wales to achieve their aims.

  

• Rahila Hamid

  Trustee

  Rahila has 30 years of experience working with third sector organisations providing support to diverse communities, partnership, networking to promote equality and bridging the gaps in services for effective & culturally appropriate services across Newport. Rahila has served on the BME Partnership Board, BAWSO, BME Housing Forum. She is a member of Pwyllgor Cymru at Mind Cymru and has represented EYST to raise issues faced by community members and stakeholders and ask for policy change to access better services, for example through the Race Equality Action Plan.

• Nancy Lidubwi

  Trustee

  Nancy works for Bawso, a pan-Wales charity, as Violence Against Women Policy Manager. She ensures that national VAWDASV strategies and legislation are informed by the needs of service users from minoritised communities. Prior to this role Nancy was Head of Business Development, in charge of fundraising and developing strategies to make Bawso financially sustainable. She also worked as Head of Training and Service User Engagement where she developed and delivered training to mainstream organisations and charities on violence against women from a black and minority ethnic perspective.

  Nancy has worked in the charity sector for over 25 years advocating for the rights of women and children and providing support that improves the lives of women and girls providing positive outcomes for them.

  

• Jennifer Ramsay

  Trustee

  Jenny studied English at Swansea University, completing her Masters in 2008 and since then has worked at the Senedd as a political adviser. She is really passionate about increasing diversity in Welsh politics and public life. She wants to see more diverse women as leaders and decision-makers in Wales and to help develop policies that advance gender equality and result in more women participating in political and public life. She is a Mentor in the 2021 Equal Power Equal Voice mentoring scheme and is a mum to a very bright and bouncy three-year-old boy called James.

  

• Tania Silva

  Trustee

  Tania leads the North Wales Construction Partnership on behalf of the six North Wales Local Authorities. The Partnership enables public sector teams from a number of organisations to collaboratively deliver major construction projects across the region, incorporating regional and national policies and innovative initiatives in order to drive change.

  The partnership has been recognised through a number of awards for its innovative approach.

  Tania is committed to support communities through Social Value, taking part in programmes to get women into STEM subjects and to pursue construction careers, creating training and work opportunities for individuals from disadvantaged groups and engaging with communities to understand their wants and needs in order to create resilient communities.