Mind's senior management team

The Senior Management Team have overall corporate responsibility for Mind’s strategy, leadership, management and organisation performance.  The team focus at a strategic level on the business of Mind and on the delivery of its activities.

• Paul Farmer, CEO
• Andrew Vale, Managing Director, Minds Matter
• Katherine Gardiner, Director of Finance and Resources
• Kathleen Miles, Director of Fundrasing
• Lindsay Foyster, Director of Mind Cymru
• Sophie Corlett, Director of External Realtions
• Sue Baker, Director of Time to Change

Biographies

Paul Farmer, Chief Executive Officer

Paul has been Chief Executive of Mind, the leading mental health charity working in England and Wales since May 2006.

Paul is Chair of the Disabilities Charities Consortium, Vice-Chair of the Department of Health Talking Therapies Programme Board and Chair of the Equalities and Diversity Forum panel on human rights.

Paul is a trustee at the Mental Health Providers Forum, an umbrella body for voluntary organisations supporting people with mental distress. He was a trustee for the Directory of Social Change, a campaigning voluntary organisation that provides the sector with training and publications.

Before becoming Chief Executive of Mind, Paul was Director of Public Affairs for Rethink and was Chair of the Mental Health Alliance from 2001-2006.

Andrew Vale, Managing Director for Minds Matter – The Mind Trading Company

Andrew is responsible for the strategic direction of the 120 Mind branded shops and for developing new income streams through other trading platforms. Minds Matter is maximising the brand opportunities offered by its High Street presence and is planning an extensive programme of new shop openings.

Minds Matter turns over £10 million and generates unrestricted income of £1.8 million. The retail team deliver these results and is comprised of a Field Operations team as well as 250 Shop staff and over 1,700 volunteers.

The shops offer an excellent avenue for people with direct experience of mental health problems to be engaged with Mind at a local and national level.

Andrew has a retail background which blends commercial with the charity sector, having worked for Marks and Spencer, Birthdays, British Heart Foundation and Age Concern England (latterly as Head of Retail at the merged charity AgeUk).

Andrew plays a prominent part in the Charity Retail Association including time spent as a Board Member.

Katherine Gardiner, Director of Finance and Resources

Katherine is responsible for finance, human resources, facilities and information technology, and has been at Mind since 1997. She is also a director of Minds Matter, the Mind trading company that runs the 120 Mind charity shops.

Through training as a chartered accountant and working in the private sector, Katherine has worked for a diverse range of organisations from the Banco Ambrosiano receivership to Trebor Mints. Interests include the arts, walking and sailing, and Katherine is treasurer for a small arts charity in north London.

Kathleen Miles, Director of Fundraising

Kathleen is responsible for Mind's fundraising, leading a department of 27 staff who together raise vital income for Mind's work from a range of sources, as well as Mind's conferences and training unit.

Kathleen has a voluntary sector background, having worked in the sector for 18 years, 17 years of which have been in fundraising. Her roles have included fundraising for small local voluntary sector organisations, higher education and charity sectors.

Prior to joining Mind in 2001, Kathleen worked at NSPCC. She holds an MSc in Voluntary Sector Organisation from the LSE and is a Trustee of Southwark Playhouse.

Lindsay Foyster, Director of Mind Cymru

Sophie Corlett, Director of External Relations

Sophie is responsible for Mind's policy and campaigning, media, communications, legal and information services work and has been at Mind since 2002.  Amongst other things, Sophie represents Mind on the Future Vision Coalition, is on the Management Board of the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health which develops guidance on care and treatment for people with mental health problems for NICE, is a trustee of the Centre for Mental Health and is on the Members Council for the South London and Maudsley Mental Health Trust. She is a regular spokesperson for Mind in the media.

Before starting at Mind Sophie was Policy Director at Skill: National Bureau for Students with Disabilities, a small charity (now closed) that worked with disabled students in or entering post-16 education, a post she held for 10 years.

Sue Baker, Director Time to Change

Sue leads Time to Change, England’s biggest ever programme to end mental health stigma and discrimination. She is responsible for leading and delivering this exciting social movement in England, now in its fourth year. 

Time to Change is an ambitious £20.5million programme funded by the Big Lottery Fund and Comic Relief (CR's largest ever UK grant) being delivered by leading mental health charities Mind and Rethink, and evaluated by the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London.

Sue worked on the world’s largest campaign to address mental health discrimination in New Zealand. She also worked for nine years as Head of Media at Mind and as Director of a leading substance misuse charity.