Trustees
Paula Gardner
Chair/Trustee
Paula is currently working as Operations Director at Barca-Leeds. Her career choices demonstrate a passion for affecting positive social change, for individuals and communities.
She is currently the strategic lead for a range of grant funded and commissioned services that provide support for adults, young people and families, who are facing adversity in their lives.
Her portfolio primarily focuses on leading services that support some of the most vulnerable people in Leeds to address and overcome the issues and barriers they face.
She has experience of managing services that provide support in relation to health and wellbeing, housing and homelessness, substance misuse and social prescribing. Through her roles in both the public and third sector she has gained extensive knowledge of business development and commissioning processes, contract performance management, developing and implementing quality frameworks, including CQC, and managing budgets.
Before moving to the voluntary sector in 2014 Paula worked for Leeds City Council for 14 years in their Domestic Violence and Abuse Team, developing policy to improve practice in responding to people impacted by domestic abuse. She led on the city’s strategic plan to address domestic abuse, developed the Leeds DV Quality Mark, and worked on the introduction and implementation of both MARACs and Domestic Homicide Reviews in Leeds.
Paula sits on several partnership boards and attends the Safer Leeds Executive as the voluntary sector representative and Third Sector Leeds as the representative for the Leeds Crime Reduction Network. She also chairs the Multi-Agency Review Board for people with complex needs.
Mehreen Nadeem
Deputy Chair/Trustee and member of GPS
After receiving support from Staying Put in 2015, Mehreen has spent the last 8 years, in her own words, “strengthening and re-establishing myself as a woman, mother and professional” before joining the Staying Put Board in August 2022. Mehreen’s aim is to raise awareness on issues relating to domestic violence and to give back by providing insight into lived experience.
Mehreen’s background is in HR and recruitment, having worked in various different sectors and companies before completing her MSc and Level 7 CIPD in 2019. At present, Mehreen works as a Senior HR Business Partner in the legal sector and also sits on the HR sub-board advising the CEO on the overall people strategy.
Helen Hirst
Chair of GPS/Trustee
Helen became the accountable officer for Bradford District and Craven CCG in April 2020 following the merger of Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven, Bradford City and Bradford Districts CCGs.
She is a well known local leader who has worked in the NHS in Bradford since 1992 and was the deputy chief executive of the former Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT. In 2010 She took a two year secondment with the Department of Health as programme director for primary care as part of the NHS England establishment team.
Helen also has leadership roles in the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership (ICS) as SRO for the System Leadership and Development programme and as lead commissioner for the mental health, learning disabilities and autism programme.
Katy Mullin
Trustee
Katy came to Staying Put in 2023 when she began to lead a Creative Writing Group for clients together with her wife Hannah Roche, Senior Lecturer in Twentieth Century Literature and Culture at the University of York. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council as part of a network project on narratives of coercive control, the group explores how coercive control and domestic abuse have been represented in literature. Group reading is used as a starting point to support Staying Put clients with lived experience to articulate their feelings through their own writing.
Katy is a Professor of Modern Literature and Culture at the University of Leeds. Her teaching and research centres women’s experiences, and she brings a passion for giving women a voice, as well as her expertise in chairing committees, to Staying Put.
Ruth Houghton
Trustee
Ruth works as a Senior Operational Manager for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and has worked for Bradford for 32 years, apart from 2006-2010 when she was employed as a Practice Manager for a large GP Practice in Bramley Leeds, a position she took up to gain community and commissioning experience and in 2008 won the Regional and National Awards for Practice Manager of the year for services to the community.
She is passionate about providing a positive experience for patients/families/carers. She is also a staff governor and has represented Admin & Clerical, Estates & Ancillary and Additional Clinical Services for the last 9 years.
Ruth has a MA in Health Care Law from Huddersfield University.
Ruth has also had a book published which tells the story of her living and surviving 32 years of domestic abuse.
Malcolm Hardy
Deputy Chair of FAF/Trustee
Malcolm is a retired accountant who worked in industry for most of his career, in various roles. Malcolm worked at the Emerald Group Publishing Ltd – an international academic publisher, for 20 years. He was their finance director/company secretary before his retirement in 2015.
Malcolm brings many years of charity experience having been the treasurer and trustee on the board of the Brain Tumour Research and Support Charity, based in Leeds from 2005 to 2018.
Jamil Ismail
Trustee
Jamil Ismail is a director at Petherbridge Bassra Solicitors in Bradford, and specialises in children’s and family law. He also bring a wealth of expertise as a NED working in the charity sector.
Adrian Gaughan
Trustee and member of FAF
Adrian is Director Strategy & Propositions at Experian, operating in a variety of roles for 20+ years.
Client focused, he collaborates with clients and internal teams to identify market needs and problems, designing the resultant solutions to ultimately help improve consumer experiences. A proven leader of transformational change, managing risk in a highly regulated and governance environment. Experienced in managing multifunctional matrix teams across clients, internal divisions, business units and countries; continually considerate of cultural, personal and historical sensitivities.
He is a strategic planner, reviewing immediate and longer term goals, assessing progress, re-evaluating as required. Establishing new functions and teams within the UK and offshore centres of excellence, including development centres in Malaysia and Bulgaria.
Nigel Wyatt
Advisor
Nigel is a Chartered Accountant with 30 years’ experience in business, running a general practice with over 300 clients. Nigel has understanding of bookkeeping, systems, payroll and corporate governance, as well as general commercial experience, employing staff and managing work environments.
Nigel has exceptional communication skills, training and team-work. He is accredited to teach relevant financial subjects by the Institute of Learning and Management, as well as being a qualified coach in badminton. In addition, he has 29 years’ experience of church leadership, 14 years’ experience as a school governor and 13 years as vice chair of the governing body. He was also a director / trustee of another regional charity.
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