Introducing the South East Fellowship Councillors - RSA

Introducing the South East Fellowship Councillors

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This autumn, another two-year cycle of Fellowship Council elections occurred and I’m delighted to welcome back Caroline Clark for a second term, and welcome aboard Don Mclaverty, Jim Zalles for their first terms, and South East based Jan Floyd-Douglass (Economy, Enterprise and Manufacturing Thematic Councillor) for her first term.

The role of Fellowship Councillors is two-fold – to help support and build Fellowship activity and to support governance of the RSA.  From helping you to initiate or grow local activity to representing your interests to the Fellowship Council, Fellowship Councillors are here for you.  So, we’d like to briefly introduce each of the South East Fellowship Councillors so you can begin to get to know them and approach them with your interests and questions.   

I hope you will join me in congratulating all of them on their appointments and we look forward to coming together to see what change we can make happen in the South East over the next two years! 

 

Caroline Clark 

I want every Fellow in the South East Region to feel that they are part of the RSA Fellowship. Part of my role as a Fellowship Councillor is to work with the Regional Manager to bring the RSA to a town near you: there is an annual calendar of participatory events where Fellows can meet each other and learn about each others’ personal and professional projects.  

An important part of my role is to encourage Fellows to create their own networks and events, and help to organise local events and seminars on themes Fellows have told me are of interest to them. I also actively lobby to ensure Fellows in the regions get the chance to contribute to the RSA’s own projects and programmes. 

I worked for national charities in London for most of my career, but moved to the Surrey / Hampshire border about six years ago where alongside my work in the voluntary sector, I am actively engaged in the development of a neighbourhood plan for my village. 

Let me know what your interests and passions are, particularly if: 

  • you’d like to set up a local network or a campaign on any issue which chimes in with the RSA’s mission, please come and ask me for advice on how to set about recruiting other Fellows 

  • you have an area of expertise you would like to share with other Fellows, we can work together to organise a seminar or workshop in the Region on that subject

  • you are a female Fellow or a young Fellow (as far as we are concerned, if you are under 40, you are young!) and you want to discuss how to make the Fellowship more relevant to you, please ask me to come and talk to you  

  • you have any ideas for events and activities – again which amplify the mission of the RSA – then you can talk to any of the Fellowship Councillors or to our Regional Manager Claire Doran about how to get them off the ground

You can message Caroline Clark directly through her MyRSA profile here. 

 

Don Mclaverty 

For the last two years, I have been an active Fellow in Oxfordshire, leading a collaborative local Steering Group that organises monthly “network and learn” events. Topics included: 

  • Deprivation in Oxfordshire 

  • Launching a Local Advanced Manufacturing space which offers access to schools 

  • The UN Sustainable Development Goals and Doughnut Economics  

  • Book Publishing  

 

I am enthusiastic about the RSA mission and, as a Fellowship Councillor, wish to ensure that the voice of RSA Fellows is heard throughout the organisation to positive effect. 

I am an entrepreneurial Director who is passionate about growing successful organisations and teams. I have experience in both Corporate and Small & Medium-sized enterprises with an early career in business development. 

Prior to January 2016, I was Managing Director of Oxford Innovation Services (OIS) which is part of SQW Group. I was responsible for the GrowthAccelerator service across the South of England, the  Oxford Investment Opportunity Angel Network, the Enterprise Europe Network across the South East and major Coaching programmes in Cornwall. I was an active Board Director of Venturefest Oxford for five years. 

Since January 2016, I have been working with a portfolio of clients including the Goldman Sachs 10k Programme, the Science and Technology Facilities Council and Oxford University Research Services. I have focused on high growth SME’s and scale-up firms that typically have a technology differentiator.  

My primary areas of interest are 

  • Collaborating with active, motivated Fellows to increase wider participation across the South East through networking, projects and encouraging local activities 

  • Increasing the relationships and relevance of the RSA with complementary Partners across the South East 

  • Increasing the number of Fellows in the area, in particular the number of younger active people 

To recharge, I enjoy listening to, talking with and interacting with people. Its such an interesting life!   

You can message Don Mclaverty directly through his MyRSA profile here. 

 

Jim Zalles 

We have all felt overwhelmed at times by the challenges facing us in our personal and professional lives, and by the ongoing chaos at the most senior levels of governments around the world. What can one person possibly do? I joined the RSA because I believe a group of like-minded people working together can effect change. And if not us, then who? 

I have over 25 years’ experience providing advisory services to the retail, airline and consumer packaged goods industries, working on high profile engagements with, among others, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Musgrave in the UK and Ireland, and United Airlines and Williams Sonoma in the US. I advise consumer-focused clients on how to best leverage their data to develop and improve customer relationships. 

I am also a freelance performing arts producer, with a focus on supporting new work by emerging British creatives in theatre and dance. 

My primary ’spare time’ activities are attending cultural performances (particularly theatre and dance) and working in my garden. Both provide escape from the troubles of the day and are good for the soul. 

Get in touch with me around: 

  • Ideas for events in the South East area 

  • Ideas for sociopolitical challenges you are interested in investigating and discussing with other Fellows 

  • Stories of migration, journeys, refugees, asylum seekers 

  • Using cultural events to effect social change 

You can message Jim Zalles directly through his MyRSA profile here.

 

Jan Floyd-Douglass

I tend to define myself by my actions, so I’m proud to have pioneered and led wide-ranging global diversity and inclusion programmes throughout my professional career. A particular interest is in bringing more women into senior executive positions; this led to board roles on related NGOs, and as Commissioner of the Women’s National Commission.

My career leadership roles have included Head of Zurich Corporate Pensions, Executive Committee member, Barclays Private Bank and Vice President, Consumer Lending, Citibank. My specialisation is the planning and delivery of transformational, high growth and turnaround corporate strategies, which I deliver through my consultancy, The 9 Situations. I work with diverse organisations around building board and committee effectiveness, and I am a qualified ILM Level 7 leadership coach/mentor.

I have been delighted to speak on various global leadership programmes, some partnered with Harvard Business School and INSEAD, and a past lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

My biggest driver or call to action has always been around unfairness – the removal of it, or at least its mitigation. I think it comes from a childhood where my twin and I often felt we had less value because we had less (mother was a single parent to four children under ten years old at age 30). This has led to feeling a deep need to change things, to remove unfairness where I could.

I have been able to do so more and more throughout my career, noticing that the more senior roles I achieved meant I could change things more quickly, which I did. The RSA provides a wonderful platform from which continue to tackle unfairness and becoming a Fellowship Councillor enables me to make the most of it.

I don’t want just equality, because that might still not be fair, but I do want fairness for everyone.

As the Thematic Councillor for Economy, Enterprise and Manufacture, I’d love to hear from Fellows with ideas that relate to these themes. I’m sure you have initiatives that possibly may start local but have the need/capability to go national. I really want to help develop and broaden these.

Whilst I love being with people and working with them, I think occasional solitude is underrated. I like time to download, sort and recharge, this often gives me a new perspective or different insight. I also write (childrens books and poetry) and like to socialise, read, ride and travel.

You can message Jan Floyd-Douglass directly through her MyRSA profile here.

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