Our People

CEO

Andrew Grocock

Andrew Grocock

CEO, TOGETHER UK FOUNDATION

Andrew has campaigned for pro Union political candidates across each of the UK’s constituent parts, he is a vociferous advocate for the monarchy and champion of the United Kingdom.

Whilst the mainstream media often portrays Northern Ireland as problematic and unfashionable, Andrew has for years been acknowledged as an interlocutor regarding the positive contribution many of its citizens bring to the United Kingdom and has been immersed in Northern Ireland culture for over 30 years at both community and party-political level, dividing his time between London and Belfast.

After the December 2019 General Election, Andrew took a detailed analysis of the election results in both Scotland and Northern Ireland. The research revealed a trend where amongst the younger demographic of hundreds of thousands of historically traditional union supporters across both countries, who were not voting in the General Election; a sizable percentage who were not registered on the Electoral Register.

It was after uncovering these findings that Andrew wrote the initial proposal to establish a not for profit, non-party political organisation; its purpose to proactively inform and engage debate on the benefits for all constituent parts of the United Kingdom to remain as a Union.

Our Board of Trustees

Baroness Arlene Foster PC

Baroness Arlene Foster PC

FORMER FIRST MINISTER OF NORTHERN IRELAND

Arlene has been involved in Northern Ireland politics since being a student at Queen’s University, Belfast. A lawyer by profession, she was born in 1970 at the start of the Northern Ireland Troubles and grew up in County Fermanagh where she still lives with her husband and three children.

Arlene was instrumental in establishing power sharing in Northern Ireland and served as Minister for the Environment when devolution returned to Northern Ireland in 2007. In 2008 she was appointed as Minister for the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment, a position she held until May 2015. During this period, she was instrumental in promoting Northern Ireland’s tourism industry, and was the primary ministerial contact for overseas interest in Northern Ireland both as a place to invest in and do business with. Arlene is proud of the record of inward investment and growth during her time as Minister responsible in areas such as legal and professional services, Financial Technology, Cyber security and the creative industries. Arlene was appointed as Minister for Finance and Personnel in May 2015. She has worked as acting First Minister on two occasions, firstly for a period of three weeks in 2010 and then during the Autumn of 2015.
After the General Election of June 2017, Arlene led her Party into a Confidence and Supply Agreement with the Conservative Party in order to secure stable government for the UK. The period between the election and the formation of a new Government has been described as one of the most significant constitutional periods in generations.

Arlene was initially appointed as First Minister of Northern Ireland on 11 January 2016 becoming Northern Ireland’s first female First Minister.

Devolution collapsed in January 2017 and what followed was a series of political negotiations to revive the power sharing institutions. Finally in January 2020 the Assembly and Executive were re-established and Arlene was reappointed as First Minister on 11th January 2020 and served until her resignation on 14th June 2021.

Arlene has been to the forefront of advocating for more women in public life and has led by example in many ways, not least becoming the first female First Minister. Empowering more young women, and women from disadvantaged backgrounds to take part in public life is something she feels very strongly about, both at home in the UK and across the Globe.

She has highlighted the abuse many women in public life, the young and the vulnerable face from social media platforms and will continue to advocate on this matter outside of elected office.

Since leaving elected office Arlene has been involved in broadcasting, speaking and writing. She also advises companies on how to interact with government in a consultancy capacity.

She remains a strong advocate for the United Kingdom and the Union which binds it together and as a result is very excited about being part of the Together UK Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation to advocate for the positive benefits of the United Kingdom.

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Mary Madden

Mary Madden CBE

A graduate of Queen’s University, Mary has worked in the public sector since 1979 when she qualified as a Solicitor in Northern Ireland.  She began her working life in the Crown Solicitor’s office where for thirteen years she acted for the government and public sector organisations in civil proceedings.

In 1992 Mary moved from legal services to policy when she took a post in the Northern Ireland Office. Her first post was leading a team tasked with a major review of the Criminal law and Criminal Justice system.  From there she moved into finance at a time when the government took the decision to change from a cash accounting system to accruals accounts.  She headed up the team tasked with delivery this major financial management change to the department.

From Finance Mary moved to head up the Security Policy and operations division where she had regular contact with the Military and the Police Service in handling deeply sensitive issues around normalisation programme set in train by the then prime minister, Tony Blair.

Mary moved to the political directorate of the department where she worked closely with the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, his Secretary of States and Ministers to achieve a political settlement between the local parties.  She was awarded the CBE in The Queen’s New Years Honour List in 2010 for her work on decommissioning.

Mary joined the Department of Justice in 2013 when all the remaining powers has been devolved to the Executive Assembly and politics appeared to have stabilised. She has held three posts in the department before leaving to join The Executive Office in January 2017 specifically to take up the role as joint Secretary in the NSMC.  She retired in April 2018.

Since retirement Mary has taken up several voluntary roles.  She is on the Boards of The Princes Trust, The Golaith Trust, Glencree Peace and Reconciliation Centre which are focussed in improving the lives of our young people and promoting peace and reconciliation not just in this jurisdiction but across these islands.  Mary is also on the board of The Ulster New Zealand Trust which promotes and fosters relationships between Northern Ireland and New Zealand.

Melanie Hampton

Melanie Hampton

Melanie runs her own successful Insurance Broking business and during her career has held varied and interesting external roles.  She was a trustee for a medical responder charity in Berkshire, becoming the lead governor of the South-Central Ambulance service for Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire. By working with several different groups and using her collaborative approach she was able to work with the Trusts to successfully reduce hospital handover times at the Royal Berkshire.

She was a London Borough councillor for eight years only stepping down this year to explore other options.  During this time, she was the chairman of the finance committee and the cabinet member for adult care and health.  Tasked with budget savings she achieved better service outcomes with reduced spend for two years.

Melanie is most proud of her work on diversity, driving the department to be the most diverse in the whole of the council. Taking the potential of staff to overcome barriers to ensure everyone is given the opportunity to be their best.

She embraces the city livery movement and the positive work they do in our communities and is set to be Master of the Worship Company of Paviors in 2024.  She was instrumental in taking forward a program to get the long term unemployed and other hard to reach groups into the workplace. This has been one of the most rewarding things that she has achieved as she has witnessed changed lives through training and regaining personal confidence.

Melanie was born in London and is hugely proud of her Northern Irish heritage.  Both her parents were born in County Derry and as a child she spent most holidays in Ireland.  She feels passionate about preserving this unique land and its people and their place within the United Kingdom. She is looking forward to playing her part in the coming years for the UK Together Foundation, using her skills and talents for the common good.

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Sheila Davidson

Sheila Davidson

To be coming soon.
Farah Sassoon

Davina Stansfield

Davina Stansfield has worked in both independent and state education for 15 years; she currently holds a management role at a leading independent school in Surrey.

Davina attended school in Northern Ireland, and completed her first degree at Queen’s University Belfast, before moving to England to complete her teaching degree. Initially, her plan was to return to her beloved Northern Ireland, but the opportunities to work in world class institutions, such as Wellington College and Wycombe Abbey, encouraged her to develop her teaching career in England. In addition to her work in education, Davina is involved in the APPG for Independent education, she provides consultancy work for schools in relation to IT and she has completed qualifications on mental health which she firmly believes is needed more than ever for young people.

Having just completed a Master’s in Education, with a focus on Gender Equality and EDI, Davina is very aware of the importance for young people, and females in particular, in having strong role models; indeed, the Together UK Foundation’s Chair, Baroness Foster, was exactly that for Davina, for over 20 years, when she was MLA in her constituency.

One of the fundamental reasons for joining the Together UK Foundation was to be able facilitate a platform for young people to be able to discuss and raise issues that are of concern to them, and advocate on their behalf, ensuring their voice is heard at the highest levels. Davina considers a Times Education Short listing for a pupil voice initiative as one of her most significant achievements and wants to utilise a similar strategy so young people can contribute to decision making about their future.

A strong advocate for the United Kingdom, Davina believes that the education system, diverse culture, and accessibility to the vast university and apprenticeship options available in the United Kingdom are all crucial to help prepare young people for a global workplace.

Sangeeta Waldron

Sangeeta Waldron

Sangeeta Waldron is a multi-award-winning Public Relations professional, named in Commetric’s 2021 top ‘15 of Women Influencers in PR & Communications’ and in the ‘Top 100 of the PR Influencer Index.’ She runs her own London based PR agency, Serendipity PR & Media. Sangeeta started out her career writing speeches for a previous UK Prime Minister and Ministers, and has worked at the top level with big, powerful global brands, which includes – being global communications director for the Economist Group; the Mayor of London; Cass Business School; and charities. Sangeeta’s second book, Corporate Social Responsibility Is Not Public Relations was shortlisted in the ‘change and sustainability category’ in the UK Business Book Awards 2022. The book will be published in India by Jaico Publishing, in November 2022.

Her first business book, The PR Knowledge Book published in 2019 and received strong advance praise by business leaders and has been bought by leading international universities that includes, University of Oxford, London Business School, University of Edinburgh, University of Bath, University of Glasgow, University of East Anglia, University of Salford, University of Kent, University of Strathclyde, Harvard, and Duke University.

A regular international speaker and moderator, she is also contributing global editor for the India CSR Network, the largest news platform on sustainable business news in India and guest lectures at Coventry University.

Throughout her career, Sangeeta has worked continuously to raise awareness about the climate crisis and the importance of diversity and inclusion within the workplace. This is why she believes in the value and relevance of Together UK Foundation, and will be helping to champion the conversation about what the climate crisis means for the Union; and to ensure that all ethnic communities from the Commonwealth are represented in discussions about the Union.

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Patrons

Jeff Edwards MBE OStJ JP DL

Jeff Edwards MBE OStJ JP DL

Jeffrey Edwards was born in Merthyr Tydfil and was the last pupil to be pulled alive from the debris of the Aberfan disaster in October 1966 Educated at the University of London and Cardiff Business School, he qualified in Finance and Business administration and has worked at Board level in the public, private and voluntary sectors.

In 1991, he established the Aberfan and Merthyr Vale Youth Charity. A pioneering and innovative project that became an exemplar to others in promoting social inclusion and received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award in 2002.

He was elected a Councillor to Mid Glamorgan County Council and later Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council and utilising his financial skills and business acumen made a significant leadership contribution to a program of inward investment in regenerating the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil. In 2006, he was Centenary Mayor and in 2008 he became the Leader of the Council. In 2012, he hosted Her Majesty the Queen on her Diamond Jubilee visit to the County and the Prince of Wales on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Aberfan Disaster in 2016.

Outside Local Government, Jeff is committed to public service being appointed a Magistrate and Chair of the Mid Wales Local Justice Area. Chaired the Audit Committees of both the Merthyr Tydfil Local Health Board, South Wales Police and St Johns Council. He has also served on the Boards of HMP Cardiff, Probation Service, Mid Glamorgan Fire Authority, and the Scrutiny Panel of Dyfed Powys Police.
Jeff is a benefactor and supporter of many charities both in the UK and abroad. His charity during the Year will be the Duke of Edinburgh Award in supporting young people with mental health issues.

In 1998, he was awarded the Order of St John followed by the Order of the British Empire in 2003 in recognition of his service to the Community. Jeff has published moving accounts of his experiences as survivor and what life was like growing up in a community that was devastated by the Aberfan disaster of the 21st October 1966. His life is a story of personal strength and emotional resilience in overcoming major trauma and committing his life to the economic and physical regeneration of his community.

Lady Jane Grosvenor - Placeholder

Lady Jane Grosvenor

To be coming soon

Advisory Board

In 2023 the Foundation will be forming an influential and robust Advisory Board, compromising of experts and professionals to support our work. Coming soon.

Youth Council

Young women and men are at times underrepresented in formal discussions about the United Kingdom, and at the Foundation, as our work gets underway, we are keen to actively involve young people to ensure their participation. Coming soon.