How We Are Governed

As a charity, Carers MK is managed by a Board of Trustees. All of the Trustee are volunteers and many of whom are carers. They come from a range of backgrounds and bring a wide range of skills and experience to the organisation. The Board hold overall responsibility for the work of Carers MK and meets regularly to ensure that the charity works to meet its aims and objectives.

Read: Carers MK Annual Report and Financial Statements For The Year Ended 31 March 2024

Dr Les Davies

Chair

Les lives in Beaconsfield and has many years experience of working in the healthcare, local government, and voluntary sectors. He understands the challenges the NHS, local government, voluntary sector, and community groups face in delivering high quality value-added services. He has indirect experience of the problems faced by family carers and care workers.

He served on Beaconsfield Town Council for 20 years and was Mayor 1998-99. He has been a school governor, board member of a NHS Primary Care Group, and Chairman of Bucks Patient and Public Involvement Forum. He is currently a member of Woodlands District Scout Council Trustee Board, President of The Beaconsfield Society (the local civic amenity group) and a member of several local environmental organisations.

Mike Rowlands

Mike Rowlands lives in Milton Keynes and has years of experience working in the NHS as a Non Executive Director with the Milton Keynes Community NHS Trust serving on the Audit Committee and Remuneration Committee. As a NED he had a special interest in Learning Disability and Mental Health. In 2002 he was appointed Chair of the Hospital Board and remained with them until he retired at the end of April 2008. During that time the Board successfully achieved Foundation Status. As Chair of the Trust he also chaired the Remuneration Committee, the Audit Committee and once it became a Foundation Trust the Members Council. Mike is currently a Lay Board Member for Milton Keynes Clinical CCG.
Mike has experiences of caring for his daughter and is involved in a number of community activities including being governor of local schools in Milton Keynes.

Jitka Vseteckova

Jitka lives in Northamptonshire and works as Senior Lecturer in Health and Social Care at The Open University (Milton Keynes). Jitka has a PhD and a Professional Doctorate in combined subjects (psychology, pedagogy, philosophy and methodology of science). Jitka has several years of experience in managing research and academic programmes as well as human and financial resources . Jitka is also a Deputy Chair to Carers Research Group at The Open University. In this role she works with a number of external national and international organisations and charities which enabled her to develop a deep understanding of the needs of carers and the challenges that social care and healthcare economies face in addressing them nationally as well as internationally.

Jitka has experience as a young carer, young adult and adult carer for family members. She is married with a young son, loves sports and exercise and is passionate about engaging and supporting communities with Ageing Well.

Stewart George

Originally from Northampton, Stewart now lives in Lane End near High Wycombe with his wife, Isobel. Both have retired from careers in healthcare, one as a theatre sister and the other as a part time non-executive director within the Buckinghamshire NHS system until 2016 – within hospital services, primary care and commissioning. Stewart combined his NHS roles with a parallel career in human resource management consultancy, during which he specialised in employment law, psychometrics and training. He has worked on HR issues within private and public businesses, including charities, improving the way in which people perform to the best of their ability, at work. He is an advocate for close working between healthcare and local authorities and believes that nowhere is that connection more important than when caring is involved – hence his interest in Carers Bucks and Carers Milton Keynes. He is also involved in protecting local green spaces in and around Lane End.

Mark Willis

Mark Willis is a husband and father of a son, who is now proudly serving in the Royal Navy. Mark has been a member of Aylesbury Town Council for many years. He first came across Carers Bucks / Carers Milton Keynes when Young Carers Bucks applied for a Grant from the committee he was chairing. Mark has carried out many fundraising activities for the charity, including Race to the Stones (50KM) and in 2018 the London Marathon. Mark was Mayor of Aylesbury for 2018/19, and his nominated charity was Carers Bucks.
Mark currently works for London Underground as a Train Operator, before that he worked for the Meteorological Office in varied locations alongside the armed forces, including in the Falkland Islands.

Emma Lowndes

Emma has lived in Bucks for 16 years, 10 of which she was caring for her Mother-in-Law, Marj, who lived with her, her husband and son. She’s an expert-by-experience on caring for an elder with dementia and posts practical help for others (the so-called ‘sandwich’ carers of both elders and children) who find themselves in similar situations on maudandmum.com
Carers Bucks / Carers Milton Keynes has helped Emma through her carer journey and she wants to pay it back. She’s passionate about helping people prepare for and live well in their later, longer lives. Professionally, Emma is a commercial board advisor and marketing director/CMO. She brings over 25 years of experience in governance, strategy, marketing, project management/delivery and fund-raising. She’s helped other Bucks charities build their impact over recent years too.

Lauris Jacobs

Lauris is a retired accountant who has worked both in public practice and in various charity roles, as well as having been Head of Management Accounting at the BBC World Service. She also worked as an Expert Qualified by Experience at the Challenging Behaviour Foundation following the Winterbourne View exposure.

Lauris has an adult son with autism, learning difficulties and behaviour which can be described as challenging. He now flourishes in a supported living placement in Milton Keynes. She practices yoga, trains in the gym regularly, enjoys textile arts and learning about Art History, plus follows Rugby and Formula 1. Lauris hopes to bring her financial knowledge and experience of autism, learning difficulties and especially of challenging behaviour and the effect on their carers and family members to the Trustee team.