Rachel left her career in retail management in 2000 to focus on her children and later discovered both her sons had various needs. “I found myself on a journey that I hadn’t expected and hadn’t planned for. I had to try and make sense of what I needed to do to understand and support my children. I wanted the council, health services and commissioners to understand what it is like for parent carers and their children.” During this time Rachel channelled her energy into volunteering on various projects from being a PTA chair, a school governor and the National Autistic Society's South Glos Branch Officer. Rachel co-founded and volunteered with South Glos Parent Carers as Chair before taking on the role as CEO.

Lisa joined SGPC in 2024 as one of our Directors and became Chair in 2025. Lisa brings a wealth of experience, having previously served as Headteacher at Warmley Park School and College, a specialist setting for children and young people with SEND. Lisa is committed to supporting families, shaping effective policies, and championing resources and strategies that help all children thrive. Lisa’s collaborative approach and deep-rooted understanding of the SEND community make her a fantastic addition to SGPC.

With a background in educational psychology, Sue has always been passionate about supporting children and young people with SEND. Since her retirement, she has contributed to various projects, including the Autism Education Trust, and served as a school governor at a specialist school. Additionally, Sue is a proud grandparent to two adorable grandchildren.

Sue held the role of chair of SGPC’s board of directors from 2015 to 2025.

Sue has been involved with SGPC since 2009 and manages the operational side of the company. Sue started as a volunteer, and has seen many developments in that time. She became a director when SGPC became a CIC in 2013.

Leonie is SGPC’s community support manager, overseeing all of our support teams. Leonie’s background is in paediatric nursing, but she took some time off from nursing in 2010 to enable her to focus more on her son who has Down Syndrome. At this time Leonie became involved with SGPC as she was interested in making a difference for other families, as well as working alongside professionals to help improve and shape services. She started off volunteering as a parent Rep and in 2013 she became a director and helped to develop SGPC into a Community Interest Company (CIC Not For Profit). Leonie has a passion for helping other parent carers and being part of SGPC.

Robbie joined SGPC as a volunteer Parent Rep in 2019 and is now our Parent Voice and Co-production Manager, leading our Parent Voice and Marketing and Comms teams to ensure that the collaborative parent carer views are reflected in the meetings we attend, and are communicated to our wider audience.