Trustees
Ade Bamigboye (Chair of the Board)
Ade has spent the last twenty five years working in the information technology sector most of which has involved using innovation to enable the development of digital services. He is very keen on the idea of using technology to enhance health and well-being through initiatives such as telehealth and remote monitoring. Ade is also a certified Information Privacy Professional and has worked on data governance and data privacy initiatives.
Ade became a trustee of Parents 1st in January 2020.
Veronica Emlyn (Safeguarding Trustee)
Veronica works currently as Patient Experience Facilitator and Volunteer Coordinator in an NHS Mental Health Trust. She has a breadth of experience working with local authority, NHS and voluntary organisations, as well as volunteering with community and education organisations, and with a charity as a counsellor. She has worked as project manager developing Community Parents programme in her locality and the programme was part of the community mums research project.
Veronica has a passionate belief in the power of people to influence, and to make decisions and changes in their own lives (personal and health related) when given the appropriate support, information and encouragement.
A wife, mum and nan, she can clearly remember her own struggles as a mum and has seen her family struggle at times when they became parents.
Jo Robins
Jo, now retired, has worked most recently on a regional level, and on national policy developing the model for social prescribing. Her last role, was merging the Family Hub model with an existing Early Help service.
Jo has over twenty years’ experience of working in the NHS and local government at a strategic and operational level. She has worked as a practitioner in the community, as an NHS manager and at senior level as a public health consultant. She has extensive experience of collaborative work across the NHS, local government, police and voluntary sector services.
She believes in the model of Parents 1st and had first hand experience of setting up a successful service, resulting in positive results for parents and improved multi agency working.
She has worked extensively with children and parents in multiple settings, such as early years, schools, colleges and community using a collaborative approach. She believes this is a successful ingredient that produces change for the better. She believes in sharing the learning from Parents1st to motivate others.
Jeanette Tulloch-Jordan (Safeguarding Trustee)
“I see myself as a system leader in that I lead from the front in the work that I do be it in being in groups that motivate staff and managers to do things differently, across service and organisational boundaries in order to meet the needs of others or in supporting those who rely on care and support from different services.”
Jeanette is a post graduate – MA in Leading Innovation and Change - who wishes to add value to Parents 1st. She is a highly motivated and results driven individual who also has a passion for innovation, engagement and strategic leadership.
She has many years Private and NHS experience comprising legal, governance, HR, primary, acute, community and specialised healthcare within commissioning, contracts, finance, operational and provisioning. Jeanette is also involved in additional charity work as a Chair for a Local Authority Board working with children.
Her emphasis is on rebuilding and fostering positive working with disaffected partners by bringing her lived experience, her talent, energy and vision to the Board. Her hope is to ensure that the organisation is always in a position to be able to respond effectively to significant challenges. She wants to be part of the catalyst for real change by showing compassion, gratitude, integrity, common purpose and courage at all times.
“I wish to be seen as an agent for change through purpose, diversity and my lived experience”
Jeanette works full time within the NHS.
Laura Webber
Laura Webber, PhD, is Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of HealthLumen, a health analytics company specialising in the modelling of non-communicable and rare diseases. She oversees a multidisciplinary team of epidemiologists, analysts, mathematicians, and software engineers, delivering complex public health projects at national and global scale. Laura has led major initiatives for clients such as the European Commission, AstraZeneca, the World Health Organization, Cancer Research UK, and the World Bank. Her work includes economic modelling of chronic disease, burden of disease simulation of kidney disease across 31 countries, and health impact assessments for preventive interventions.
Prior to founding HealthLumen, Laura was Director of Public Health Modelling at the UK Health Forum. She holds a PhD in Psychology from University College London, where her doctoral research examined maternal feeding practices and their influence on childhood obesity—a field in which she has published widely, including co-authoring the parenting book Stress-Free Feeding (2015). She also holds an MA from Cambridge University and a diploma in business management. Laura holds an honorary research role at Imperial College London and has won multiple awards for research and leadership.
Gill Mason
A leading expert in early years education with a distinguished career in shaping vocational pedagogy, I have been at the forefront of advancing the quality, status, and impact of the early years workforce across the UK and Europe. As a published researcher and seasoned practitioner, I bring strategic insight and deep sector knowledge, grounded in decades of experience across education, regulation, and workforce development.
My roles span from managing a community-based training centre and lecturing in vocational early years degrees to senior advisory positions with awarding organisations and national employers. I have chaired cross-sector qualification development panels, liaised with Ofqual, Ofsted, and key education stakeholders, and helped shape nationally recognised qualifications including the Level 3 Early Years Educator.
As a current Training Director in a large nursery group, I lead innovative employer-led delivery models. I have held representative roles at local and national levels, championing the voice of the PVI early years sector.
An influential networker and policy contributor, I chair and advise on multiple apprenticeship trailblazer and standards groups, including with the NHS, ensuring education remains aligned with workforce needs and national priorities.
Rachel Heathcock
Rachel began her career in teaching and Special Educational Needs, before moving into a Community Engagement role with Suffolk County Council, followed by a position in Emergency Planning at Cambridgeshire County Council, where she specialised in contingency planning and business continuity.
Building on her extensive public sector experience, Rachel now serves as the Equity and Equality Manager for Local Government East. In this role, she leads regional projects focused on community engagement and social integration, and manages the Together in Equity training and consultancy platform.
Alongside her work in local government, Rachel is also a qualified antenatal teacher and an assessor for the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), a national charity supporting parents through pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood.