Julie is Director of Operations at Coventry Citizens Advice after almost 20 years working in both local authority and the charitable sector for national and regional organisations. She has direct experience as strategic and operational lead for looked after children projects; safeguarding; school-home family support; education and extended school support; Early Years and Surestart Children’s Centres with Northamptonshire County Council, before moving to the third sector in 2013, where she was the inaugural CEO for Parent Infant Partnership UK (focusing on maternal mental health and attachment).

This was followed by three years as Director for the Pre-school Learning Alliance and currently in Coventry she leads a staff of seventy, and more than forty volunteers, alongside the broad range of projects and services aimed at supporting vulnerable people in the city and the wider Black Country region.

Julie has a First Class Honours Degree in Social Science (Criminology & Social Policy) achieved through the Open University, and has lived experience of growing up in the care system, with its attendant impact upon life chances, education and career.