Trustees

Dominic Holton was elected to our trustee board in 2017, elected as honorary vice chair in November 2019, and elected as honorary chair in November 2022.

Dominic lives in Lincolnshire and has one child who was born with enlarged vestibular aqueducts and progressive bilateral hearing loss. His daughter’s deafness is currently severe and she wears hearing aids.

Dominic is chief revenue officer at a fintech startup and has more than 10 years' experience building and running various businesses in the finance and technology sectors.

Lesley was co-opted to our trustee board in 2022, and as well as being honorary vice chair, she is the board’s safeguarding lead. Lesley is an investor and the entrepreneur behind Carestockroom, the first online marketplace serving social care in the UK.

Lesley spent the early part of her career in the travel industry, working for global airline KLM. She then worked for Hertz Rent a Car, where she led global marketing and innovation.

Lesley worked on several boards as chief marketing officer before setting up a marketing consulting firm, helping executive teams to develop digital growth strategies and building the capability to deliver them.

More recently, she was managing director of a privately owned business, running the retail part of the business and the digital agenda.

For 5 years, Lesley served as a trustee on the main board of Revitalise, a respite service for disabled people and their carers. She was also chair of the Guest Quality Committee, working to create amazing guest experiences, ensuring the charity met its safeguarding obligations and delivering an interesting and exciting volunteer programme.

Luke was elected to our trustee board in 2022. He lives in Worcestershire and has 3 children. His eldest child has severe deafness caused by Pendred syndrome and uses hearing aids, communicating using speech and British Sign Language.

Luke is a finance director at Travis Perkins plc and a member of the Preparer Advisory Group of the UK Endorsement Board. He has a background in financial reporting, corporate governance and audit.

Emily lives in Swindon and has 2 children. Her youngest child has unilateral moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss and wears a hearing aid.

Emily works in healthcare and has 20 years of experience as an operational and strategic leader. She’s skilled in leading large-scale transformations and collaborating with teams to drive improvements within their environment and beyond. She has supported boards and leadership teams in developing and implementing strategies.

As a lead for efficiency, Emily is highly numerate and experienced in prioritising resources and evaluating value for money and effectiveness.

Emily has been a member of her local Swindon and North Wiltshire Deaf Children’s Society since her daughter was born and has been an active committee member for 5 years, currently serving as secretary. Last year, she led an initiative to provide every school in Swindon with deaf awareness resources.

Emily is passionate about involving children, young people and families in the development of services and support.

Suzi Beese was co-opted to our trustee board in 2016. She’s an executive director at Board Intelligence, a specialist board reporting provider.

Suzi has a background in consultancy, working with directors, trustees and management teams on issues including strategic management information, analysis and decision-making, performance management, compliance, management of finance and assets, and corporate governance. 

Suzi has a British Sign Language (Level 2) qualification and, through her husband’s family, an awareness of the issues, challenges and misconceptions deaf children face.

Altaf was elected to our trustee board in 2020. He lives in London with his wife and 2 children. He works in financial services for a large global asset management company based in Canary Wharf and runs a team which advises clients in Europe, the Middle East and Africa on their investments.

Altaf is a proud father to a son who was born with Pendred syndrome, which manifested in enlarged vestibular aqueducts and led to progressive sensorineural hearing loss. His son now has bilateral cochlear implants and communicates using speech.

Felicity was co-opted to our trustee board in 2022. She has over 20 years’ experience in leadership and organisational development, the last 10 of which have been in international development.

Felicity is a director of portfolio management at British International Investment (BII), the UK’s impact investor, wholly owned by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). In her current role, she’s responsible for strengthening leadership and governance within the companies in which BII invests. She has extensive experience partnering with boards and executive teams across impact-creating sectors in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia.

Felicity started her career in executive search before spending 7 years in Goldman Sachs’ Human Capital Management team in London. Felicity holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and Management.

Damian Proctor was elected to the trustee board in 2019. Damian lives in the New Forest and has one child who was born with a bilateral moderate-to-severe hearing loss and wears hearing aids.

Damian is the UK director of a global digital transformation agency and has over 20 years' experience working with many of the UK's largest charities to help them answer questions about how people organise, how experiences are designed and how technology is created.

An award-winning digital strategist and business leader, Damian was recognised in 2019 by British Interactive Media Association as one of the 100 most influential people in digital.

Jan Rutherford was elected to our trustee board in 2016. Originally from Scotland, Jan lives in London and has 2 children. Her youngest child is profoundly deaf and has bilateral cochlear implants.

Jan is a partner and member of the investment committee at Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) where she leads investments in high-growth technology and technology-enabled companies. She also oversees investments across the healthcare sector. 

A pharmacist by background, prior to moving into the investment field Jan held operational and commercial roles in the pharmaceutical industry.

Kate, a qualified Teacher of the Deaf, was co-opted to our trustee board in 2023. She has a wide range of experience working with deaf children and young people from key stage 1 to post-16, as well as with families of newly identified deaf children. She has extensive experience in the management of specialist services for deaf children and a strong track record in delivering strategic outcomes. 

Lorraine Wapling was co-opted to our trustee board in 2018. Lorraine was already very familiar with our work through her role as an adviser to our international work through Deaf Child Worldwide.

A trained teacher by profession, Lorraine has been working in the international development sector for over 20 years, focusing on the promotion of disability-inclusive development. Currently, Lorraine is researching the influences on educational outcomes for deaf children in low-income countries.

As a consultant, she has undertaken assignments for a wide selection of international agencies and non-governmental organisations, including the UK Department for International Development, DFAT (Australian Aid), the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU).