HERMINTRUDE WENDY SOLOMON

Retired

Wendy Solomon is a mother of 5. She has a daughter and grandson who are both dyslexic. Wendy is a passionate supporter of A2i Dyslexia and wants to be able to play a significant part in sculpting the future of the organisation.

ROBERT D JOHNSON

Co-Vice Chair BAME Committee G.L.A

Robert has an undergraduate diploma in employment law and has held many titles, some of which include Co-Vice Chair BAME Committee G.L.A,Vice Chair G.L.A Branch Unison, Recruitment officer, Health and safety officer and he has been a Unison rep for 15 years. Robert is also a promoter of Health and Wellbeing and a Motivational speaker.

CHARLES FREEMAN

BA Msc

Charles was assessed to be dyslexic at the age of 6 in 1969.  He was then sent to a remedial school and behavioural unit.  After attending a variety of schools, he went to university and graduated in economics. In 2001 he completed a masters winning the University of Birmingham School of Public Policy Research Prize for his dissertation.

​

Charles now has 30 years’ experience in public policy. He started his career in Local Government, then Joined Sport England. He later became Executive Director of Culture South East CSE. He currently works as a freelance consultant supporting the Partnership for South Hampshire (PfSH) on Creative Industry and Place Shaping initiatives. He is also working on several cultural planning  and research projects. 

​

At CSE Charles setup the regions Cultural Olympiad legacy project Accentuate. Accentuate celebrated the South Easts history as the birthplace of the Paralympics by creating paid opportunities for artists with disabilities. This project continues to be successful and is managed by Screen South.

Between 2012 – 2019 Charles was joint organiser of a network of Dyslexic Entrepreneurs and Professionals which met at Ravensbourne University.  In 2014 Charles helped shape Ravensbourne Universities award winning Self Employment Entrepreneurship and Diversity Program SEEDs. SEEDs is the first HE entrepreneurship programme specifically designed to support ND people, and has achieved a 97% success rate. Charles continues to work as a business coach on this programme.

​

In 2018 & 2019 Charles facilitated a project to investigate ways of making apprenticeships and paid work-based learning opportunities more accessible to ND people wishing to work in the creative sector. This work was undertaken in partnership with the youth arts charity Artswork and AchievAbility, an organisation promoting opportunities for ND people.

Tracey Partridge

Tracey Partridge is a Senior Lecturer of Lifelong Learning, in the Department of Secondary LLTE and PE & Sport at the University of Greenwich.

Tracey is interested in dyslexia and how students are supported within the Higher Education (HE) environment, particularly on the Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) Lifelong Learning Sector (LLS) programme. She presently supports dyslexic students and intends to implement a small research project to study the effectiveness of the support. Tracey lectures on a range of courses in the PGCE Further Education (FE) programme and tutors both full time and distance learners.

She has a particular interest in learning theories, and coordinates the Professional Development Portfolio course as well as trainee teacher placements for students on the full time PGCE and mentors across all our Lifelong Learning programmes.

Prior to joining the university, she was a full time lecturer in Politics and Course Coordinator at Tower Hamlets College. Here, she undertook a number of mentoring roles on a range of courses as well as responsibility for coordinating Key Skills (Functional Skills) across the college. Whilst there, she also undertook training in diagnosing and supporting dyslexic students through the London Language and Literacy Unit at Southbank University, and qualified to train teachers to diagnose and support dyslexic students.

Tracey was a member of the working group, looking at English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) learners with dyslexia and delivered a number of workshops, training sessions and co-authored a publication as a guide for tutors in this field.

Cllr LEONIE COOPER, Vice Chair

Councillor

Leonie is a British Labour Party politician. Since May 2016 she has represented Merton and Wandsworth in the London Assembly. She has served as a Councillor on the Wandsworth London Borough Council since 2006, representing Latchmere 2006-10 and Furzedown Ward from 2010 onwards.

SUZETTE METZ, Chair person

South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust, Employment Officer

My name is Suzette Metz and I have several years of experience working with members of the public and in particular people with special needs. I joined the NHS in 2006. Prior to joining the Trust I had a long career as a civil servant in the Department of Works and Pensions. My last and most significant role there was as a Disability Employment Advisor with Jobcentre Plus. It was whilst in that role I became aware of the User Employment Programme (UEP) and what they do. Hence, when there was an opportunity to join the team I was keen to apply for the role of Employment Specialist. As an Employment Specialist it is my role to increase access to posts within the Trust for people with personal experience of mental ill-health.  This is achieved through a variety of ways: In the past I have helped support clients via work preparation courses which involved workshop facilitations and organising work experience for clients on the course to attend. Most of the work that I do is 1-1 work helping clients to develop their job search techniques and supporting them to sustain their employment in the Trust. I feel that a major part of my role is to have that belief for my clients even when they don’t have that belief in themselves  i.e. helping to apply for that job that they are unsure they can do and to look at reasonable adjustments to help them sustain employment. 

Cllr Ian Lewer

Deputy Mayor of Wandsworth

Ian Lewer
Deputy Mayor of Wandsworth
Chair of the Adult Services & Health OSC
Conservative Councillor for West Putney