Trustees

Andy is a motivational speaker and offers diversity consultancy as consequence of his own life changing experience of acquiring a spinal cord injury. Despite having to re-address his priorities in life, Andy has continued to achieve and inspire in equal measures. Whether it be climbing mountains, sailing, skiing, doing a triathlon or taking part in the Smirnoff Mindtunes project, Andy inspires everyone who meets him to achieve their potential and live their own dreams. Andy uses assistive technology to control his wheelchair, access his computer and his mobile phone and is a powerful advocate for Ace Centre and the people who use our services.

John has been supporting schools in their use of AAC and assistive technology for the last 17 years. More recently he has taken on additional responsibilities for advising on online safety, network security and data protection.
Born in Manchester, John grew up in Macclesfield and went on to study Biological Sciences at Birmingham University. After a period working with young people at risk of offending in Berkshire, he enrolled at Bulmershe College in 1984, qualifying as a teacher a year later. He then worked in a number of Primary and Middle Schools in Berkshire and Northumberland until 2001 when he was seconded to the post of SEN/ICT Consultant with Northumberland Local Authority. He continues to live and work in Northumberland.

David has over 40 years commercial experience in the energy and process industries in a variety of management, R & D, business development and consultancy roles in the UK and overseas. His key skills and experience are new business development, commercial contract assessment, strategy formulation, performance monitoring, general management.

Martin Littler has been involved with Assistive Technology and the Ace Centre for more than 30 years. After a career as a teacher and advisory teacher Martin joined the Special Education Micro-Electronic Resource Centre (SEMERC) as Director in 1986. In 1996 he left SEMERC to form Inclusive Technology Ltd with two friends. Inclusive Technology is now a major supplier of Assistive Technology and services to special education in Britain and the United States.

Martin is currently Chairman of the Inclusive Group Ltd including Inclusive Technology, HelpKidzLearn, and Special World. He founded the British Assistive Technology Association (BATA) and, together with Phil Woolas and Anna Reeves, promoted the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Assistive Technology which was launched at the Speaker’s House in the Palace of Westminster in 2017. Martin’s voluntary work includes being a Board Member of the American Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA), a Board Member of the Kingfisher Learning Trust, a Member of the pdnet Expert Advisory Board, and resuming his Trusteeship of the Ace Centre.

Martin is married with two sons and six grandchildren.

Phil is the Chair of the Ace Centre and has been associated with the organisation for 20 years. He is the former Member of Parliament for Oldham East and Saddleworth and was a Government Minister for 9 years. Phil has supported Ace Centre since 1998 and has helped to steer the development of Ace Centre from being a locally based charity to a national organisation.

He has been involved in national and local politics for over 30 years. After leaving Parliament in 2010, he founded the UK’s first all Party political analysis company. He lives in West London and works extensively around the United Kingdom. He is married with two sons.

Les is a retired town planner who until 2000 was Director of Environmental Services for Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council. He then became a consultant planning inspector and was a planning advisor to the North West Regional Assembly. Les has also been a Board Member of Oldham Primary Care Trust and Chair of Oldham Community Health Services.
Currently he is a trustee of Oldham Personal Advocacy Ltd. (OPAL), which supports people with learning disabilities and is a trustee of three heritage trusts , one of which he is Chair and another Treasurer.
Les has been a trustee of Ace Centre since 2005 and is a former Chair. At present he is the Ace Centre Treasurer.

A former primary school teacher, Jean was elected as an Oldham Councillor in 2003 and initially joined Ace Centre Board as the Council representative. Upon her retirement from the Council in 2010, we were delighted that she agreed to remain on the Board as a local representative.

Rob is a retired management consultant, with a degree in civil and structural engineering and a masters degree in management studies. He initially worked as an engineer in the construction industry, but then joined KPMG as a management consultant. He later became a consultancy partner in EY, where he was responsible for one of the industry groups for over ten years. Subsequently he became a director of DTZ, prior to the company's merger with Cushman and Wakefield, followed by the role of chief operating officer for one of the divisions of the global property adviser, CBRE.

Mike served as Chief Executive of various hospitals and Health Authorities across the North West of England for over 30 years, successfully managing a series of major re-organisations including significant changes to clinical services. He believes in the value of effective cross-agency working, informed by shared learning. During his time as Chief Executive, he consistently promoted closer relationships between Local Authorities and the NHS in the provision of services to children and the elderly, and participated in national working parties to develop outcome measures to enable the identification, and sharing, of best practice.