Board of Directors

Last Updated: Monday, 20-Nov-23 08:45

President

Mr John Pearce
Corporate Director Children and Young People
Durham County Council

John has been the Corporate Director Children and Young People (DCS) for Durham County Council, since September 2019 and prior to that held DCS/DASS roles in two other Councils. He has been involved in ADCS for many years, prior to becoming Vice President in 2022 he held the role of North East Regional Chair and a member of the ADCS Council of Reference.

John has a strong track record of improvement in Children’s services and has developed and led high quality services in different areas. He is a great believer in Sector-Led Improvement leading the establishment of the Regional Improvement and Innovation Alliance in the North East. He has previously worked with DfE as a ‘Partner in Practice’ supporting system wide improvement and has also supported a local authority in intervention as the Independent Chair of an Improvement Board.

John became ADCS President on 1 April 2023.

Vice President

Mr Andy Smith
Strategic Director of People Services
Derby City Council

Andy works in Derby as the Strategic Director for People Services which encompasses the role of Director of Children’s Services (DCS) and Director of Adult Social Services (DASS), a role he’s held since 2016, although he was the DCS from 2015. Andy is a qualified social worker and prior to moving to Derby in 2014 as the Director for Early Help and Children’s Safeguarding, worked in Leicester in a variety of roles for nearly 20 years. Between 2010-2017 Andy also worked as a local authority associate inspector with Ofsted which provided him with learning and experience on the previous SLAC and SIF frameworks.

Andy was previously chair of the ADCS Standards, Performance and Inspection Committee for two years prior to becoming Vice President of the association in April 2023.

As a former child in care who was adopted by his foster carers when aged 10, Andy always knew that he wanted to be a social worker from an early age, and has always tried to use his previous lived and positive experiences of the care system and of social workers throughout his career.

Honorary Secretary

Ms Jane Moore
Director, Children and Family Services
Leicestershire County Council

Elected Director

Ms Alison Noble
Assistant Director
Derbyshire County Council

Elected Director

Ms Sukriti Sen
Director of Local Delivery
Essex County Council

Immediate Past President

Ms Charlotte Ramsden OBE
Chief Executive Officer
Bradford Children and Families Trust

Charlotte qualified as a social worker in Manchester and worked in a variety of roles around Greater Manchester, including as DCS and DASS in Salford between 2014 and 2022.. In 2022 Charlotte was apppinted as the first Chief Executive Officer for Bradford Children and Families Trust, which started to operate on 1 April 2023.

Charlotte has previously been chair of the ADCS Health, Care and Additional Needs Policy Committee in 2016 and served as President of the Association during 2021/22.