Our team

The Focus Birmingham senior leadership team (SLT) is responsible to the board of trustees and assumes responsibility for the daily planning and management of the charity. Each manager has a specific portfolio of responsibility designed to ensure delivery of our vision and mission and our core organisational values.

Kevin Griffiths - CEO

Kevin Griffiths joined Focus Birmingham as CEO at the end of the summer 2019.

Kevin, for the previous 6 years, has been successfully leading Age Concern Slough as Chief Executive, and is therefore, well aware of the challenges our sector presents. Prior to that Kevin held a number of senior roles in local Government although the majority of his earlier career was in the private sector, 15 years of which were with Virgin in a number of roles.

Kevin brings skills and experience that will be help Focus Birmingham as we move forward together as an organisation.

Cate Burke - Director of Services/Deputy CEO

Cate is a Conductive Education Specialist and during her career has worked with people with complex disabilities in four different countries. Cate joined Focus after working with The Stroke Association as Assistant Director of Education & Training for a number of years and brings with her a passion for person centred support.

Cate is our Deputy CEO and Director of Services and oversees our Central Resources team, Sight Loss Support Services, our Complex Needs Day Service and Supported Living programme.
Cate is passionate about ensuring her teams are driven and that the services we offer are of the best quality for the people we support.

Denise Burgundy - Workforce Manager

Denise, who has an MA in Human Resources Management, is our Workforce Manager and oversees all the people that work with us at Focus, including our amazing network of volunteers.

Denise began her career with Aston University and moved into HR with The Drum Arts Centre where she became Head of HR, Admin and Operations. Denise joined us from Warwick University where she was HR Team Leader.

Denise is passionate about recognising and valuing our people and providing the environment and tools for us all to flourish.

Lucy Smith - Financial Controller

Lucy is a chartered accountant with 30+ years of experience and joined Focus following 13 years as Financial Controller for a financial services network in Birmingham.

Lucy originally trained with KPMG and for a number of years she was VP of Finance for an international software company.

Lucy is a member of the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants, England and Wales)

Marcia Lawrence - Head of Learning & Development and Personalisation

Marcia joined us in August 2019 from Sense where she worked for over 13 years as People Partner for External Qualifications and Apprenticeships.
Marcia has worked across all sectors having begun her career in Local Authority including being a Registered Care Manager.

Marcia has worked in Learning and Development across many of the colleges in the West Midlands focusing on Health and Social Care qualifications and apprenticeships, setting up the programmes from scratch.
Marcia is committed to equipping our people with the tools and skills to fulfil their roles successfully to provide a quality service to the people we support.

Andrew Miller MSc MCOptom PG Cert LV - Sight Loss Support Lead

Qualifying as an optometrist in 1991, Andrew leads the sight loss support team for Focus Birmingham. Working with others in the team to provide a holistic low vision service, he has previously won the Macular Society “Optometrist of the Year” award.

Andrew is a visiting lecturer on low vision at Aston University, Birmingham City University and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Andrew has an interest in the development of low vision services in poorer resourced countries and has supported projects in Jordan, Palestine and Bangladesh. As part of this work he has edited and co-written 'SEE MORE a toolkit to establish low vision services'.

Tracy Johnson - Marketing, Communications & Fundraising Manager

Tracy is an experienced marketing and communications expert well versed in managing and directing the internal and external profile of an organisation, working within either a board of directors or a team.

Most of Tracy’s 30+ years of experience have been in the charity and professional trade body sectors in marketing, events and business management, and therefore, keen direct marketing, e-marketing and customer/member engagement strategies have been key to her success.
Tracy likes to keep abreast of current thought leadership and developments in the industry and advocates best practice and customer service excellence at all times.

Hayley Mele - Complex Needs Day Service Manager

Hayley has been part of the Focus family for over 10 years. After a number of years in catering management, Hayley began her career with Focus as a CSW before moving on to Senior and then Assistant Manager.

Hayley is now the Service Delivery Manager and works tirelessly, supported by her team of Assistant Managers, to ensure the Day Service runs smoothly and provides a quality service to the people we support.

Lisa Haddon - Supported Living Manager

Lisa manages our supported living programme for people with visual impairment and additional complex needs, and has 30+ years of experience having worked with Sense for over 15 and with Sovereign Care Solutions for over 13.

Lisa has been a Registered Care Manager for over 15 years and has also managed a challenging behaviour service during her career.

Lisa and her team at Millward Place are committed to supporting our residents to live more independent lives.

Colette McMahon - Business & Projects Manager

Colette and her team provide administrative and project-based leadership and support for Focus Birmingham. This includes responsibility for administrative services, our transport fleet, IT, Health & Safety and Central Resources.

Colette joined Focus Birmingham in June 2006 and during her time here has been involved with many of the changes to our buildings and contracts.

Colette is committed to ensuring our site in Harborne is a safe and welcoming place for those who use our services, for the teams who work here and for the people we support.

Julie Roberton - Secretary to the Board of Trustees

Julie's expansive career has spanned various secretarial/administrative roles including being a Legal Secretary in a firm of solicitors and an Administration Manager at the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Julie's responsibilities at Focus include organising agendas and papers for Board and Committee meetings and providing secretarial/administrative support to the Board and Focus Senior Management Team.