Michael Hammond CBE Treasurer Expand Mike has worked his entire career in the civil service holding posts in both the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development (DFID). He has led six DFID country offices (including Afghanistan, South Africa and Rwanda) during which time he co-authored the report which launched the concept of country offices which is now seen as a model for development delivery. He brings a strong set of skills to the CSRF's Board that include a procedural knowledge of development processes including audit, evaluation and accounting requirements. Mike has a family connection with the CSRF as his late mother was involved with both the CSRF's Gravesend Branch and Bexhill & Hastings group. He was awarded the CBE in 2017 for services to International Development and was appointed to the Board of Directors in 2019 after being nominated by the Cabinet Office.
Michelle Wyer Vice Chair Expand Michelle was a teacher before entering government service in 1990. She worked in a number of roles within Inland Revenue and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) during her civil service career. She is a Past President of ARC (Association of Revenue & Customs) was Private Secretary to the Chairman of HMRC and has served as Chair of HMRC’s Senior Women’s Network and Enforcement & Compliance Women’s Network. She is currently the Chair of Governors for her local primary school and was appointed to the post of Vice Chair in December 2019 following endorsement of her nomination by the National Trade Union Committee and took up the role of Vice Chair from 1st January 2020.
Madeleine Alessandri CMG Chair of Board of Directors Expand Madeleine Alessandri is the Permanent Secretary for the Northern Ireland Office. Previously she was the UK Deputy National Security Advisor and Prime Minister’s Adviser on National Resilience and Security. She joined government service in 1988 and has held a wide variety of positions in the Diplomatic Service and in National Security in the UK and overseas. She was appointed to the post of Chair in November 2019 following nomination by the Cabinet Office and took over with effect from 1st January 2020.
Liz Beedie Elected Director Expand Liz joined the CSRF when she retired and has been a member for over 20 years. For the great majority of her time she has served as a Group Secretary and Chairman for a number of the Fellowship's groups in the Edinburgh area. Liz's Civil Service career was within the Department for Social Security where she achieved the principal grade before retiring. During her time in the service she had experience of personnel and I.T. work. Liz was elected to the Board of Directors at the CSRF's Annual General Meeting in July 2018 and currently sits as a Member of the Board's Working group on engagement with our local Group Network. Liz was re-elected for a second three year term of office at the 2021 Annual General Meeting where she topped the postal ballot. She will also be joining the newly formed Research Advisory Group (which was created by the Board of Directors to undertake some research into later life trends and opinions).
Dame Elizabeth Gardiner DCB, QC (Hon) CSRF Civil Service Champion/Director Expand Dame Elizabeth has been the Civil Service Retirement Fellowship's Champion within the Civil Service since 2019 and has regularly attended Board meetings as an observer. Her role of Civil Service Champion was made a Director's post following a unanimous vote of approval on an Emergency Special Resolution put forward at the 2021 Annual General Meeting. She has served as the First Parliamentary Counsel since November 2015 and was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 2013 Birthday Honours and Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath (DCB) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to government and the legislative process. She was also appointed an Honorary Queen's Counsel in 2020.
Robert McIntyre Elected Director Expand Robert McIntyre has been a member of the CSRF for over 10 years joining following a career in the Civil Service that included a stint as a Social Survey interviewer for the Office of National Statistics. He has been an active member of our befriending services since they launched working as both a Phone Buddy and a National Visitors Network befriender across the central belt of Scotland. He has career experience in many areas of administration, an ability to think creatively and is used to speaking his mind. He was keen to join the Board to help support its work to secure the future of the CSRF. His candidacy was endorsed by the Sleaford & Ancaster group and he was elected to the Board of Directors at the 2021 Annual General Meeting polling second in the postal ballot.
Gillian Smyth Director, Befriending Services Expand Gillian Smyth is our Board Director for Befriending Services. Gillian is currently Head of Cross Cutting Human Rights Policy and Engagement at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. She has volunteered with the CSRF since 2015 and in that time has befriended three service users on the befriending schemes. Over the years she has undertaken a blend of visits and phone befriending. She is currently a phone volunteer but occasionally make the 6-hour round trip to visit the beneficiary in person, most recently for their 100th birthday. Gillian was voted on to the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting in July 2022.
Dr Martin Hyde Director, Later Life Issues Expand Dr Martin Hyde is an Associate Professor in Gerontology at the Centre for Innovative Ageing and the Research Director of the Awen Institute at Swansea University. He has been involved in research on ageing for over 20 years and my work spans several areas including quality of life, work and retirement, consumption and identity, and health inequalities. His work has been published widely in peer reviewed journals, reports, book chapters and several books. He has been involved in several large-scale studies including the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Early in my career he worked on the Whitehall II study and wrote two papers on retirement among British civil servants. He is the President of British Society of Gerontology (BSG) Cymru, Chair of the BSG Work and Retirement Group, a Member at Large of the Sociology of Ageing (RC11) committee of the International Sociological Association and a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. He also works as an advisor to Welsh Government and Swansea Council on their strategies for an ageing society. Martin was voted on to the Board of Directors at the 2022 Annual General Meeting.