Our people

As Chair of the Social Interest Group since April 2017, Karl Marlowe’s role is to further develop sustainable partnership working & expertise between providers of health and social care for marginalised populations in England, under the umbrella of a well governed and innovative charitable organisation.

Karl is Consultant Psychiatrist, Caldicott Guardian & Responsible Officer for Medical Revalidation at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. Before this, he was Chief Medical Officer and Consultant Psychiatrist on the Board at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. Karl was previously Clinical Director for Tower Hamlets at East London NHS Foundation Trust, and a commissioner on the Board at NHS Barnet CCG for 4 years. He has been an academic at Queen Mary, University of London (medical school) and City University of London (nursing school). He completed undergraduate studies at Liverpool Medical School and postgraduate degrees at UCL, King’s College London and Oxford University.

Karl’s main interests & research have been in schizophrenia, addictions, offenders’ health, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), the development of youth wellbeing services, clinical governance and value-based commissioning.

As vice-chairman, Stuart ensures good governance and financial management within the group and assists the charity in fulfilling its objectives. He is also a Trustee and Chair of the subsidiary Social Interest Group Investments.

Stuart has worked in the property industry for over 45 years and brings this real estate and business experience to the board. He spent approximately 20 years in the City of London working for Abbey Life Assurance Company and Provident Mutual Life Assurance Association. He was then appointed Head of Real Estate at Siemens where he was responsible for over 6 million square feet of premises in the UK. Up until 2017, Stuart spent 20 years at Frogmore, a leading UK property company where he was a member of the Investment Committee. As Director of Fund Management, he was responsible for the creation and formation of three private equity real estate funds. Today Stuart is a Non-Executive Director and Consultant.

Stuart has a BSc. in Estate Management (with Commendation) and is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a member of the Property Investment Forum.

Stuart’s interests are golf, swimming and classical guitar.

Gill established the Social Interest Group in September 2014, creating a flat governance structure which allows her to oversee Penrose Options, Penrose Works Ltd and Equinox Care (the three founder members of the Social Interest Group).

Gill started her career by opening and running two women’s refuges when she was just 18 years of age in the early 1980s. Since then, she has volunteered in several voluntary organisations and was a Trustee for a variety of offender supported housing, mental health and learning disability services.

She worked for Shelter in a variety of roles over 13 years, including development and senior management. She then worked for a registered housing association where she was Director of Operations and Development. She moved on to be a Director of Business Development for Turning Point and specialised in developing and providing substance misuse, mental health and learning disabilities services for vulnerable adults.

As a strong leader with vision and strategy, Gill secured a large part in the London CRC for Penrose Options. This contract involves Penrose Options supporting all offenders in the London rehabilitation prisons and 4,000 in the community every year.

Dylan Kerr is a nurse prescriber who has worked in mental health and substance misuse treatment for over 15 years in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Dylan has worked in the NHS and charity sector in London, most recently in operational and commercial development roles for substance misuse providers.

He has experience leading hospital alcohol liaison services and community alcohol services. He has also developed digital resources for alcohol and mental health treatment and training purposes including, DrinkCoach and Alcopath.

Dylan currently works as a senior policy manager for the Department of Health and Social Care and with Orbis Media as clinical lead supporting health product development.

He has a diploma in leadership and management and is completing a Masters in health studies at the University of Hertfordshire.

Dylan enjoys playing basketball, squash, and snowboarding but now has two children, so presently just enjoys being a dad.

Claire has been an HR professional for over 30 years with a background in UK and international HR in FTSE 100 organisations across oil and gas, petrochemicals and manufacturing. She moved into providing HR consultancy services to small and medium sized businesses across a diverse range of industries and coaching leaders and entrepreneurs in start-up businesses. She has latterly been mentoring job seekers through the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and volunteering with Age UK.

Claire has a degree in Business Studies and a Masters in Organisational Behaviour from Birkbeck College, University of London.

In her spare time, Claire enjoys walking her dog and is learning to play the piano.

Jeff has spent a career in global corporate organisations in senior Finance, Business and Governance leadership roles before entering the not-for-profit charitable sector. Before joining SIG, Jeff spent 4 years at an Early Years education charity turning around the social enterprise and developing a financially sustainable charity, to grow the charity’s reach, influence and social impact. Jeff also created a modern digital organisation with new ways of working and a new culture in the housing sector.

Currently Jeff is the Non-Executive Director and Chair of TYF an activity, education and retail B-Corp in Pembrokeshire. He also provides interim consulting services to other businesses.

As a Fellow of the chartered Institute of Management Accountants with a Degree in Business studies from Portsmouth, Jeff lives in an old farm in West Wales with his wife and two children. They have created an award-winning Eco-Barns 5-star holiday accommodation business.

Being a bit of a sports fan, his interests include, skiing, supporting Portsmouth Football club as one of the community investors, preaching the use of renewable energy technology and being a taxi driver to his demanding children and dog!

Donald has over 30 years of senior management experience in housing, supported housing and community development. He has extensive governance experience and has served on the boards of large and small housing providers in addition to leading 3 small specialist supported housing organisations as their Chief Executive.

He has had considerable experience in specialist supported housing, having worked as Regional Director for Stonham Housing Association where he had responsibility for over one hundred services. He is a strong supporter of small community organisations and is currently Chair of The Association of Jamaicans UK Trust and Clapham Eagles Community Association, in addition to providing support and consultancy to others.

Kieran is based in London and has nearly 40 years’ experience in the property industry, focused on Investment and Development assets. He has advised and worked with a wide range of major UK Funds, property companies, developers and private investors across all primary sectors including offices, industrial, retail, hotels and in more recent years, residential properties.

Kieran joined King & Co (now part of JLL) in 1981. Subsequently, he worked for general practice chartered surveying firms Gooch & Wagstaff, Montagu Evans (becoming Head of the investment department) and Jackson Criss. In recent years he moved from the advisory side of the industry to being a principal at Crossmark Estates. Crossmark is a Development Management and Project Management development company primarily focused on the nascent Build to Rent residential investment asset class.

Kieran graduated with a Real Estate degree from Reading University and qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 1983. He is a Member of the RICS, and a Member of the Investment Property Forum.

External interests and activities include being Chairman of his residential estate’s Management Board (10 years), sport – rugby particularly - current affairs and reading.

Geetha Umaasuthan works at AGE UK East London as Director of Finance and Operations. She has extensive experience in Finance, with more than 25 years in the commercial and charity sectors.  She has worked as a Finance Director at Trinity Homeless Group for the past 12 years and has also worked previously for Mind. Geetha has also worked for Arthur Anderson in Columbo as well as Diageo, Air Products plc and Musgrave in the UK, across various financial roles.

Geetha qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant and became an ACMA in 1997 before obtaining an MBA from the University of Lincolnshire in 2001.

She is passionate about providing hope and good quality of life for the vulnerable and the deprived in society.  Whilst interested in the creative arts she also enjoys travelling and making various cuisines from different parts of the world. She is a trustee of Swarthmore care home and was involved in fundraising for a school via their Parents’ Association.