Our people

Our trustees

David Cox
Formerly a member of the management team at the world’s most popular Mindfulness app, Headspace.

Eleanor McCartney
Change professional with a background in Accountancy

Graham McCartney
Engineering consultant and Emeritus Professor at the University of Nottingham.

Val McCartney
Formerly Member of Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal and Magistrate.

David McCartney
GP in the NHS

Paul Meller
Paul Meller is Research Lead for Discovery Research at the Wellcome Trust following roles at UK Research and Innovation and has a background in research management and academia

Keven Bader
Chief Executive at The Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys and a trustee and treasurer of their associated charity, The Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys Benevolent Fund.

 

We are indebted to our Trustees for the role they have taken on and the time they give.

Our advisory board

Penelope Aspinall (Chair)

Penny has nearly 30 years’ experience as a counsellor, psychotherapist and trainer, working in a range of settings, including Zeneca (Huddersfield), Arla Foods, the NHS and in private practice as a counselling and organisational mental health consultant. However, most of her career has been spent working in Higher Education, most recently at the University of Bradford as Head of Disability, Counselling and Mental Health. After leaving Bradford in 2018, she joined the Charlie Waller Trust where she continues to work as a mental health consultant, developing and delivering training and creating written materials for both Charlie Waller and Jonathan’s Voice.

Oscar Benito

Senior Director IP at BioNTech. Oscar is a legal expert in international brand protection management with significant life sciences knowledge. Oscar is a Council member of the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (CITMA) and leads its WIPO Liaison Committee.

Jonathan Foster

Jonathan is a trainee patent attorney at Appleyard Lees and Welfare Officer to the CIPA Informals (the trainee arm of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys). Jonathan aims to help tackle the specific issues that trainees sometimes face within the profession. More importantly, Jonathan hopes to be known as a friendly face, and an approachable ally, throughout the IP profession!

David Hammond

Senior UK and European patent attorney
David is a partner, and UK and European patent attorney at Haseltine Lake Kempner where Jonathan worked. Since Jonathan’s death, David became a Mental Health First Aider, and a founding member of the firm’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Group, responsible for promoting internal and external initiatives to foster good mental health in colleagues. David has supported Jonathan’s Voice since its beginnings, including speaking with Graham at the This Can Happen mental health conference in 2019, where they joined a panel discussion on suicide prevention and awareness.

Dr Alicia Instone

Past president Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA). Alicia is a Chartered Patent Attorney, a European Patent Attorney and a Chartered UK Trade Mark Attorney. Alicia has also obtained the Intellectual Property Litigation and Advocacy Certificate at Nottingham Trent University which enables her to represent clients directly before the High Court. Alongside sitting on the Council for the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys’ and being an active member of their Trade Marks and Design & Copyright Committees, Alicia also sits on the Council of FICPI-UK as treasurer.

Graham Mccartney

Graham now works as an independent consultant in materials engineering. Prior to that he was a Professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham where he lectured to graduate and undergraduate students and supervised postgraduate research students. Since founding the charity he has been active in giving talks and webinars to many different workplace and community groups.

Helen Undy

CEO Money and Mental Health Policy Institute. Helen previously led Mind’s policy and campaigns work on public mental health and social care as well as working for a number of different third sector organisations and in Parliament. Helen sits on the advisory group to the board of the Money and Pensions Service, the Government’s Financial Inclusion Policy Forum and the UK Finance Consumer Advisory Group. (she/her) @helen_undy

Peter Vaughan

Peter is a lecturer at Nottingham Trent University specialising in Intellectual Property and teaching on a range of courses including the Professional Certificate in Trade Mark Practice. Peter is also a volunteer supervisor with Nottingham Law School Legal Advice Centre, supervising Intellectual Property work. Peter qualified as a Chartered Trade Mark Attorney in 2014 and prior to joining NTU in 2020 worked as a trade mark attorney in private practice for a London firm. He is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys Law and Practice Committee and Chair of the Domain Names Working Group.

Holly Redman

Holly is a trainee patent attorney at Appleyard Lees and is one of several Equality Diversity and Inclusion ambassadors in her firm. As a member of the Advisory board, Holly would like to represent trainees in the IP profession and assist in creating safe spaces to discuss the issues that trainees face, especially in the early stages of the career. The aim of this is to help Jonathan’s Voice understand what is needed from them to help create mentally healthy work environments. Ultimately, Holly wishes to be a friendly face spreading kindness, acceptance and positivity through the profession.

We are very grateful to all the members of the Board who share their expertise and give their time voluntarily.

Training and Development Lead

Donna Smith

As Training & Development Lead for Jonathan’s Voice, Donna will be working to further the aims of the charity with a focus on the intellectual property profession; encouraging individuals and organisations to prioritise mental well-being so that all can thrive. Her supportive and understanding approach helps people create positive change and build fulfilling, sustainable careers.

As a former solicitor, Donna transitioned into HR before becoming a coach and NLP Practitioner. Donna knows first-hand the pressures of the legal profession: burnout, career crossroads, perfectionism, and self-doubt. Having faced these challenges herself, she now helps others navigate them with resilience and confidence.

Mental health trainers

Barbara Lawton

Barbara Lawton has worked in the mental health sector for 30 years, as a counsellor, university lecturer and workplace trainer. She is a Senior Accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and a former Chair of their Universities and Colleges Division. Until recently, Barbara also served on the Board of Trustees of a mental health charity based in Leeds.

Gemma Fieldsend

With over 30 years’ experience in mental health, Gemma is a highly respected trainer and consultant specialising in workplace wellbeing and mental health education. She began her career as an NHS clinician and later became a manager, gaining deep insight into supporting individuals with complex needs and leading teams. Transitioning into training and consultancy, she has developed and delivered national programmes and tailored initiatives, with a strong focus on equipping line managers to support mental health at work.

Lisa Whittleton

Lisa is a Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant and trainer with a background in business psychology. She runs Illuminate who are specialists in workplace wellbeing and resilience helping organisations to create safe, supportive cultures that are positive about mental health. Lisa has 15 years’ experience supporting individuals with a range of mental and physical health challenges to get back on track and thrive in their jobs as well as advising senior leaders, HR and management on best practice. Lisa delivers bespoke leadership development and practical, interactive wellbeing webinars to a range of industries, including delivery of Mental Health First Aid courses through IP Inclusive.

Associate

Dr Katie Behrens

Katie Behrens is a British trained GP who has worked as a partner in a busy inner city London GP practice for several years. She has experience in Occupational Health having worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office looking after employees in UK and overseas and Cordell health, an Occupational Health provider in the UK. She has lived overseas, most recently in Singapore where she worked in a joint new medical school which was created in collaboration with Imperial College, London. She has a particular interest in mental health having had experience in a wide number of settings both in UK and overseas and with varied socio-economic groups and ages. She has worked at the Charlie Waller trust delivering mental health awareness training since 2018 and joined Jonathon’s Voice in 2022.

Social media manager

Mollie Targett

Mollie has worked with Jonathan’s Voice since 2021. She has worked in the Performing Arts Industry for many years, both as a singer/ actress and a teacher. She has also gained a lot of skills in Social Media and building an audience on line. Mollie has personal experience with Mental Health and knows how important it is to stop the stigma and provide help and support.