Epilepsy Society's senior team

Clare Pelham was appointed Chief Executive of Epilepsy Society in November 2016.

Clare was previously Chief Executive of Leonard Cheshire Disability for five years. Before joining the charity which supports disabled people in the UK and around the world, she was the first Chief Executive of the Judicial Appointments Commission and held senior civil service positions at the Cabinet Office, Home Office and Department for Constitutional Affairs.

She has also worked in the private sector at IBM and was a member of the executive committee of Coca Cola GB and Ireland where, as Director of Active Lifestyles, she was responsible for the company’s partnerships with the voluntary sector.

Professor Ley Sander was appointed Medical Director of Epilepsy Society in February 2012.

Ley is a professor of neurology and clinical epilepsy and honorary consultant neurologist with a specialist interest in epilepsy at Epilepsy Society and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. He heads the World Health Organisation Collaborative Centre for Research and Training in Neurosciences in London and is also the scientific director of SEIN, the Epilepsy Institutes of the Netherlands Foundation.

Professor Sanjay Sisodiya was appointed Director of Genomics at the Epilepsy Society in 2015.

He is Professor of Neurology and Deputy Director for Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. He is also the founding member of Epilepsy Climate Change (EpiCC) and chair of the International League Against Epilepsy Climate Change Commission.

Jonny joined Epilepsy Society in March 2019.

Jonny has over 25 years’ experience in health and social care supporting adults with learning disabilities, epilepsy and complex support needs. Jonny has been fortunate to have worked in a range of senior roles having begun his career as a Support Worker. He has extensive experience of service development, improving quality of service delivery and change management. Passionate about person centred approaches, Jonny is committed to partnership working with people supported, colleagues, families and community teams to create better lives together.

Gordon Craig was appointed Interim Fundraising Director of Epilepsy Society in April 2020. He was made permanent Fundraising Director in October 2022.

Gordon has over twenty years experience of fundraising in the Charity Sector most recently in interim Director of Fundraising roles with Prostate Cancer Research Centre, St Clare Hospice and Starlight Children’s Foundation. Previously he was the Director of Fundraising & Marketing at The Royal Star & Garter Homes. He has also worked for Macmillan Cancer Support and WWF-UK.

Gordon is a member of the Institute of Fundraising and a Clore Social Fellow having undertaken a leadership development programme which seeks to develop a cadre of leaders to provide robust and effective leadership for their organisations and the sector.

Kevin was appointed Director of Land and Estates in March 2021.

Kevin is a chartered planning and development surveyor with over 20 years' experience of delivering residential and mixed-use development, and leading and managing complex estates and property portfolios.  Until 2019, Kevin led the South West region of Homes England, the Government's housing agency, working with local authorities, developers, investors, and landowners to unlock new housing.

More recently he has been responsible for leading the national infrastructure grants transactions team at Homes England managing a budget of £2 billion.  

Andy joined the Epilepsy Society as CFO in December 2021.

He was previously CFO for Leonard Cheshire Disability for four years, having spent a year as Interim Director of Finance at Alzheimer’s Society, and 12 years as the Assistant Chief Executive for Finance & IT at Turning Point.

Before moving into the Not For Profit sector, Andy held Finance roles in commercial organisations of various sizes and sectors, including IT & Telecoms at IBM and Avaya, printing and manufacturing.
 

Rebecca joined Epilepsy Society in May 2016.

Rebecca has over 30 years’ experience of supporting people with learning disabilities, mental health, Epilepsy and complex health needs. Rebecca began her career as a volunteer and then qualified as a Registered Nurse – Learning Disabilities and has worked in private, charity, voluntary, health and educational settings. 

Rebecca joined Epilepsy Society as a Registered Manager and then became Head of Care in February 2020 before moving into her current role. 

Rebecca believes that supporting people is a vocation not a job and that everyone deserves to lead their best life.