Meet Our Directors
As a Charitable Community Benefit Society, MindforYou will be governed by a Board of Directors, who have broad experience in business growth and management, in both the private and charitable sectors.
To ensure continuity they have appointed the MindforYou creator and founder as their CEO.
Viktor
Todorov
Viktor Todorov
Viktor is a consultant with a wide international client base working across Strategy & Transformation, SME Growth, Business Modelling, Marketing and Processes analysis. He is passionate about empowering organisations to develop better structured businesses making them more reliable and able to deliver greater benefits. A trusted business coach and mentor in several Business Accelerators and support programmes.
Viktor has known MindforYou since its first inception, mentoring Carol on a business acceleration programme. Sharing her vision, he joined her on the board of MindforYou ltd. He now brings to the MindforYou Community Benefits Society board a detailed operational knowledge of the MindforYou holiday business, having worked with Carol to develop the many monitoring and process mapping tools that have enabled MindforYou to deliver a year-on-year increase in holidays.
Viktor’s personal insight into MindforYou and broad business experience brings a unique position to the MindforYou board guiding it to confidently scale its business and enter this next phase of accelerated growth.
Robin
Parry
Robin Parry
Robin has extensive board level and international experience across the travel and tourism industry covering Marketing and Product and Commercial operations. He has a proven record in growing sales, optimising budgets, entering new markets and improving the profitability in market leading organisations, ranging from start up to large multi-nationals. He has considerable experience in P&L ownership, supplier relations, strategy development and complex business transformation. Robin has had an interest in MindforYou since the summer of 2020, as a mentor to our founder, Carol Sargent.
Robin is keen to bring his passion for building customer advocacy and his experience in travel and tourism to help MindforYou develop and grow so more people can experience the benefits of a MindforYou holiday.
Roger
Moors
Roger Moors
A business studies graduate and adventurer at heart, Roger launched himself into a wide-ranging career across the voluntary and 3rd sector, always with a vision to enable individuals to Think Big, be brave and make a difference. He has served in executive and non-executive roles with voluntary, 3rd sector and Community Interest companies across the UK, developing and delivering community services and championing social investment. He is Currently Chief Executive Officer of South Derbyshire CVS delivering a wide range of services to a population disproportionally affected by the current pandemic being an area of multiple deprivation.
Roger has followed and supported MindforYou for many years and is enthusiastic to be in a position to now bring his comprehensive Non Executive, management and community development skills to guide MindforYou’s future as a Charitable Community Benefit Society.
Kirstie
MacLean-Kalonji
Kirstie MacLean-Kalonji
Kirstie was an early philanthropist of both time and money lending her student loan and design training to bring to the UK market ethically produced beads. She founded a social enterprise directly enhancing the life of 34 unemployed Ugandan mothers and an extended network of 88 community-based artisans. She went on to a career in the health and wellbeing sector. Trained in project management and social research, she is currently working with the Alzheimer’s society providing evidencing impact, social research, stakeholder management, social responsibility, and accessibility advice. She is passionate about Supporting sector leaders, businesses and organisations to make sustainable and meaningful change for people effected by dementia.
Kirstie is keen to lead the board in ensuring that MindforYou continues to be a leader in measuring and championing insight into the individual and societal benefits of holidays for people with dementia and their family carers.
Gabrielle
Dawes
Gabrielle Dawes
Gabrielle experienced first-hand the unique, quality of life enhancing effects of a MindforYou holiday both for her and her mother with advanced Alzheimer Disease for whom she is primary carer.
Gabrielle brings to the board her passion for both MindforYou holidays and the newly developed MindforYou digital services, and a determination to be an advocate for them.
She has been working as a Casting Director in the theatre industry for over 22 years, including at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre, and in London’s West End, casting plays across the UK, when our theatres are not shut due to the Pandemic!
Mandy
Coombs
Mandy Coombs
Mandy began her career as a research chemist, working both in academia and industry, notably with Shell and AstraZeneca. She moved into the education sector, gaining experience in primary, secondary and college settings. Her interest pedagogy and education policy was furthered by serving as a governor in two different schools, and becoming chair of governors at a primary school. She has maintained a close awareness and analysis of MfY holiday since its inception.
She has witnessed the exceptional personal development environment that MfY has provided for individuals starting their careers in health, education, and care.
Having recently retired, Mandy now wishes to bring her time, experience and considerable personal insight, planning, scientific skills, to guiding MfY holidays on the next stage of its development.
Barbara
Stephens
Barbara Stephens
Barbara has an interest in the health and mental health of informal carers and in promoting positive life experiences for people living with dementia and other long-term health conditions. She is CEO of Dementia Pathfinders CIC and jointly manages the ‘Dementia Navigator’ service in Sandwell, West Midlands. Barbara has recently joined the Board of Resonate Arts, a charity providing art-inspired activities for people living with dementia in the community and in care homes.
Barbara believes that ‘lived experience’ contributions from people with dementia, family carers, and others with stories to tell, are key to the development of responsive and effective services.
As well as a busy working life, Barbara is part-time carer (along with her mother) for her father, Jack, who is 90 and has a diagnosis of mixed dementia.
Carol Sargent
CEO
Carol Sargent
After a 22 years in the international pharmaceutical industry Carol recognised that the joy and support that holidays had brought to her mother with dementia was something that she wanted to apply her considerable business and personal skills to bringing to others. As founder of MindforYou Carol has lead MindforYou, developing and refining their holidays. She has recruited, managed and developed staff and developed and implemented scalable processes and practices. Guided by her scientific expertise the organisation has collected extensive social impact data.
Carol recognises the value is not in ownership but what it delivers to others. In wanting to bring joy to the maximum number of people with dementia she is delighted to hand over ownership of the company to the MindforYou Charitable Community Benefit Society while she focuses her energies on the future development and growth of MindforYou.
At a time of rapid growth it is important that there is also stability and Carol has made a long-term commitment to stay with MindforYou Community benefits society for “as long as it feels it need me “. Carol is committed to growing and supporting the new management team, transferring her knowledge and ensuring successful succession planning to create a legacy more valuable than ownership of a company.
Mary Butler
CFO
Mary Butler
Mary has recently joined MindforYou to oversee the financial operations and strengthen the management team.
Having known MindforYou for several years through their holidays she decided to join the team as it represented the opportunity to devote her energies to something that brings together two important aspects of her life. Her extensive financial and business experience coupled with 40 bringing change in the lives of underrepresented people, particular those with disabilities. Her lived experience of Dementia through supporting her late mother, creation and coordination of a dementia physical exercise group, creation of a dementia careers support group and a love of holidays made MindforYou a perfect fit.
Mary has 25 years of financial experience as a senior manager with Lloyds TSB retail Bank. She has acted as board member / trustee for several major disability sports organisations including founding the East Midlands federation of Disability sport, current chair, being instrumental in the formation of the English Federation of Disability Sport (Now Activity Alliance current T.O £2million +), serving on its board for 10+years (chair of finance and risk) though a period of considerable change including a change in senior management and relocation.
Dave Boyle
Adviser to the Board
Dave Boyle
Dave has advised on successful Community Share issues across a wide range of sectors. Working on some of the UK’s highest profile share issues, including Hastings Pier Charity, the first charity to raise equity finance in the UK and Portpatrick Harbour, the first Scottish charity to do so.
His work on projects with organisations as wide ranging as The Plunkett Foundation, The Carnegie UK Foundation, Social Enterprise UK, Co-operatives UK, Brighton & Hove City Council, Cornwall Council, The High Pay Centre, Hacked Off, Liverpool Football Club and The Guardian is highly regarded.