SCIE has around 40 staff made up of practice development managers, information specialists, researchers, digital, communications and administrative staff. To contact our staff, please email info@scie.org.uk.
View information about our Board Members.
SCIE’s Senior Leadership Team
Kathryn Smith, Chief Executive
Kathryn joined SCIE in May 2020.
She was Chief Operating Officer at Alzheimer’s Society and before that, Director of Services at Scope. Kathryn has worked in social care since 1989, including within the private sector, a health trust, four different local authorities and the Commission for Social Care Inspection. She has also taught various social work courses for Leeds University and the Open University. At Scope Kathryn was Director of Services.
Kathryn has previously been a governor for a primary school in Leeds and was Chair of the Guidance Develop Group for Hospital to Home Transitions for the NICE Collaborating Centre for Social Care.
Kathryn lives in Yorkshire with her three sons and enjoys horse riding and spending time with her family. Kathryn has personal experience of dementia through her late Grandfather and Great Aunt and ran the marathon for Alzheimer’s Society in 2015. Kathryn is passionate about embedding co-production and working in a strengths-based way to find solutions that work for people.
Gerard Crofton-Martin, Director of Transformation and Improvement
Gerard has worked on improvement and transformation programmes for over 10 years and leads SCIE’s national work in this area. This includes leading a multi-million-pound work programme supporting government departments with adult social care improvement and transformation, workforce development and knowledge management, while ensuring a safeguarding culture is central to these developments.
Gerard has been a member of a number of advisory boards, including the Health and Care Publications Advisory Board.
He is currently a member of the CHKS Accreditation Council, advising on the development and publication of accredited quality standards for health and care organisations.
Chris Dadson, Director of Business and Commercial Development
Chris joined SCIE in early 2023 and leads SCIE’s income generation strategies. He has significant experience supporting charities to grow and develop in commissioning, funder and delivery organisations.
Previously he was Director of Business Development at the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership, and before that Director of Development at the Social Investment Business.
He started his career in the civil service and has worked across strategy and policy development roles in the Cabinet Office and at Ofsted. Chris was educated at Cambridge University (BA, English Literature) and at the University of London (MA, Latin American Studies).
Jon King, Director of Finance and Corporate Resources
Jon joined SCIE in August 2021 and leads the organisation’s Finance and Corporate Resources functions, which includes information technology.
Jon previously spent 18 years at the University of Kent working in a variety of finance roles, which included managing a research finance team; he was also Business and Facilities Manager at Kent Law School and, more recently, Finance and Resources Manager for the Division of Law, Society and Social Justice.
Outside of SCIE, Jon is a trustee and Treasurer for a local charity, the Canterbury Housing Advice Centre, which seeks to relieve poverty and homelessness in the Canterbury District and primarily focusses on preventing homelessness.
Carolyn Meehan, Director of People and Culture
Carolyn started at SCIE as Head of People & Culture in May 2022. Prior to this she was on loan to SCIE from Alzheimer’s Society where she has held a number of roles including heading up HR Business Partnering and organisation-wide people and organisational development projects. Carolyn has worked in both the public and private sector in both operational and HR roles. She’s CIPD (Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development) qualified with over 20 years’ generalist HR experience.
Carolyn lives in Greater Manchester and enjoys spending time with family and friends, as well as foreign travel. Carolyn is passionate about developing a workplace where people are supported to bring their best self to work and fulfil their true potential.
Ian McCreath, Director of TLAP (Think Local Act Personal)
Aside from a stint working for the web team of a national newspaper, Ian career has been spent exclusively working in disability-related roles. Early experiences with his nan, and as a support worker, led him to question why care and support couldn’t be better at focussing on what really mattered to each person.
Ian joined Alzheimer’s’ Society in 2006, to manage service teams across three counties. Since 2012, his focus has been purely on developing personalisation policy and practice.
Ian believes that the most effective route to meaningful change and workable solutions is through co-production and collaborative partnerships, of which TLAP (Think Local Act Personal) is a pioneering example.
Deborah Rozansky, Director of Policy, Research and Information
Deborah leads a team supporting improvements in social care through evidence generation, knowledge translation and policy influencing. Her experience includes conducting research studies and leading complex change programmes for government and the NHS, including recent initiatives in integrated care.
Deborah worked previously at the Office for Public Management, the Health Foundation and the Royal College of Nursing.
Earlier in her career, she worked for the Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programmes in the USA. Deborah was educated at Harvard University (AB, History) and UCLA (MSc, Public Health) and is currently studying for an MSc at Imperial College London (Healthcare and Design).