Meet our teams

Our teams are committed to helping those we support to live happy, healthy, and meaningful lives.

Our ethos

Our Executive and Operations Teams work collaboratively with the many dedicated and inspiring teams across Achieve together and are proud to put people we support at the heart of everything we do. As an organisation which is driven by its people – both those it supports, and those delivering the support – Achieve together never stands still.

The Executive and Operations Teams, supported through a co-production ethos, use our knowledge and expertise plus trusted partnerships and networks to continually evolve and innovate. In so doing, we work to maintain the best standards of specialist support.

Leading by example our Executive and Operations Teams live and breathe what we do so that we can work together to deliver great support. We are proud to make a genuine difference to the lives of people we support, inspiring a generation and ensuring people can lead happy, healthy and meaningful lives.

Senior leadership team

Zak Houlahan

Chief Executive Officer

Zak has 20 years’ senior management experience, the vast majority of which has been spent providing essential services to the UK local authority network. He brings a wealth of hands-on experience in driving operational excellence for all stakeholders. Zak is passionate about the opportunity to make a real and meaningful difference to people’s lives.

Michael Fullerton

Director of Wellbeing, Strategy and Collaboration

Michael’s career has always been in health and social care. He initially trained as a learning disability nurse, soon becoming a Home Manager. This was followed by a variety of roles including regional management, overseeing assessment and referrals and quality assurance. Michael’s role focuses on collaborating and communicating with key stakeholders, to clearly define strategies for the wellbeing of people supported.

Zoe Armstrong

Chief Care and Quality Officer

Zoe has been working in social care since she was a teenager, and has subsequently taken every opportunity and every operational role possible in health and social care – in both community and clinical settings. As Chief Care and Quality Officer, Zoe has a clear focus on Safety, Health, Wellbeing, Quality, Care and Communications.

Chris Saunders

Chief Financial Officer

Chis is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and has spent a significant period in senior roles within the health and social care sector. As Chief Financial Officer, Chris is responsible for Finance, Legal and Technology.

Lisa Cole

Chief People Officer

Lisa is proud to be leading the People Team and is passionate about making a difference and creating the best possible team member experience, in order for our teams to deliver the highest quality experience for people we support. She is a Chartered Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and has led a range of People/ Human Resources functions across a variety of sectors. This is Lisa’s first role in social care, and she is delighted to be part of Achieve together, with the opportunity to make a real and meaningful difference to people’s lives.

Sam Collier

Chief Operations Officer

Sam has dedicated his career supporting children, young people and adults with learning disabilities and other complex needs in the social care sector for well over 20 years. He considers it to be part of his core identity. As Chief Operations Officer, Sam leads on Operations and Growth with a home centred approach to supporting the best quality-of-life for people in their communities.

Mary

Co-Chair of Unity

Mary has been a member of Campaign 4 change for a number of years and was the co-founder, with Mark, of Unity. She is currently on the Representative Body of Learning Disability England with significant experience of public speaking and promoting the rights of people with learning disabilities. Mary also works as a receptionist with Premier Inn, fitting in a lot of advocacy work alongside that role.

Simon

Co-Chair of Unity

Simon is employed as an autism ambassador and trainer. He has been working with Achieve together for several years delivering autism training and now working with the co-production team to ensure high standards of support within Achieve together.

Fabian Morgan

Fabian leads homes in London & Surrey.

Meet our teams

Our ethos

Senior leadership team

Heads of area operations

Fabian Morgan

Keith Irwin-Hill

Emily Webb

Ann-Marie Harris

David Finan

Sam Long

Sam Skipper

Sandra Whittington

Stephanie Whalley

Vikki Brown

Sophie Schmitt

Diane Newlands

Donna Foley

Fay Louise Harvey

Gareth O’Reilly

Gwenda Williams

Jane Neil

Jaymylee Colyer

Jenny Jameson

Jonny Short

Lee Clayson

Nita Sohawon

Rebecca Young

Victoria Dalton