Meet the team
We are here to support our members and the wider co‑op sector. Get in touch with one of our team using the contact form.
Rose Marley
Rose Marley is the CEO of Co-operatives UK, which empowers and supports co-operative enterprise to grow the co-operative economy and create a fairer society.
Joining in 2021, she immediately spearheaded the creation of an ambitious new strategy to grow the co-operative economy, with support from the UK Government and the backing of the United Nations, who declared 2025 the UN year of the co-operative.
Rose is Chair of the International Co-operative Working Group (ICWG), which is a founding member of the Fund for International Co-operative Development, and a Director of the International Co-operative Alliance.
In addition, Rose is a member and fellow of RSA, an advisor to Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, Chair of Beyond the Music Co-op and founding Director of award-winning social enterprise SharpFutures.
Rose has most recently been appointed to Chair the Middleton Mayoral Development Corporation alongside Middletonian Steve Coogan, with a view to co-operative and community regeneration in the North of Manchester and birthplace of the Co-operative movement Rochdale.
Rose has had an eclectic career. Self-employed from a young age, she cut her teeth in the music business in the era known as ‘Madchester’ before turning her hand to social enterprise, inspired by the lack of social mobility in the creative industries and in search of something more impactful, she has been an ambassador for Social Enterprise and Co-operatives ever since.
Emma Laycock
Emma is a member of Co-operatives UK's Leadership Team (LT) and has been advising co-operatives and mutuals of all sizes on all aspects of governance for over 20 years. As the head of Co-operatives UK’s Advice Team she leads on our chargeable services work and, alongside the rest of the team, ensures that we are the place for our members to find the advice they need. Emma is the author of the Co-operative Code of Governance and specialises in offering expert advice to co-operative boards. She is Co-operatives UK’s Head of Member Services.
James Wright
James joined Co-operatives UK in 2013 as a Policy Officer and has worked his way up to the role of Policy and Development Lead - and is also a member of our Leadership Team (LT). Prior to Co-operatives UK he worked with credit unions, as a student housing case worker and for a housing association. James has been convinced of the need for more just, sustainable and democratic businesses since studying politics at university in the early 2000s. A belief in the benefits of mutualism is a family tradition. James leads our efforts to influence government policy, in order to create better conditions for co-op formation and growth. Outside of work James has a toddler to look after, loves to cycle everywhere and gets about 5 minutes a day to mess about on a guitar.
Ruth Buchanan
Ruth joined Co-operatives UK as Head of Finance early in 2023, with responsibility for Co-operatives UK’s finances as well as our operational unit. Ruth is a member of our Leadership Team (LT). Ruth is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales who qualified in 2009 in a mid-sized audit firm, before moving on to work in-house at a number of financial services firms in the North West. As part of her role, Ruth represents Co-operatives UK on the Board of Co-operative and Community Finance, and outside of work she volunteers as the treasurer of a Liverpool based charity.
Leoni Bamford
Leoni has been planning training courses, gala dinners and conferences for nearly 10 years, since graduating from Liverpool John Moores University with an Events Management Degree. Since joining Co-operatives UK in 2016, she's co-ordinated an events programme of 60+ events per year, including flagship events; Co-operative Retail Conference, Worker Co-op Weekend, Congress and Practitioners Forum. When not planning a Co-operatives UK or personal event, Leoni enjoys long walks, online fitness classes and spending time with her cats, Simba and Mylo.
Belinda Roach
As our Membership Manager, Belinda enjoys spending time speaking with our members and getting to know them to ensure Co‑operatives UK continues to meet the needs of the sector. With an eclectic background in welfare‑to‑work project management and membership service provision, Belinda enjoys working in an industry that has a positive social impact on local communities. When not supporting the UK’s co‑operatives, she spends her free time with family and friends – cooking, eating, reading and being outdoors being her preferred pass times.
James Dady
James has recently joined the Membership Team as our new Member Relations Co‑ordinator. He brings experience working for a membership organisation that supported purpose driven organisations to improve their social and environmental impact. In this role he is now leading on our work with federal bodies, as well as helping to ensure our members get the most out of being part of Co‑operatives UK more broadly. Outside of work, James enjoys watching films and TV, listening to music, spending time with friends and watching Bolton Wanderers play down at the Reebok.
Louis Burnay
Louis joined the Membership Team to primarily focus on advancing Co‑operative UK's Youth Engagement strategy. He produces the Youth Summit, facilitates the Youth Advisory Group and works independently on launching youth‑focused projects to engage more young people in the co‑op sector. He also spends a lot of his time meeting members and finding ways to support them in any way we can. Outside of Co‑operatives UK, Louis is big on producing, playing and listening to music, as well as programming music events.
Rhys Evans
Rhys is a Governance Advisor at Co-operatives UK specialising in corporate and co-operative governance advice and best practice guidance on governing documents, governance arrangements and regulatory requirements. Rhys provides advice to co-operatives and member owned organisations and specialises in supporting new start businesses through incorporation and developing governance solutions for small co-operatives. He also works with co-operatives on reviews of their governing documents. In his time with Co-operatives UK Rhys has also engaged with public speaking to international Study Tours on co-operation and the wider co-operative movement in the UK, and has delivered workshops focused on engaging youth in the development and promotion of co-operatives. Rhys is big on music and spends his free time trying to cover all the bases in attending, playing and promoting experimental gigs in Manchester.
John Dawson
John joined Co-operatives UK at the start of 2022 to lead our Community Shares Unit work. John works with external partners to raise the profile of community shares and internal colleagues to deliver our work to inspire more communities to use this unique form of investment. John has a career history working in community enterprise, with a focus on business planning and investment. Previously John has worked for the funder Power to Change leading a number of their social investment programmes and has worked hands-on supporting community organisations, including as a licensed community shares practitioner.
Emma Dutton
Emma joined Co-operatives UK in November 2024 to conduct research projects and develop insights to inform our strategies. She has 2:1 degree in Applied Social Sciences and 14 years' experience of working in local government in research and performance improvement roles. Emma also has 10 years' experience of marketing within a large firm of business advisors, organising business growth events and delivering projects to support small businesses and not-for-profit organisations.
Outside of work, Emma enjoys relaxing walks in the countryside with her family, gardening, yoga and learning Spanish.
Zena King
Zena has more than 10 years’ experience of co-operative society governance, with an academic background in law and was Co-operatives UK’s Society Secretary for five years. Zena has supported boards in developing strategic plans, policies and processes and has direct experience of leading internal audits and gap analysis exercises.
With experience of effective governance systems, Zena provides practical solutions for co-operatives to bring together corporate governance best practice and co-operative values and principles. Zena is also an accredited data protection practitioner and, alongside supporting our members, leads our own work to ensure compliance with data protection legislation. Zena sits on the board of Co-operatives UK member Projekts MCR and is a former director of Co-operative and Community Finance.
Kate Fielding
Kate is an experienced HR professional with almost 10 years' experience in HR policy, reward and employee relations in co-operatives. A chartered member of the CIPD specialising in all things policy, Kate is well placed to provide expert advice, guidance and support on all aspects of the employment journey.
Tom Laing
Tom joined Co-operatives UK in 2022, having a Masters in Democracy and Election, completing a dissertation into the Co-operative Party. Tom is highly active within the co-operative movement presently serving on the National Members Council of Co-op Group, Membership and Communities Council of OurCoop and the NEC of the Co-operative Party. As Policy Officer, Tom works with our members to influence public policy and to help ensure Government supports the proliferation of new co-operatives across the economy. Outside of work Tom enjoys reading, watching Star Wars and co-operative activism. They also currently serve as a Labour and Co-operative Councillor in Wirral.
Dom Mills
Dom has been working with words since he learned to speak, though in a more professional capacity over the last 15 years. A former journalist and court reporter, Dom progressed to managing a team of sports writers for multiple award-winning daily and weekly newspapers before making the switch into the world of co-ops. Skilled at telling a good story, Dom also plays a leading role in much of our design work. When not tapping away on his keyboard, Dom can often be found on an expanse of (often uneven) turf, fuelling his passion for coaching a junior girls football team.
Petra Morris
Petra Morris has run her own business and spent many years in local government promoting tourism, economic development and supporting local communities. As part of the busy Co-operative Development Team at Co-operatives UK, she leads on the delivery of our externally funded support programmes including Business Support for co-ops - and is proud to have supported thousands of co-ops. Petra is also a former voluntary Director (Secretary) of Friends of Stretford Public Hall, a historic multi-purpose building owned by its 1,000 investor members.
Gary Morrison
Gary has a wealth of experience in the field of employment law, having previously worked as an ACAS officer and for the Employment Tribunals before qualifying as a solicitor at DWF solicitors.
Gary has worked as a solicitor with the Co-operative Group and many independent co-operatives as part of the Co-operative Employers Association and is a very experienced Employment Tribunal advocate and his knowledge and experience extend to all aspects of employment law including complex areas such as TUPE and discrimination.
Irena Pistun
Working Monday to Wednesdays, Irena’s role is to seek out what our new members need at Co-operatives UK, to provide them with relevant information on our services, training and support – and to develop our members’ experience with us into loyal supporters. With a background in large events, national and international PR, Irena founded a high street cafe/deli while completing her Masters in Theology. She spends her free time gravel cycling and volunteering two days a week as a chaplain for the NHS.
Dane Pollard
Dane works in our Advice team and is the first point of contact for all governance and legal enquiries. Dane specialises in providing advice and guidance to new start co-operatives and mutuals looking to incorporate and supports all types of co-ops with their governance arrangements, processes and policies. Dane also acts as account manager to members that have set up in the last two years and provides guidance to them on all aspects of their governance calendar. He has many years of experience dealing with customers in the retail sector as well as clients in the corporate world.
Meenaz Rashid
Meenaz Rashid, Executive Assistant to the Board and Governance Coordinator at Co-operatives UK, where she has been a cornerstone of the organisation for over eight years. Her role is pivotal in ensuring the smooth operation of governance systems and processes. Meenaz provides comprehensive support to the Board, including organising Board meetings, subcommittees, and the Annual General Meeting. Additionally, she coordinates and offers secretariat services to various member interest groups and the internal Executive team.
Outside of her professional responsibilities, Meenaz enjoys reading, long walks, and cherishing moments spent with her nieces and nephews.
Ludovica Rogers
Ludovica is a designer and has worked as an architect, process designer, researcher and campaigner. She mainly operates in the overlapping spaces between the commons, tech and finance.
She joined Co-operatives UK in 2019 to run the UnFound programme aimed at growing the platform co-ops sector. She now leads the Co-op Development arm of the Policy & Development Team where she develops products and services to support co-ops start or grow, and programmes to expand co-ops in emerging sectors with a particular focus on tech & digital.
Alice Wharton
As part of the Development Unit, Alice promotes ‘community shares’, to enable effective local economic development and citizen empowerment. She manages the Community Shares Booster Programme, which has already invested over £2m into community-owned businesses, with more to be invested soon. The connections between spaces, places and people fascinate Alice. She has managed projects in a range of sectors, working in public transport and tourism across Europe. Beyond work, Alice enjoys improving her French and Spanish, while coaxing plants to grow!