Lizzie Cole (Chair)
Having set up a project while at University called ‘Buddy a Granny’, Lizzie is now Head of Student Volunteering at Volunteering England, the Student Volunteering Team support a network of over 42,000 students who volunteer in their local communities in England. Lizzie has been involved in a Youth Advisory board for Oxfam supporting the charity to engage with young people and has done various volunteering for the Food Chain and an NGO, Straight Talk, in Uganda. [www.studentvolunteering.org.uk]

Sarah Lucy Smith 
is a young designer who founded social enterprise GreenKnickers designing and distributing Fair Trade and Organic underwear. GreenKnickers uses fun and communicative design to inspire change. Sarah is 25 and studied Eco Design at Goldsmiths College before working as a textile and underwear designer.

Ruth Pannell
is a trainee solicitor at Bates, Wells & Braithwaite.  She provides charity law advice to the trust and is also company secretary for the Young Achievers Trust.

Michael Stevenson
is a young solicitor specialising in intellectual property litigation at Bristows. Michael went studied engineering at Cambridge University, completing his Masters in 2002. He completed his legal studies in London before going on to train with Bristows. Whilst at University, Michael was heavily involved in theatrical stage management, lighting design and technical work.

Philip Udeh
is a trustee of young peoples volunteering charity v, he was previously a member of the v20 advisory board.

Brenda Roberts
is former head of corporate responsibility for Whitbread, with specific responsibility for setting up and managing the company’s Whitbread Young Achiever awards scheme during its first two years. She is director of corporate responsibility consultancy, From the Rooftop, and director of alumni association, the OB Club.

Laura Billings
works as a Fellowship Researcher for the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). Laura graduated from the University of Sussex in 2002 with a First in Developmental Psychology. She worked for the Medical Research Council and most recently for ChildLine for 3 years before joining the RSA.

Sarah Gwonyoma
is currently a Development Manager, working on the Big Boost Programme, supporting and mentoring inspiring young people who are making a difference in their communities. In addition to this, she facilitates anti-stigma/discrimination workshops to young people living or affected by HIV/AIDs in the UK. Her background is in international Development and has recently returned from a trip to Uganda, where she was working with refugees displaced in the Northern Region.

Joe Gordon
was previously a member of the v20 advisory group working as awards champion. He is also a commissioner for the Commission on the Future of Volunteering representing young people’s views with regard to the future of volunteering in England. Joe is currently working for PricewaterhouseCoopers and training as chartered accountant.

Duane Melius
is editor of SENSE magazine, a peer led youth magazine project run by young volunteers. Duane set up the magazine which was born in the autumn of 2002, SENSE provides practical work experience to a host of young writers, designers, photographers and illustrators.

Emily Foskett
is Executive and Project Assistant at YouthNet. She provides support to the Chief Executive and YouthNet Board of Trustees with charity governance administration and assists in the scope and delivery of new projects at YouthNet. She studied International Development at university and previously worked at SustainAbility. She has also spent some time living and working in France as an Au Pair.

The board is also advised by a number of people who were previously involved in the awards programme

Michael Norton
founded the Directory of Social Change in 1975, and set up the Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action in 1991. He was involved in setting up Changemakers, Youthbank, the Voices of Change international summer school, UnLtd, and MyBnk, a children’s banking initiative. He will be launching the Otesha Project in the UK in summer 2007, and is the author of “How to be a Community Champion”, “How to be a Fundraising Champion”, “365 Ways to Change the World” and several books on fundraising.

Fiona Dawe
is Chief Executive of YouthNet UK, the UK’s first virtual, or online charity set up by Martyn Lewis CBE in 1995 to champion an inclusive social environment where all young adults aged 16-24 can contribute to society. She is currently a trustee of the Charity Technology Trust. A Fellow of the RSA, she was awarded an OBE for services to the voluntary sector in January 2003.

Julie McEver
is Business Operations Director of UnLtd. She has over 12 years of operations, business development and consulting experience. Prior to joining UnLtd in 2005, Julie worked for an entrepreneurial organisation helping them establish processes as well as develop and grow their business.