Who we are

Emma oversees Capacity’s Design and Doing team, leading on strategy, business development, service design and implementation across our projects. Emma thrives when she is getting under the skin of the problem, working with and through others to define the stuff that isn’t working.   

By the age of thirty, Emma held an interim CEO position in an organisation she grew up with. Starting on the ‘shop floor’, designing and delivering interventions with people who struggled with their mental health I progressed across the organisation into management and leadership roles across operations and business development.  

From here, Emma joined a start-up public services boutique consultancy and created its position in Health and Social Care. She built a portfolio of work with clients who support the poorest and most sick.  

Emma’s skills and experience in organisational design equip her with the ability to focus on methodology and direction rather than output and destination which enables her to ask how things can be different.  

A proud Lancastrian, Emma enjoys spending her free time with her young son Harry and getting to grips with the rules of football – Harry’s new love. 

Chris has significant experience in managing, securing funding and developing the capacity of community businesses and non-profit organisations. As well as leading the team, Chris works with clients across all areas of healthcare, adults’ services and children’s services.   

Prior to his role at Capacity, Chris was part of the core team who developed The Reader Organisation from a University of Liverpool ‘spin-out’ into a leading social organisation, where he tripled revenue, raised £5 million in funding for the transfer of Calderstones Mansion House and created opportunities to support health and wellbeing through shared reading activities.   

Chris is also a Board Member for Local Trust – Local Trust is a place-based funder supporting communities to achieve their ambitions.  

Outside of work, Chris is an avid Liverpool FC fan and lives in Crosby with his wife and two daughters. 

As one of the first members of the team in 2017, Grace has helped to grow Capacity from a fledgling start-up to a thriving organisation.

Grace’s portfolio is diverse. She’s been involved in the design, implementation and leadership of several of our joint ventures and is considered to be Capacity’s “dedicated generalist” with a background in organisational development, project management and HR.

Grace is a top plate-spinner, problem solver and master do-er. Her superpower is bringing order to chaos. 

Outside of Capacity life, spending time with her young family is her top priority, and although she no longer teaches English, her love of literature is still strong. 

Sarah has 18 years of experience in various finance roles both in the private and third sectors. Most recently, building financial models, developing budgets and managing cash flow for a variety of health, adult social care and community-based organisations.

Outside of work, Sarah enjoys listening to music and going to gigs and city breaks.

Sophie leads projects at Capacity supporting positive change for children and families.

Sophie and her team work with a range of public and third sector partners helping to make growing up here the best it can be. Sophie oversees the development of Juno, a not-for-profit, high-quality children’s residential care organisation co-designed with care-experienced young people. Juno will open a network of brilliant homes across Liverpool City Region, starting with its first home in Wirral in early 2023.

Sophie came to Capacity after 10 years at The Reader, where she led on Business Development, Quality Practice and Learning. Passionate about the role that literature can play in helping us all to live well, Sophie has an MA in English Literature, is a Clore Social Leadership Fellow and lives in Liverpool with her family…and her books!

As Senior Project Manager, the majority of Alice’s week is focused on Children’s social care projects ‘Juno’ and ‘Community Matters’, for which she draws on project management experience across communications and fundraising at the national fostering and adoption charity, Home for Good. She is also focused on the children and young people’s emotional health and well-being project.

Alice also has experience in the public sector, having worked as Grants Officer at Liverpool City Council before joining Capacity. Coupled with out-of-work commitments in her local community in North Liverpool, it has offered Alice a broad knowledge base of voluntary organisations across the city.

In 2019, she also won The Young Programme’s ‘Young Thinker of the Year England and Wales’.

Outside of work, Alice loves to go abroad and practice her language skills (she speaks four!), while sampling some local vegan cuisine.

Sara joined capacity in September 2023 as a project manager having worked in local authorities since 2015. She’s worked in the area of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in different roles including as a caseworker, post-16 commissioning and interim service manager.

Outside of work, Sara likes spending time with her friends and family, reading and doing sport.

Peter joined Capacity in March 2024, having previously worked for Marketing Liverpool (part of Liverpool City Council) on destination marketing – tourism, conferences, major events and all that jazz.

Prior to that, Pete worked for Liverpool Vision, the city’s urban regeneration company. At Liverpool Vision, Pete worked on some big, game-changing projects like ACC Liverpool, Liverpool ONE, Cruise Liner Terminal, Lime Street and Baltic.

Plot twist… After 20 years of working in the public sector, Pete wanted a change, and decided to move to Capacity.

Pete loves promoting the brilliant work Capacity does, but hates promoting himself.

George joins Capacity as one of our Senior Designer and Doers, George has over a decade of experience working in the third sector for a variety of organisations, including the National Trust, The Bishop Palace and Designability in a variety of senior management roles including Acting Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive.

George has significant commercial, operations and programmes management experience with a strong track record of developing and leading high performance teams to deliver impactful services.

George lives in rural Somerset with his family, one dog and six chickens and enjoys playing sport.

Sophie joined Capacity in January 2024, after starting her career in adult social care and the third sector.

A strong generalist, Sophie supports the production of Capacity’s digital comms content, monitors our impact and captures our organisational learning. She’s passionate about improving how things are done to have a bigger impact, loves a good Theory of Change and is a Canva whizz.

Sophie lives in Liverpool with her partner Jack and her pet bearded dragon Hal. An MA graduate in English Studies and Critical Theory, she loves to spend her time outside of work reading a good book, enjoying a glass of wine or cooking for friends. When she’s not in the office, you’ll most likely find her next door in the gym.

Heather joined Capacity after graduating with a degree in English Literature. As a Business Coordinator, she provides support for the Senior Leadership Team as well as working on HR, contracts, internal systems, and looking after our Queen Avenue office. She’s passionate about bringing people together with previous experience coordinating the University of Liverpool’s School of the Arts Showcase and coaching and refereeing for women’s and girls’ grassroots football.

Heather loves attending live gigs, and playing the guitar and has hosted a literature-themed radio show whilst at university. Originally from the Wiltshire countryside, Heather’s enjoying continuing to explore Liverpool.

Sarah has been at Capacity since 2022 as a finance assistant, having worked in a similar role in the charity sector for the previous 5 years.

Outside of work, Sarah can either be found singing in the choir, where she’s been a member for 7 years or singing in the terraces, where she’s been a season ticket holder at Goodison since she was six years old.

Harriet joined Capacity in April 2024. A registered social worker, Harriet brings three years of experience working directly with children, young people, and their families to support them through difficult times in their lives (in Lambeth and Warrington). Prior to social work, Harriet was an Associate Director at Social Finance where she worked with amazing people to develop ambitious programmes of work, often funded in innovative ways.

Harriet has completed a MSc in Relationship-Based Social Work and her research was published in the Journal of Social Work Practice in October 2023. This action-research explored how feelings of safety impact relational practice within the Child Protection context.

Having recently moved to Liverpool from London, Harriet spends her time outside of work getting to know the city and the wider city region (and is always open to recommendations!).

Becky joined Capacity in September 2024, having just made the move up North from London. In London, Becky worked as an Organisational Designer for the London Borough of Camden. Prior to that she worked in frontline roles in the public and third sector, including in Homelessness Prevention and leading an advice and guidance service. Becky is driven to fix the broken systems she saw too often let people down in her frontline work.

Outside of work, Becky keeps busy with reading, yoga and exploring Liverpool’s many restaurants and bars!

Toni is the Accounts Manager for one of Capacity’s clients. Her role includes analysing and presenting key financial data. Overseeing accounting procedures and preparing budgets.

Before Capacity, Toni worked in roles including Finance Officer and Accounts Assistant, where she was involved in all aspects of the management accounting process, including balance sheet reconciliations, monthly journals for fixed assets, prepayments, and monthly management account packs.

Ailsa has 15+ years of experience across the charity, social enterprise and public sector and works with a variety of Capacity’s clients across the Northwest.

Prior to joining Capacity Ailsa was Chief Operating Officer at a leading national charity and social enterprise based in Liverpool City Region and has previously held senior positions in local economic development as well as roles with Citizen’s Advice and The Charity Commission in her early career.

Ailsa has experience in designing new initiatives from scratch as well as bringing a considered approach and ‘fresh pair of eyes’ to existing systems and plans. Ailsa has hands-on experience across all aspects of the effective running of an organisation, in particular, she has strengths in strategic and business planning, commercial planning, business innovation and service design as well as development and fundraising.

Outside of work Ailsa enjoys spending time with her young family and friends in South Liverpool where she lives.

Katie joined Capacity in February 2025 after working in the charity sector for 12 years. With a background in teaching, many of the projects she’s been involved in since have focused on educational disadvantage, improving wellbeing and providing training to support people to achieve their full potential.

With a strong background in community engagement, she is passionate about bringing organisations together to increase wellbeing, inclusion and social mobility for young people, families and communities.

Outside of work, you’ll often find Katie reading, exploring the Welsh Hills with her 2 young children, or enjoying a lovely meal with the whole family!

Dan is director of 3ni: The National Network for Neighbourhood Improvement, a new social value partnership between Capacity and Local Trust.

3ni brings together policy, practice, the latest research, cutting-edge data and diagnostic tools to support local government and the public sector to work with disadvantaged communities up and down the country to transform neighbourhoods. It also hosts the national network for neighbourhood improvement, sharing best and next practice to support community-led regeneration. 

Before leading the incubation of 3ni, Dan led the policy team at Local Trust. This included delivering the work and research programme for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods, advocating for a Community Wealth Fund, and making the case for C4, the ESRC-funded Centre for Collaboration in Community Connectedness. Dan has a background in local and regional government, working for the elected Mayors of London and in the North East of England, in regeneration policy at the Homes and Communities Agency, and for the think tanks Localis, New Europe, The Young Foundation, and Collaborate.

He has been an elected leader in the British co-operative movement, serving as Vice-President of the Co-operative Group where he led on the creation of its community strategy and as a trustee of the Co-operative Foundation. He is a Fellow of the RSA.