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Meet the Next-Up Team

The people helping you to unlock the next opportunity and shape your ‘unretirement’

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Next Up Team
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Next-Up helps anyone over 50 who doesn’t want another mainstream job. We support organisations with a range of services for employees/partners as well as individuals themselves.

A key focus of the business is inspiring people with new ideas and sharing experiences and tips of peers who have created another career and purpose in their ‘unretirement’. Through webinars, events, guides and videos, community groups, mentoring and practical support, everyone can work out what is right for them and then make it happen.

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Victoria

Victoria Tomlinson

Founder & CEO

A former director of EY, Victoria Tomlinson is CEO of Next-Up and Northern Lights, which she founded in 1990. International speaker, BBC expert woman and Honorary Teaching Fellow at Lancaster University, she has held a number of non-executive and trustee roles.

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Sandy Welsh

Head of Operations

Sandy is responsible for the smooth running of the business including managing the office, providing project support and preparing accounts and budgets. In addition to being the first point of contact for many, her role at Next-Up is also helping with the organisation of events, booking processes and general member liaison and support.

Janet Moran

Janet Moran

Associate

Janet has worked in career transition for over 15 years, providing a service to corporates and English-speaking individuals from various international markets. In addition to supporting Next-Up clients, Janet runs her own business, The CV House Ltd. Her background is in Human Resources, initially with Ford Motor Company in a variety of roles and latterly in financial services.

Trevor Hatton

Trevor Hatton

Associate

Trevor, former partner at Accenture and EY, helps design and deliver workshops for partners of professional firms – building on his own experience of unretirement. A former Board Director of Scottish Opera and Treasurer of Gerrards Cross Golf Club, Trevor is a qualified coach and runs his own career counselling business, Ovalway Consulting.

Paula Dillon

Paula Dillon

Associate

Former partner with Womble Bond Dickinson and a leading figure in the Leeds property business scene, including roles with Opera North and the Chamber of Commerce, Paula is now non-executive director with Palace Capital plc and a qualified coach with her own practice. Paula works with Next-Up to share her experience of unretirement with partners in professional firms.

Caroline Black

Caroline Black

Consultant

Caroline works as a strategic consultant supporting Next-Up to reach out, manage and develop client relationships. She has successfully unretired after over 25 years as Marketing Director at a corporate law firm and blends a mix of voluntary directorships with running her own marketing business. Caroline is Chairman of the Income Generation Committee at Kirkwood Hospice, and a trustee at Yorkshire Sport Foundation and Maggie’s.

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Celeste Oldfield

Head of Marketing

Our Advisory Board

We are extremely grateful to a number of people who have generously given time, feedback and ideas to help us shape Next-Up for our audience – they make up an informal advisory board to us.

Advisory team photo

The Next-Up team with three of their advisory board

Ajaz Ahmed BEM

founder, Freeserve; business adviser; advisory board at University of Huddersfield Business School

Liz Bingham OBE

former EY managing partner; consultant; coach; speaker

Bernadette Byrne

consultant; former company director; trustee

Pat Chapman-Pincher

FTSE ceo mentor, former FTSE non-executive director, international speaker on technology/AI, author & blogger

Victoria Craven

partner, RSM UK

Richard Firth

former director of education businesses, consultant & charity trustee

Jan Fletcher OBE

entrepreneur and businesswoman; chairman of Bee Health, Rougemont Estates, Raven St John & Bacara Wealth

Jo Fletcher-Lee

business growth consultant & magistrate

Cath Follin

former senior manager, Leeds City Council; coach; trustee

Julie Gray

chief executive, Corporate Faculty; and former head of executive programmes, Ashridge Business School

Julian Horrocks

former partner; Eversheds; business angel and start-up mentor

Jane Hustwit

chair, York CVS; interim director, communications consultant & mentor

Professor Nigel Lockett

professor of entrepreneurship at Lancaster University Management School, community leader & entrepreneur

Sarah Shaw

Newton Prize project director, UNESCO; trustee at Carers’ Resource and Remap

Leigh-Anne Stradeski

chief executive, Eureka! The National Children's Museum

Jon Woolmore

former chief executive; coach, mentor and consultant in health, social care & mental health

And our thanks also to the following who have generously given advice and ideas on specific issues, including technology start-ups!

Emma Jones MBE

founder, Enterprise Nation & small business Crown Representative

Nancy Keene

founder, The Perfect Fit, USA

Jonny Ross

founder, Fleek Marketing

Rob Shreeve

founder & MD, Virgin Publishing; founder One Alfred Place club; founder What’s Next for You

Vicky Wilson

senior marketing manager, Amazon