Corporate Governance

DISC is a completely independent charity and company limited by guarantee. Its ruling body is a Board of Volunteers who act in a personal capacity and do not represent any other agencies or interests. The members of the Board come from a wide range backgrounds and possess a variety of skills.

DISC's Chairman, Jim Black, for example is a retired Assistant Chief Probation Officer whilst other members backgrounds include business, housing management and involvement in social enterprises.

DISC's policies form part of our Charter of Service Standards which can be downloaded from the downloads section of the website. If you require any further information on DISC's policies please contact us.

Operational management of DISC is vested in the Chief Executive, Mark Weeding, and a team of senior managers whose backgrounds and qualifications include Voluntary Sector Management, Social Work, Youth and Community Work, Housing Management and the Management of Vocational Training. For more information see below.

Mark Weeding CQSW, MA Enterprising Management,
Chief Executive

Mark has had a lifelong career in social care both within local authorities and the Third Sector. Starting out in Youth Justice he has been directly responsible for the successful delivery of a wide range of services; community regeneration, reducing offending, drug and alcohol recovery, children in and leaving care, intensive family support, children’s services, access to ETE, managed housing and housing support.

Over 20 years in DISC has seen Mark take responsibility for most of the diverse areas of the organisations work which has provided an in depth knowledge of the services and interventions needed to help people with multiple problems ‘realise their potential’. He is responsible for Business Development and has personally contributed to many of the creative and innovative solutions that DISC has generated, piloted and delivered over the years.

Lesley Cavender FCCA MA MCIM, Finance Director

With over 18 years of experience within the voluntary sector, Lesley has responsibility for the financial management of DISC, which has grown to a turnover of over £18m pa.

Lesley has extensive knowledge of developing financial reporting, budgets, projections and administrative systems to ensure contract compliance and to meet the needs of commissioning bodies. Lesley also manages key corporate support staff and has a comprehensive knowledge of TUPE and change management.

Avril Tully, Executive Director

As a qualified Community and Youth Worker Avril has been with DISC for over 15 years, where she uses her broad experience of and range of qualifications to develop and manage adult drug and alcohol services, including those which support people who are involved in the Criminal Justice System due to their substance misuse.

In addition to her responsibilities for Drug and Alcohol Services, Avril has successfully embedded Diversity within DISC including achieving the Investor in Diversity, a first for a charitable organisation, she is Caldicott Guardian in relation to information governance and has successfully lead a number of complex partnership arrangements as lead contractor within delivery consortia.