Ian is our Founder and CEO. He started the charity after the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. He believes sport helps children to learn a lot of skills that will help them throughout life, and wanted to help more children have positive sporting experiences. After seeing the injustices that disabled children face, Ian believed we could change the system. Before Level Water, Ian studied Sports Science then Marketing, started his career in Investment Banking, and went on to become a Senior Advisor at The Foundation (one of the UK's first Innovation consultancies) and European Director of Decode (a global youth strategy consultancy). He swam competitively, at best placing 5th in the country, and went on to compete in triathlon, where he came second at the World Age Group Championships in Beijing.

Lucy is our Head of Operations. She started her career as a Project Manager from school, and has over 15 years of experience leading global projects across a wide-range of both private and public sector organisations (with a brief 6 week stint as a Met Police Officer!). Previous to Level Water, Lucy was the Business Planning and Operations Director at the International NGO Girl Effect (previously the Nike Foundation), where she also led the TEGA program, a tech-enabled, girl-centered insights method embedded into hard-to-reach communities across Africa and Asia. Lucy has always had a passion for sports and the sense of community that it brings to people from all different backgrounds and walks of life. Lucy currently works across a number of different ad-hoc freelance projects within the UK and further afield, and has previously been on the board of Kent Pride. Lucy has hosted a number of music gigs in aid of the mental health charity Mind and is also a keen runner and painter.

Matt is our Head of Programmes, and he has worked in disability sport for over 15 years. He started as a community football coach with Portsmouth FC, working to deliver football and other sessions for disabled and non-disabled people across the city. He then moved to a full-time disability football role with Fulham FC, leading on delivering sessions and projects for people with a wide range of impairments. Following this he spent time working in sports development roles with the Down's Syndrome Association & Mencap, and spent 4 years developing all kinds of sports projects with Premiership Rugby, including their first national disability rugby projects, and the award-winning Project Rugby initiative to grow the game to wider audiences.

Matt loves the water and thinks it's so unfair that there is not equal access to it. Many of his happiest memories involve being in and around water with his siblings and friends and he’d love everyone to have the same opportunity to do so. He is a diving coach in his spare time, and seeing his athletes develop a love of being in (and jumping into) water gives him great joy. He first became aware of Level Water in 2016 when he fundraised for the charity to swim the Dart 10K, and have kept a keen interest in the work ever since. A charity that combines his love for water and his passion for increasing physical activity opportunities for disabled people is his dream!

Matt loves everything to do with pretty much every sport - he is a season ticket holder at AFC Wimbledon, he loves doing parkruns and has run 2 marathons. He has travelled globally watching international sports events and is always happy to discuss any sport with anyone. Only one thing beats his passion for sport and that's his love for Taylor Swift. Swiftie for life.

Hayley is a dedicated fundraising professional with over a decade of experience in the third sector. As Head of Fundraising, she excels in relationship building and has driven successful campaigns, including notable achievements with Big Give initiatives. Her career spans impactful roles at disability charities (including one focused on children), a hospice, and two animal charities.

Hayley’s passion lies in connecting people’s desire to make a difference with causes that matters, a process she finds deeply rewarding. A major milestone in her journey was founding a UK-wide community group that raised awareness locally and generated income through engaging events.

When not championing good causes, Hayley enjoys walking her two dogs and unwinding with a good movie. Guided by the belief that “this too shall pass,” she approaches life and work with resilience and grace.

As Level Water’s Community Manager, Colette McCarthy leverages over nine years of experience to drive impactful fundraising initiatives. Specialising in creating and executing innovative strategies, she has successfully grown event participation from 100 to nearly 2,000 swimmers, raising £300-400,000 annually. Colette excels in building meaningful relationships with supporters, donors, and swimmers, ensuring goals are met with integrity and authenticity.

In addition to her role at Level Water, Colette is a dedicated Life Coach, empowering others through self-discovery and personal growth. Her professional background includes significant roles at Rugby Travel & Hospitality Ltd and The Lord's Taverners, where she honed her skills in project management, stakeholder engagement, and strategic planning. Colette holds a BA Hons in History from Brunel University and is passionate about continuous improvement, both professionally and personally.

Outside of work, she enjoys running, swimming in open water, and has recently taken up sewing. A former rugby player, Colette brings the same dedication and teamwork to her professional and personal pursuits.

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Andy is our Programmes Officer and works on the programmes team with Matt. Andy has more than 25 years of experience working within aquatics and is a qualified teacher/coach in every aquatic discipline (except Diving). He is a qualified Swim England & STA tutor and delivers Level 1 & 2 teacher courses & CPD’s for Swim Wales in his free time to help develop the teachers of the future. Andy’s first interaction with Level Water was when he met with Ian in 2015 and signed a partnership with us to provide our supported lessons at the 5 pools he had responsibility for in his role as Swimming Development Officer in Bridgend. With Andy’s support the partnership quickly grew to become one of the biggest we had at that time. In 2017 he was selected to train to be one of our tutors to deliver our specialist training to teachers before they start to deliver our supported lessons.

Andy joined Level Water in the summer of 2021 and has been instrumental in helping us go from less than 200 supported swimmers across 40 pools to nearly 1,000 swimmers across 170 pools. He has negotiated and agreed partnership agreements with many of the pools we work with today and has facilitated Level Water training for over 1,000 teachers across the UK (delivering around half of that number personally).

Andy was a competitive swimmer from the age of 8, going on to compete at regional & national level and still attends (Level Water commitments allowing) 2 early morning training sessions a week with his local Swim Wales regional performance centre. Although he no longer competes, he still swims as no other sport can replicate how great he feels after a swim session and his club fees help to support the programme to allow children & young people to achieve their potential.

Andy is passionate about every child having the opportunity to learn to swim as he has benefited massively, both personally and professionally, from the opportunities he has been afforded. With his experience as a Swim Teacher, Swimming Development Officer and Aquatics Manager he knows that standard group lessons are not suitable to meet the needs of many children with SEND and as a result many of the children that Level Water supports would simply not have the opportunity to learn to swim without our support.

Geri is a key member of our team at Level Water. With a rich background in fundraising, events, and therapy assistance, she brings a diverse skill set to her role.

Geri excels in developing and executing marketing campaigns, managing donor relations, and assisting in the coordinating of our events. Her proactive engagement and dedication to continuous learning ensure our mission is communicated effectively and our supporters are engaged.

Geri holds a Bachelor's degree in English Literature from the University of Sussex and has international teaching experience in Japan and Vietnam.

Geri’s commitment to our values of respect, compassion, and excellence makes her an invaluable asset to Level Water.