Catriona Williams OBE

Catriona is recently retired Chief Executive of Children in Wales  which is the national umbrella membership charity for organisations and individuals from all disciplines and sectors working with children, young people and families and which aims to make the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child a reality in Wales. Children in Wales also manages the Young Wales programme which provides a platform for children and young people to give their views direct to government. She has worked in the children and young people’s field all her professional life and was a leading member of the campaign to establish the first Children’s Commissioner in the UK and actively promoted a focus on combating child poverty in Wales.

She has been a member of many Welsh Government working groups. Currently these include the Social Services Partnership Forum, Curriculum for Wales Stakeholder Group, the Together for Children and Young People Programme Board and the Improving Outcomes for Children Ministerial Advisory Group. She is also on the Cymru Well Wales collaborative. On a UK level she was one of the 10 Commissioners on the UK Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.

Catriona co-chairs Voices from Care Cymru and she has also been on the boards of several charities such as the National Family and Parenting Institute and the Wales Council for Voluntary Action.

Internationally, Catriona was the founder President of Eurochild (2001-2010), the pan European NGO funded by the European Commission that aims to combat child poverty and social exclusion across Europe. She was President of the International Forum for Child Welfare 2008-2012 and also Vice President of the European Social Platform of NGO’s in 2010-2012.