Our executive team

Mark Lloyd - Managing Director

Mark Lloyd led on the original setting up of Essex Cares as the Country’s first Adult Social Care Local Authority Trading Company by Essex County Council in 2009.    Mark then returned in July 2010 to be appointed Managing Director of Essex Cares.

Over the past 25 years, Mark has been a Director for a number of national public, voluntary, and independent sector provider agencies engaged in innovative strategic service design including the specialist learning disability agency Avenues Trust, the housing and care provider Ashley Homes (Shaftesbury), and the specialist dementia and older care provider Kent Community Housing Trust (Avante Partnership).   Prior to this Mark worked in senior management for Greenwich Council and then Bexley Council in the delivery of Adult Social Care Services.

Mark has led on a number of innovative award winning service delivery models including the delivery of the Country’s first Adult Social Care PFI for  Greenwich in Dementia Care and now in developing Essex Cares in response to the integration agenda for health and social care.

Mark acts as Chair of the Inspire Community Trust a personal assistance and physical disability charity in Bexley.    He is also a regular conference speaker and commentator on social care policy.  Additionally, Mark is a Director of the consultancy firm Care and Health Solutions Limited.

Tracey Greatrex - Director for Community Support Services

Tracey Greatrex joined Essex Cares in June 2011 having previously worked in the NHS for 28 years as a qualified nurse and manager, in both hospital and community settings, mainly in Essex. A key achievement during that time was winning the Eastern and Regional "Manager of the year" award at the Department of Health, Health and Social Care Awards in 2005, when working as a Modern Matron at Thurrock Primary Care Trust.

Previous outcomes include the development of multi-professional integrated teams with unified line management to increase throughput of patients in a Day Hospital and the amalgamation of an Intermediate care team and homecare team which resulted in improved quality, increased response times and patient capacity. Tracey is keen to bring a health perspective to the management team and to be involved in supporting and developing services which are robust and ensure a seamless pathway for the benefit of customers and service users.

Tracey lives in Leigh on Sea with her Husband and has 3 grown up sons

Sarah Garner - Finance Director

Sarah joined Essex Cares in May 2011 originally just to assist the HomeSafe team with all things financial, but was delighted when the position was extended and turned into Interim Financial and Commercial Director.

Prior to Essex Cares Sarah worked as European Finance Director for two very successful cosmetics brands where she was responsible for managing the Finance and supply chain teams, including all Financial, statutory and management reporting as well as budgeting and forecasting for the European operations and setting up various new retail outlets in prime shopping locations.

Following a European Business degree in Berlin, Germany Sarah also worked with several international hi-tech, software and telecoms companies in the UK and Germany, assisting them on expansion within Europe from a financial control and statutory reporting perspective.

Sarah enjoys working with people, seeking improvements to processes and developing strong teams that ultimately provide sound financial information that can be used to help support the strategies of the business.

Sarah lives in Great Notley with her Husband and two children (twins)

Liz Rymell - Head of HR

After returning to full time education as a mature student in the early 90s Liz went on to graduate in Business and Finance and continued her professional development with a post graduate diploma in Human Resource Management.  The majority of Liz’s HR career has been spent in Local Government - both County Council and District Council level.

Liz manages a small team who provide the full range of HR services to Essex Cares from recruitment through to support and advice to managers to the provision of management development.

In the role of HR Manager Liz is keen to promote Social Care as a worthwhile and meaningful career and is proud that Essex Cares is sponsoring a number of Health and Social Care apprenticeships to encourage young people into the care sector.

Outside work Liz enjoys her free time by getting involved with youth groups at her local church and spending as much time as possible with her grandchildren - she is also found at the gym most weekday mornings at 6:15 in the spinning class - which she admits is not a leisurely way to start the day but leaves the evenings free to eat chocolate!

Gary Wright - Director of Business Development

Gary was a founding director of Essex Cares, working on the design of the new business for Essex County Council. Formerly he was in banking and has worked at board level in several industries. He also has a deep interest in social enterprise and has written numerous papers and articles, which have been widely published.

The Director of Business Development role encompasses existing and new business and is tasked with being creative and innovative in delivering strategic growth.

Key in this will be new products and markets and Essex Cares has plans to create leading edge advances in the way that health and social care services are delivered to our customers.

This will be a huge challenge as the industry itself undergoes rapid change, with the focus on maintaining Essex Cares as a leader in its field rather than on any geographic or service boundaries.

Jon Manzoni - Director for Home Support Services

Jon was involved in the set up of Essex Cares and as Director, he is now responsible for providing a range of support services in Essex, which promote and encourage independence.

These include Reablement, Day Services, Telecare Response, Sensory Services and Housing Related Services.

Jon has worked in the social care sector for over 15 years and has worked for both statutory and independent sector organisations in senior management positions, including a local authority, housing association and charity.

He is also a Trustee of a local Mind association, which supports vulnerable people with mental health issues.

Jon currently lives near Southend and outside work is a Southend Utd season ticket holder, dog walker and poetry fan.

Katie Webster – Marketing and Communications Executive

Katie joined the Essex Cares team in April 2010 and now works with all parts of the business to achieve marketing and communication goals.

As part of her Management Sciences Degree, Katie spent a year working as Marketing Assistant for the Post-it Note brand at 3M UK in Bracknell. Since graduating from Loughborough University in 2008, Katie spent some time travelling around the world before working within a national Health and Social care organisation in a similar marketing role.

Katie is originally from Lancashire but Chelmsford has been her home now for just over two years. Outside of work she enjoys keeping fit including running and gymnastics as well as being part of the local choir and more recently developing an interest in photography.