Senior Leadership

Young Enterprise's Senior Leadership Group

Michael Mercieca - Chief Executive

Michael Mercieca was appointed Chief Executive of Young Enterprise in April 2012.

He was previously Director of Finance & Operations at The Prince's Trust which he joined in 2003. As a member of the Senor Management Team he was responsible for Finance, Corporate Support Services, Programme Design and Management of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Over the years, leading a team of 220 staff, Michael helped improve the governance, financial and programme management of The Trust, helping to build the charity's reserves and steadily increasing the number of young people supported each year.
Michael began his career in manufacturing at GKN and Racal Electronics and then switched to the media sector as financial controller for BBC Enterprises. He rose to become Financial Director of BBC World Service TV and UK Cable and Satellite TV, launching BBC News around the world and UK Channels such as UK Gold and UK Living.
After that he was Interactive Service Director at BSkyB and Finance Director at the film and TV production company Mentorn Barraclough Carey. Through his own firm, Media Gap, he has advised companies such as Yellow Pages, NTL, Telewest, and The Co-operative Bank.
He qualified as a chartered management accountant in 1980.

Catherine Marchant - Director

Catherine is responsible for leading Young Enterprise's work in developing relationships with corporate and other supporters, marketing & communications.

Catherine has over 15 years of experience in the charity sector, including eight years as Chief Executive of Young Enterprise North East. She served with distinction as Interim Chief Executive of the whole national organisation between 2011-12. She has built a reputation for developing and managing strong relationships with prominent businesses, individuals and key government agencies. She has led a number of exciting PR campaigns within the North East region, helping to drive forwards the enterprise agenda with young people and business supporters.
Catherine was educated in Durham and Newcastle. She is a Trustee of the Girls Geeks Charitable Foundation and a North East Women's Enterprise Ambassador. Catherine lives in County Durham.

Sharon Davies - Director

Sharon is responsible for leading Young Enterprise's development and support of staff as well as its finance and commercial functions.

Sharon is an MBA qualified director with a strong track record in the planning and implementation of sucessful organisational change within not for profit organisations. A former youth worker, she led the Connexions service in North Cumbria immediately before joining Young Enterprise, managing a team of over 50 staff to provide information, advice, guidance and personal development to young people.
Sharon is a graduate of John Moore's University. She is an open water rescue diver and lists her hobbies as surfing and running. Sharon lives in Lancashire.

Peter Guy - Director

Peter is responsible for leading Young Enterprise's operations function and for the development of our programme offer to young people.

Peter has worked for Young Enterprise for ten years, following a succesful career in the publishing industry where he specialised in customer services and logistics. He has considerable expertise in event management abd support services activity. He also has wide experience of the account management of key stakeholders, including government and international relationships. Whilst Programme Director at Young Enterprise UK, Peter led the work to take the organisation's flagship programme support on-line.
Educated in Hertfordshire, Peter enjoys reading, live music and theatre and plays snooker with enthusiasm. Peter lives in Oxfordshire.

Roy Howard - Director

Roy is responsible for leading the development and management of Young Enterprise's relationships with schools, colleges and unversities along with the recruitment, training and support of our adult volunteers.

Roy has worked for Young Enterprise in London since 2003, most lately as its Operations Director, where he has held line management responsiblility for all field staff and their liason with schools. He has considerable experience and expertise in managing large numbers of staff in remote locations through former senior management responsibilities in Barclays Bank as head of UK International Operations, Head of Customer Services and Head of Service Management.
Roy grew up and was educated in London. He holds a commision in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, is the Treasurer of the London Wing of the Air Training Corps and the Chairman of the Civilian Committee of the Westminster & Chelsea Air Cadet Squadron. Roy lives in Essex.

Debbie Bestwick - Head of Volunteering

Debbie has been with Young Enterprise since 2004, serving most lately as the Corporate Relations Manager in the East Midlands. Prior to joining Young Enterprise she ran her own consulting business specialising in project management consultancy. During this period Debbie became a Volunteer Business Advisor and Area Board Member and managed a volunteer network. She enjoys travelling, sport, walking and enjoying good food and wine.

Mark Collins - Head of Finance

Mark has been with Young Enterprise since 2000, heading up the finance function. His previous roles include a Senior Accounting position with Grant Thornton. He was educated at Oxford Brookes University and became a Chartered Accountant in 1998. His interests include bicycle riding, swimming and occasionally roller skating. He is also a keen DIYer.

Paul Eastham - Head of Communications

Paul joined Young Enterprise in June 2011 from VisitBritain, where he was head of Global Corporate Communications. His career also includes time spent as Head of News at Ofsted and Head of Media and PR at the The Children's Society, where he won two national PR awards. Before that, Paul was one of Britain's most prominent national newspaper journalists at The Times and The Daily Mail. Paul is a graduate of Manchester University.

Jan Sharman - Head of Programmes

Jan joined Young Enterprise South East in 2004 where she held a number of key appointments, the most recent being the Chief Executive. This followed a successful career in the media industry where whe specialised in business development, marketing and research. Jan's career initially started with Proctor & Gamble and moved on to senior roles in television and ambient media companies. Jan is a qualified scuba diver and enjoys cycling, gardening, history and painting.