The Business Team

The Business Team supports the Management Team in the day-to-day work of the Avante Partnership. The team is comprised of General Managers and key operational managers who co ordinate our work at a local level enabling decisions to be taken quickly and ensuring our resources are focused on service needs.

The Business Team is made up of the Management Team and the following members of staff:

Diane Feeney - Learning and Development Manager

Born in Zimbabwe, and completing her education in Broadstairs in England, after finishing her A levels Diane left school to join the family business working in the accounts and payroll department. After having children, Diane began working in a nursery school and qualified in Early Years. She then went on to manage a preschool for 4 years and qualified as an assessor to support colleagues through NVQs. Moving to Secondary School and qualified as a teacher to give children with learning difficulties 1:1 support.

Diane left the school system to set up a car rental business as Managing Director, for personal reasons, but continued as a part time keyworker supporting Adults with learning difficulties and also as an elderly care assistant.

Diane continued assessing and qualified as an Internal Verifier and Health and Safety Officer, delivering training and assessment, she then moved onto become a full time assessor and Internal Verifier with an independent assessment centre. Diane was promoted to the Contract Manager of the Assessment Centre and gained Level 4 qualification.

In 2005 Diane joined KCHT as the Training Manager for KCHT Futures Ltd and gained Nebosh Health and Safety Qualification, and is currently undertaking her Masters degree in Leadership and Management. Her ambition is to ensure that every member of staff within the Avante Partnership is upskilled to deliver the highest standard suitable for their job role.

Mary Bishop - Quality Assurance Manager

Born and educated in Kent, Mary commenced working in Social Care with the Kent County Council in 1976. Initially she worked as a Residential Social Worker in a Remand Home for adolescent boys, later working with Children with Learning Disabilities. Since then she has been the Registered Manager of four Residential Homes, one with BUPA and the rest with KCHT.

Marys career path with KCHT has also seen her as the Area Manager and Registered Responsible Person for the Trusts care homes in Greenwich, then the Operations Manager for the ten Kent and Medway Homes. As from 1 April 2007 she became the General Manager of KCHT Care at Home service, which provides domiciliary and support services for older people and adults with learning disabilities. In April 2009 Mary changed her role again to become Quality Assurance Manager.

She is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Management and a member of the Quality Assurance Sub Group of the National Care Forum.

Andrew Holden - Management Accountant

Andrew was born in the Medway towns, and despite a travelling army background, was educated mostly in Kent, before training with Canterbury Chartered Accountants Reeves and Neylan.Moving to London, his early career was spent in public service with the BBC, in various internal auditing and management accounting roles, followed by a return to Kent, when he joined a local air conditioning manufacturer based near Maidstone, progressing to financial controller.

Latterly, Andrew decided to focus his career on the Care sector, and spent nearly five years as financial accountant for MCCH, a Kent based mental health and learning disabilities care provider.Finally, in 2002, he joined KCHT as management accountant, being appointed to the Business Team in 2005, with particular responsibilities for company financial reporting, and accounting for Community Support Services, Young Peoples Services and Corporate Resources

Jacqui Sedgwick - Payroll and ICT Manager

Jacqui was educated in Kent where she has lived most of her life.

Her career in Payroll started in the NHS where she quickly progressed before moving to the private sector. Following a career break Jacqui returned to payroll in the NHS. She joined KCHT in 1992 to set up the payroll system for the transfer of 9 homes from Kent County Council.

As KCHT grew over the years to become a large Social Care provider in Kent, Bexley and Greenwich, so did Jacquis responsibilities, firstly with Payroll and then also with ICT through varying stages into her current role of Payroll and ICT Manager.

Jacqui is an Observer Representative of the Bexley Pensions Committee, a Member of the Institute of Payroll Professionals and a Common Purpose Graduate

Ray Drake - Financial Accountant

Born and educated on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent. After leaving school, he worked for Defence Sales at the Ministry of Defence in London. His career then progressed into industry where he started his accountancy training.He worked at Twinlock Limited as Assistant Accountant, before moving to Weidmuller as Financial Accountant.

Following redundancy, Ray joined the finance team at KCHT in 2000 as Senior Finance Officer, and then Financial Accountant. Ray joined the Business Team in April 2005.

Ray is an Associate of the Institute of Cost and Executive Accountants.