Our Executive Team

Mike King

Chief Executive Officer

Mike is the Chief Executive Officer of Releasing Potential, having founded the organisation in 2001. Mike is a PE teacher by training and is qualified in a range of outdoor activities at the highest level. Mike still enjoys teaching, and when he can delivers Outdoor Education across the Releasing Potential School as well as professional training as part of the Releasing Potential Institute. Mike has strategic responsibility for the School and for the organisation as a whole.

Catherine Brennan

Senior Executive Officer

Catherine joined Releasing Potential in 2012 as Operations Manager for what was then a small charity. Catherine’s background is in education, having taught in secondary, tertiary and Higher Education settings. She has worked with vulnerable young people for many years in a range of day services and residential programmes. Catherine oversees all operations for the charity and for Releasing Potential School, and is responsible for Human Resources and Safeguarding across the entire organisation.

Jane Skinner

Chief Financial Officer

Jane has been at Releasing Potential since its beginnings as a small charity in 2001. Jane oversees all finances for the organisation and works at our Havant base of operations alongside the rest of the executive team. Jane’s background is in finance, and she has worked for a number of organisations in senior management positions.

Our trustees

Our trustees generously give up their time to guide and support Releasing Potential as it seeks to grow and move forward. They are enthusiastic about the work that we do and open to new ways that we can develop as an organisation. They embrace the ‘critical friend’ role, asking all the right questions, ensuring that our executive team have thought through their plans and vision for the future. Our trustees are an integral part of Releasing Potential’s decision-making, safeguarding, and financial processes.

Paul Suter

Chair of Trustees

Paul has the skills essential to any board: a way with numbers. As Finance Director of a local business he provides guidance and support with budgeting and spreadsheets. As Chair he provides a wise voice and a steady hand, and has been instrumental in recent decisions around focusing the charity’s work on our central mission to support young people.

Sheila Roberts

Trustee

Shelia comes to us with a wealth of experience working as a Justice of the Peace and voluntary member of the Sussex Youth Offending Team. She has also has spent much of her energy over the years supporting voluntary and community sector organisations and has a keen interest in Restorative Justice.

Kate Palmer

Trustee

Kate works in Social Care, so brings an understanding of the background and home life of the young people we encounter to her role as a trustee. An experienced Social Worker, Kate is enthusiastic about the ways in which the work of Releasing Potential can create better options and outcomes for young people and families.

Elise Eminson

Trustee

Elise joined the board of trustees in 2016, and serves on the educational steering committee for the Releasing Potential School. Elise is an experienced secondary school English and Drama teacher and holds a PGCE and an MA in English Education. She has also run her own education business and is a mother to four children. Elise is currently studying for a PhD at King’s College London; her chosen area is talk-based teaching and learning.