Episodes

  • S4 Ep6 Lindsay Baker

    S4 Ep6 Lindsay Baker
    Nov 10 2025
    Lindsay Baker is a CVA-certified volunteer engagement expert with 25 years of experience leading volunteers in a variety of settings including universities, museums, special events, volunteer centres, and tourist attractions. Currently, Lindsay is the Senior Director, Volunteer Resources for the BC Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC SPCA), where she supports 3,300 volunteers at 35 locations across the province. Lindsay is a lifelong learner who enjoys exchanging knowledge, insights, and experience with other volunteer management professionals. As a past president of the Volunteer Management Professionals of Canada (VMPC), Lindsay is well-versed in volunteer management standards and industry best practices. In her role as an Instructor for Conestoga College’s virtual Volunteer Management Certificate Program, she equips non-profit leaders with the tools and training they need to successfully engage volunteers. When she is not volunteering herself, you are likely to find Lindsay listening to a book while walking her rescue dog, Phil. Reach out to Lindsay Baker, CVA, on LinkedIn - she is always up for a coffee chat with colleagues across the globe. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com
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    33 mins
  • S4 Ep5 Mark Freeman

    S4 Ep5 Mark Freeman
    Oct 27 2025
    Mark Freeman is the Chief Executive of Cambridge Council for Voluntary Service (CCVS). He joined CCVS in October 2011 after working at Skills Third Sector, a national organisation promoting the importance of learning and development to charities and voluntary organisations. He has extensive experience working in the sector at local, regional, and national levels. He has also been a trustee for a number of organisations both in Cambridge and nationally. Mark has a Masters in Business Administration from the Open University and Post Grad Diplomas in Development Management and in Housing Management. In his spare time, Mark is a father to two girls (which takes up most of his time) as well as a trustee at Camtrust, he is also involved with a number of groups in the village he lives in. Most Sunday mornings you can find him volunteering at the Cambridge Junior Parkrun at Milton Country Park. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com
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    48 mins
  • S4 Ep4 Gabriella Civico

    S4 Ep4 Gabriella Civico
    Oct 13 2025
    Gabriella Civico is from the UK, but lived in Spain and Portugal for many years before moving to Belgium and becoming a Belgian citizen. She has a degree in Social Policy and Education from the University of Surrey (UK), and a Masters in Education in E-learning from the University of Hull (UK). She worked with CEV in her role as Project Manager for the EYV2011 Alliance from July 2010 until the project’s completion in March 2012, when she became CEV Director. There, she takes a leading role in advocating for better volunteering policies, contributing her expertise at the European level in various European Union expert & advisory groups, such as EQF, Europass, Mobility of Young Volunteers, as well as in the European Solidarity Corps Resource Centre Advisory Group. She also represents CEV in the EESC Liaison Group for European Civil Society Networks and has been further involved in establishing Civil Society Europe in 2014 where she is currently the President. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com
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    37 mins
  • S4 Ep3 Chris Martin

    S4 Ep3 Chris Martin
    Sep 29 2025
    From the initial spark of an idea in 2008 to a platform now empowering over 600,000 volunteers, Chris Martin is CEO and founder of TeamKinetic. After studying a Masters in Sports Science at Leeds Metropolitan University and realising that he was ill-equipped for a ‘real job’, he set about building a company that did some good in the world and was a fun place to work. Most recently, Chris has embarked on a new passion project alongside his TeamKinetic work, setting up a not-for-profit and a Community of Practice to advance the volunteer management profession's understanding and adoption of digital. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com
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    57 mins
  • S4 Ep2 Sarah Latto

    S4 Ep2 Sarah Latto
    Sep 15 2025
    Sarah has been a volunteer in a range of roles since she was a teenager and has worked in the volunteering sector for over 15 years. She supported volunteers and volunteer-involving organisations at Fife Voluntary Action for five years before acting as the national volunteering lead for two Scottish charities – Children First and Shelter Scotland. During this time, Sarah was an active member, and latterly the chair, of the Scottish Volunteering Forum. Sarah became the Senior Policy Officer at Volunteer Scotland – Scotland’s national centre for volunteering - in 2022, advocating for the strategic contribution and interests of volunteers with Scottish decision-makers. Sarah recently moved to Voluntary Health Scotland as their Policy and Public Affairs Lead. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com
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    51 mins
  • S4 Ep1 Denise Hayward

    S4 Ep1 Denise Hayward
    Sep 1 2025
    Denise has been Chief Executive with Volunteer Now since August 2017 and prior to that Director of Engagement since 2010. She has extensive experience in supporting volunteer involvement. She has wide ranging expertise in public and organisational volunteering policy development, volunteering research and supporting good practice in volunteering. She is experienced in third sector governance issues through many years working at a senior level in the voluntary and community sector. Denise is an active volunteer for Portadown YMCA, Armagh Rural Transport and Belfast Central Mission. Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com
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    48 mins
  • Season 3 Episode 7 Tony Goodrow

    Season 3 Episode 7 Tony Goodrow
    May 27 2024
    Tony is the founder and CEO of Better Impact, the creators of Volunteer Impact software. In the late nineties. Tony founded a residential hospice in his hometown and, when looking for volunteer management software for the hospice, he discovered that none was web-based. He offered to build and donate something bespoke for the hospice and that began the journey that has led to organizations in multiple countries and in four languages using Better Impact software. As the need for increasing the security and privacy of volunteer data has grown, Tony has kept up to date with current and emerging practices in the area and is happy to share them with Leaders of Volunteers whenever he can. https://www.betterimpact.com https://welcome.betterimpact.com/ditch_the_spreadsheet https://www.betterimpact.com/BSPC Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com
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    40 mins
  • Season 3 Episode 6 Faiza Venzant

    Season 3 Episode 6 Faiza Venzant
    May 13 2024
    From a young age, Faiza Venzant's parents instilled a strong sense of volunteerism in herself and her two older brothers. They, as immigrants to Canada from Uganda in the early 70s made a successful transition into Canadian life with the help of many generous volunteers. A volunteer herself from a very young age, she has been an advocate for volunteer engagement and excellence in volunteer management for over 20 years. As a facilitator for the Community Action Poverty Simulation, Faiza is passionate about equity and access amongst volunteers and leaders of volunteers. Faiza immigrated to the United States in 2021 and now serves as the Executive Director with the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration and an active member and volunteer with Association for Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE.) She has been a CVA (Certified in Volunteer Administration) since 2016. In 2018, Faiza published her first children’s book entitled, "My Mamma Wants to Eat Me Up!". As a mother of two young boys, she has not actually eaten any of her children. Learn more about the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration at www.cvacert.org Read more about the ADEVI research at https://cvacert.org/adevi/ Music by Zen_Man from Pixabay Thanks to Awesome Panda for their work editing this episode. Find out more at https://www.awesomepandauk.com
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    38 mins