Social Value in the City: How building communities across our region increases connection, creativity and delivers on your social value objectives

Dee is the Social Value Programme Lead at Manchester City Council, based in the Strategy and Economic Policy Team. Dee works with colleagues across the Council, and with different organisations throughout the city, to make sure that Manchester is maximising opportunities to generate meaningful social value. This involves developing new tools and systems, providing guidance, and showcasing and learning from good practice. Dee’s work also looks at ethical business practices and broader community weath building approaches. Her background is in the charity sector and she is driven by social justice and working for the public good.

After spending the last ten years creating an all-employee experience that fuels performance and makes Autotrader one of the most admired digital employers in the UK, Christos remains as passionate as ever. Leading the People, Culture and Environment team, Christos is jointly responsible for the group’s people strategy and delivering their Community, Environmental, and Diversity & Inclusion commitments. Deeply passionate about the power of partnerships between the business and voluntary sector, Christos is a trustee for We Are Survivors, Vice President of Forever Manchester and a member of the steering committee for Change the Race Ratio. Before Autotrader, Christos studied Marketing Communications at The American College of Greece and the London School of Economics before completing an MSc in Human Resources Management at the University of Manchester. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

As well as heading up the Social Impact and Procurement service at the GM Business Growth Hub, Matt also leads on the wider Growth Company’s social impact agenda.

He has worked in community development and social impact for 20 years, previously with local authorities and a national drug and alcohol charity, before joining the Hub in 2017.

Passionate about value and societal benefit, Matt has fronted programmes that challenge ways of working more responsibly within businesses, championing good employment practices, community partnerships and, most recently, a more inclusive procurement landscape across Greater Manchester.

Matt is the co-founder of the Greater Manchester Anti-Slavery Business Network and sits on various leadership groups focused on topics such as the real living wage, VCFSE development, work experience and is the former Chair of the Greater Manchester Social Value Network.