Sonya is a driven, ambitious CEO of UK health charity, Action for M.E. and Non-Executive Director for social housing and house-building organisation, Curo. Sonya was named in the top 100 most influential women in the West, 2018, and has devoted her career to improving the lives of children and adults now while working to secure change for the future. Sonya started her career in statutory social work before moving to the third sector where she has worked in management roles for the last 15 years including in a senior role with national children’s charity, Barnardo’s, prior to her current CEO role. Sonya has forged collaboration at national and international levels having previously led the government-funded Family Strategic Partnership, which included co-designing and facilitating Innovating Futures, a programme for charity leaders to increase income and reduce dependency on government funding, and currently chairs the International Alliance for M.E. and the Management Group for the £3.2m DecodeME study, an M.E. genetics study delivered in partnership with the University of Edinburgh and a Patient and Public Involvement Group.