All of the Essex Care Association (ECA) management committee are owners, managers, or trustees of a care organisation in Essex, Southend or Thurrock. They therefore have extensive knowledge and awareness of the sector and are perfectly placed to guide the Association to ensure we are providing valued support and guidance to our members.
Rahul Jagota
Essex Care Association Chair
Rahul Jagota
Essex Care Association Chair
‘I am privileged to be the Chairperson of Essex Care Association for the past 3 years, co leading our strategic aim, with our diligent committee, to deliver the best outcomes for our members.’
Previous to taking on the role of Chairperson, Rahul had been an ECA committee member for several years. As Chairperson, he is passionate that ECA demonstrate tangible differences in each aspect of its work through the key philosophy that ‘Relationship is Everything’. It is a passion that drives him, having experienced many years of meetings frustratingly where there was mostly talk and very little action.
Rahul undertook this role in amidst the challenging period of Covid. This period was pivotal in his decision to accept the role, as he still perceives it as a golden opportunity to elevate respect for Social Care, on par to the deserved respect of the NHS. Rahul firmly believes ECA are playing their part in delivering this improved perception on Social Care in the work carried out, leading to:
- Better & genuine partnership working
- A more positive customer journey
- Better strategies for our workforce to feel proud & be more respected
- Critically & most importantly, improve funding streams
Rahul has been operating Residential Care Homes for the past 25 years within a small family business and undertook the Care Managers Award back in 2001. Through the years they have piloted numerous innovations in their homes; The Corner House, Corner Lodge & Millard House, and he is proud that the teams have been recognised/awarded for their work on many occasions. Rahul is also a Chartered Accountant, qualifying with KPMG, and has undertaken The Landmark Forum.
Rahul has a passion for travelling and has had a couple of long-term stints of adventure. He plays cricket for his local village side and represents Essex for his age group. He is grateful to still be playing football and spends much time with his family, including enjoying experimenting with his cooking and trying it out on them.
Shani Levy
Essex Care Association Deputy Chair
Shani Levy
Essex Care Association Deputy Chair
Shani has worked in Essex Social Care for over 25 years in various settings from registered care, supported living, day opportunities and supported employment working with a range of customer groups. She started her career at 16 completing a Youth Training Scheme in care, soon realising that making a difference to people lives is her passion.
Shani has been a committee member for 3 years – Shani joined the committee to support the mission of ECA to be the voice of local providers and work in a collaborative and respectful way with Essex County Council.
For 8 years Shani was the Director of Care and Support at Swan Housing, leading teams to provide personalised and customer focused services - Rapid Response Hospital Discharge and Admission avoidance, extra care, and supported housing for young people. Recently Shani has joined ECL as Programme Lead of Intermediate Care.
In her own time, Shani enjoys yoga, shopping and weekends away in her campervan!
Rachel Van Staveren
Essex Care Association Director/Treasurer
Rachel Van Staveren
Essex Care Association Director/Treasurer
Rachel is the Managing Director of Cloud 9 Care, providing care and support to people in their own homes. She is an experienced Carer, although her many duties within Cloud 9 mean that she doesn't do very much direct care work nowadays. As a regular church-goer Rachel tries to bring her Christian ethics into the workplace. Rachel has been a Director of ECA for many years and acts as Treasurer to the Essex Care Association.
Outside work, Rachel enjoys walking with her dog, Brodie (a very lazy whippet), music (singing with Colchester Choral Society) and cricket (travelling the world supporting England). Rachel is a Worship Leader at her Church and supports the wider Church organisation by overseeing its safeguarding function across three counties.
Michelle Cook
Essex Care Association Director
Michelle Cook
Essex Care Association Director
Michelle has been a member of ECA for many years and more recently a Director as part of the Committee. She joined because she felt that it was advantageous to be part of a provider group that were raising issues, highlighting changes, holding local authority to account and representing a sector that has been facing increasing challenges for many years.
Michelle is currently the CEO of Acorn Village, a charity based in Manningtree, who support adults with learning disabilities within residential and supported living services. Michelle has worked for Acorn Village for over 20 years, initially starting a as Student Nurse on a placement, then as a Support Worker, Care Manager, Registered Manager and for the last 7 years as CEO. Their motto is Life is For Living and she tries hard to ensure this runs through everything they do, even nearly 50 years on from when they first opened.
Outside of work, Michelle has a partner, 2 adult children, 2 cats and an 18-month-Old English Bulldog … all of which make her life interesting in one way or another! She enjoys experiencing new things and this year climbed Scafell Pike with her partner and dog. She also went to Porto with some friends, where she learnt that she does not enjoy climbing mountains, but she does enjoy Port!
Tanya George
Essex Care Association Director
Tanya George
Essex Care Association Director
Tanya is the Managing Director of Caremark Chelmsford & Uttlesford. They have been providing domiciliary care and support to people living in the Uttlesford area since 2009. Tanya feels very lucky to work alongside an immensely positive team striving every day to support people to live lives that matter.
Tanya has been a member of ECA for many years and joined the ECA Management Committee in July 2021. She believes that we are stronger together and is proud to be part of an Association which gives a voice to local social care providers and represents members best interests on a number of issues.
Tanya has two adult children who live in Lincoln and York, and therefore spends a lot of time on the A1. She also enjoys cooking and gardening and is an avid fan of cold-water swimming which she does a least twice a week – the colder the better!!
Tom Lyons
Essex Care Association Director
Tom Lyons
Essex Care Association Director
Tom is the Managing Director of Black Swan Care Group who own and operate 22 care homes in the East of England, as well as providing consultancy services to care home operators.
As well as care awards, Tom has won several business awards including Large Business of the Year and was named one of the faces of Grant Thorntons vibrant economy.
Tom is passionate about supporting providers and improving care outcomes. He has supported the NHS with recruitment, having been on interview panels for key integrated roles such as Trusted Assessors.
When not at work Tom likes to spend time with his two children on their smallholding where they look after several rare breed animals.