Ian is our Founder and CEO. He started the charity after the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. He believes sport helps children to learn a lot of skills that will help them throughout life, and wanted to help more children have positive sporting experiences. After seeing the injustices that disabled children face, Ian believed we could change the system. Before Level Water, Ian studied Sports Science then Marketing, started his career in Investment Banking, and went on to become a Senior Advisor at The Foundation (one of the UK's first Innovation consultancies) and European Director of Decode (a global youth strategy consultancy). He swam competitively, at best placing 5th in the country, and went on to compete in triathlon, where he came second at the World Age Group Championships in Beijing.

Lucy is our Operations Director. She started her career as a Project Manager from school, and has over 15 years of experience leading global projects across a wide-range of both private and public sector organisations (with a brief 6 week stint as a Met Police Officer!). Previous to Level Water, Lucy was the Business Planning and Operations Director at the International NGO Girl Effect (previously the Nike Foundation), where she also led the TEGA program, a tech-enabled, girl-centered insights method embedded into hard-to-reach communities across Africa and Asia. Lucy has always had a passion for sports and the sense of community that it brings to people from all different backgrounds and walks of life. Lucy currently works across a number of different ad-hoc freelance projects within the UK and further afield, and is a proud Samaritans Listening Volunteer. Lucy has hosted a number of music gigs in aid of the mental health charity Mind and is also a keen runner and painter.

Andy is our Fundraising Director and joins Level Water with 15 years of experience in the charity sector, including time at Cancer Research UK where he led high performing teams across Community, Events, Corporate and Legacy Fundraising. Most recently, Andy has been running More Human, a tech-for-good company that helps community organisers get people together easily. 

Outside of work, Andy is a runner and writer, and splits his time between plodding around on the trails and scribbling down half-formed ideas that may or may not see the light of day. He lives in rural Devon with his family and Toby, a charming (and occasionally naughty) Labrador. He's a firm believer that time outdoors, moving your body, and a good dog are the foundations of clear thinking.

Matt is a programme leader and behavioural science practitioner with over a decade of experience designing and delivering inclusive health and sport initiatives.

Before joining Level Water, Matt led national work at Alzheimer’s Society, partnering with organisations including The FA, Premier League and British Airways to improve accessibility and inclusion for people living with dementia. His work has influenced practice across the UK and reached the public through major campaigns, training programmes and high-profile activations.

Matt specialises in behaviour change, co-design and partnership working, with a strong focus on reducing inequalities and creating environments where everyone feels able to take part. He is passionate about the role of sport in building confidence, connection and lifelong wellbeing, particularly for people with disabilities and long-term health conditions.

Outside of work, he is an endurance athlete, representing Great Britain in obstacle course racing. Matt is also an actor, treading the boards at several theatres across Hertfordshire, alongside directing the Company of Teens youth group in St Albans.

Andy is our Training and Excellence Manager and works on the programmes team with Matt. Andy has more than 25 years of experience working within aquatics and is a qualified teacher/coach in every aquatic discipline (except Diving). He is a qualified Swim England & STA tutor and delivers Level 1 & 2 teacher courses & CPD’s for Swim Wales in his free time to help develop the teachers of the future. Andy’s first interaction with Level Water was when he met with Ian in 2015 and signed a partnership with us to provide our supported lessons at the 5 pools he had responsibility for in his role as Swimming Development Officer in Bridgend. With Andy’s support the partnership quickly grew to become one of the biggest we had at that time. In 2017 he was selected to train to be one of our tutors to deliver our specialist training to teachers before they start to deliver our supported lessons.

Andy joined Level Water in the summer of 2021 and has been instrumental in helping us go from less than 200 supported swimmers across 40 pools to nearly 1,000 swimmers across 170 pools. He has negotiated and agreed partnership agreements with many of the pools we work with today and has facilitated Level Water training for over 1,000 teachers across the UK (delivering around half of that number personally).

Andy was a competitive swimmer from the age of 8, going on to compete at regional & national level and still attends (Level Water commitments allowing) 2 early morning training sessions a week with his local Swim Wales regional performance centre. Although he no longer competes, he still swims as no other sport can replicate how great he feels after a swim session and his club fees help to support the programme to allow children & young people to achieve their potential.

Andy is passionate about every child having the opportunity to learn to swim as he has benefited massively, both personally and professionally, from the opportunities he has been afforded. With his experience as a Swim Teacher, Swimming Development Officer and Aquatics Manager he knows that standard group lessons are not suitable to meet the needs of many children with SEND and as a result many of the children that Level Water supports would simply not have the opportunity to learn to swim without our support.

Ashleigh is our Programme Officer, she is a life-long swimmer and started her swimming career as a volunteer coach in her local swimming club. Ashleigh has over 20 years of experience as a swimming teacher in a range of settings, including teaching adults, swimmers with SEND and children excluded from mainstream education. Ashleigh is also a tutor for Swim England.

Prior to Level Water, Ashleigh managed the award-winning Deaf-Friendly Swimming Project on behalf of the National Deaf Children’s Society. The four-year Sport England funded project resulted in children accessing deaf-friendly swimming lessons nationwide and hundreds of swimming teachers receiving deaf-awareness training, Ashleigh has achieved BSL Level 3. Ashleigh also spent six years working for the England and Wales Cricket Board as a Safeguarding Advisor.

Ashleigh lives in Birmingham and one of her proudest moments was performing in the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

Ben is our Event Operations Assistant, with a diverse background in events that has taken him as far and wide as Mexico and Guatemala, he brings a unique outlook to the team and a drive to make sure everything runs as it should on event day and beyond!

Ben excels at being in the midst of event logistics, ensuring everything runs like clockwork whilst supporting the swimmers and the team around him. Coming from a background in wedding and corporate event execution he thrives in a fast-paced work environment that keeps him on his toes. 

Ben holds a degree in Criminology from the University of Kent and has a passion for everything outdoors including trekking, scuba diving and of course, wild swimming. Charity has been a cornerstone of Ben's life throughout his childhood and adolescence so being part of such a special team means a great deal to him. 

Jasmin is our Fundraising Coordinator. She joins Level Water after spending the last 6 years working in architecture where she’s delivered award winning, community focused projects for the charity and public sector.

At Level Water, Jasmin translates her dedication to meaningful community building to design our supporter journey, helping our fundraisers to feel confident and empowered whilst being a friendly face every step of the way!

Endlessly curious, thoughtful and excited by life, if you don’t find Jasmin down the pool you’ll find her running, getting to grips with the open water or out on the trails. Jasmin learnt to swim later in life after a negative experience with swimming lessons as a child. Two-decades later she faced her fears, equipped with a new pair of prescription goggles and a bunch of adult swimming lessons! Disability is also central to Jasmin’s family life, so the Level Water Mission is one close to her heart.

Gracie joins Level Water as Marketing Manager and believes in the power of real human connection to drive change. She’s spent the last few years running a creative agency, Glocelium, leading global campaigns at the intersection of sport and culture, including work connected to the Paris 2024 Olympic cycle.  She is particularly passionate about using sport as a tool for inclusion, confidence and long-term impact, which is what drew her to Level Water. 

Outside of work, you’ll likely find her in nature.  Whether that be climbing, on a bike, or trying to muster up the courage for a cold dip...and you can guarantee her dog (Peggy) will be somewhere nearby on all the adventures!