David Sharp has been Chief Executive of North Yorkshire Youth (NYY) since November 2011. He also sits on the North Yorkshire County Council Safeguarding Executive Partnership, the Corporate Parenting Group and the Children and Young Peoples Overview and Scrutiny Committee as the voluntary sector representative.

Graham is a qualified youth worker who has worked in both the Local Authority and the Voluntary Sector and was course leader for the Youth & Community work courses at Bradford College. He also is a member of the NYA ETS committee is active in the union and In Defence of Youth Work and Choose Youth Campaigns.

Christine Smith has worked in Higher Education since 2007. She has worked at the University of Hull since 2017 and is currently a Programme Director in Education Studies incorporating a Special Educational Needs and Disability Inclusion Pathway and has completed a term as Chair of the National Professional Association of Lecturers in Youth and Community Work. Prior to working in HE Christine worked in a range of youth and community settings including as a locality-based Community Education Worker, Principal Youth Officer, Senior Trainer, Staff Development and Quality Assurance Officer. 

Petra is a senior lecturer in Youth and Community Development at Leeds Beckett University, having been a qualified Youth Worker for over 20 years. Having spent most of this time in the drugs field, predominantly as a harm reduction worker with both young people and adults. Later qualifying as a social worker and spending two years in child protection before moving to teaching. Petra also has a PhD in exploring why young women start taking illegal drugs. 

Chloe is a qualified Youth Worker, and her role is Youth Voice and Creative Engagement Officer at North Yorkshire Council. She started her career as a Youth Worker at a Youth Club in Cumbria, then went on to train as a Primary Teacher, before returning to work with teenagers as a Climbing Instructor and Forest School Leader. This year she also qualified as a Mountain Leader, and finds that taking young people out of the ordinary can be an incredible way to build resilience, guide open communication and find effective ways to work together to achieve goals.

Jo is a qualified youth worker with over 20 years’ experience. Starting her career within the youth sector as a volunteer in Public Health working with the teenage pregnancy strategy team, developing and delivering sessions in Wakefield schools to reduce the rate of teenage pregnancies. Linking her to volunteer at the local youth club, and going on to become a sessional youth worker. In 2007 she secured a youth work trainee role achieving her degree in youth and community development allowing Jo the opportunity to secure a full-time senior youth worker role for the local authority.

I am a retired senior executive corporate banker with many years experience both lending to a
wide range of businesses in addition to leading a large team of managers across north and east
Yorkshire.
After retiring from banking I held two part time bursarial roles at independent prep schools, and as
an independent secondary school governor.
I volunteered with York City Council Youth Services for over a decade as a youth mentor,
independent visitor and member of the youth offending community panel.

Anna is a qualified Youth Worker and Lead Youth Worker at The Youth Association (TYA). She delivers detached youth work across South and West Yorkshire and supports youth voice work across Leeds as part of the Leeds Youth Alliance. She also contributes to the development of TYA’s Young Leaders Panel, helping to create opportunities for young people to get involved in decision-making and shaping the organisation’s work. Anna is set to step into the role of Senior Youth Worker at TYA, continuing to build on her commitment to youth-led practice and inclusive engagement.