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Carl Sargeant AM is the Welsh Government Minister for Social Justice and Local Government. Born in St. Asaph, he is a former Quality and Environmental Auditor and industrial fire-fighter. He was first elected in 2003 and was Labour Chief Whip and Deputy Business Manager prior to his appointment in December 2009.
Derrick Sherwin is a British television producer, writer, and actor. He is best known as the story editor (1968-69) and later producer (1969-70) of Doctor Who. As of October 2009, he is one of only two producers of the classic series who are still alive. His contributions to the series included introducing UNIT, the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, moving it from black and white to colour, and casting Jon Pertwee as the Doctor. He remains a writer and television producer. He is half Welsh.
Karen Sinclair AM was first elected to the Assembly in May 1999 and was previously a member of the Cabinet, as the Business Manager from 2003 to 2005. Karen was a founding member of the All-Party Group on Deaf Issues and has also been a member of the Agriculture and Health Committees. She chaired the URBAN II regeneration project monitoring Committee in West Wrexham. She is standing down from the Assembly in 2011. Previously, Karen has worked in the Youth service for fourteen years and managed a house for people with learning disabilities for Wrexham Social Services. She is also a former trained Citizens Advice Bureau adviser.
Ken Skates was elected to the National Assembly to represent Clwyd South for Labour in May 2011. He is a former journalist and office manager for Mark Tami MP. He is the son of a steel worker and a graduate of Cambridge University, where he read Social and Political Science.
Cressida Slater was born in Abergavenny. Now renowned as a foodie destination, Cressida also has a real passion for Welsh food and drink. With a degree in languages, she blames her interest in local cuisine on the time she spent studying in France and Italy. Cressida has worked mainly around South East Wales with local food and drink producers, helping to promote products and develop markets. Alongside this, Cressida was co-owner of the award-winning Old Post Office Restaurant & Rooms in St Fagans, Cardiff for three years. Most recently Cressida has taken up a post with the Welsh Perry and Cider Society, an umbrella organisation for producers and consumers of real Welsh cider.
nicksmith Nick Smith is the Member of Parliament for Blaenau Gwent, elected on 6th May 2010, with the largest swing to Labour in the UK. In parliament Nick is Parliamentary Private Secretary to Douglas Alexander, the Shadow Foreign Secretary. He is also a member of the influential Public Accounts Committee, responsible for scrutinising government spending for value for money. Before entering Parliament he was Director of Policy and Partnerships at the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, Campaign Manager with the NSPCC, and Organiser for the Welsh Labour Party. Nick was brought up in Blaenau Gwent, going to Tredegar Comprehensive School. His family worked in the mining and steel industries. Nick has an MSc from Birkbeck College, and now lives in Nantyglo in his constituency.
Owen Smith is the shadow Wales Office Minister and, since May 2010, the Member of Parliament for Pontypridd. Owen began his career as a BBC journalist in Wales and London, producing  programmes such as BBC Radio 4′s ‘Today’ Programme and BBC Wales’ ‘Dragon’s Eye’. He has also worked as a Special Adviser at the Wales and Northern Ireland Offices and as a Director of a world-leading biotech company.
Owain Smolovic Jones is a former Welsh Labour communications officer. He is currently pursuing a PhD in leadership development at Cranfield University.
Rhea Stevens is Campaigns Coordinator for Age Cymru, responsible for researching, designing and delivering influencing campaigns. From Newport, and now living in Cardiff, Rhea studied English Language and Literature at Oriel College, Oxford. She has previously worked for Newport Social Services, DWP, and as part of a team developing an educational and social integration program for children in Pskov region, Russia.
Alex Still was born in Bridgend and raised in both Wales and the United States, before studying history at Durham University and international politics at Aberystwyth University. A Welsh Labour activist, Alex worked for a former MEP Eluned Morgan in Brussels before returning home to work in public affairs in Cardiff Bay. He now works for Jeff Cuthbert AM in the National Assembly for Wales. His political interests include business and the economy; constitutional and electoral reform; the European Union and international affairs; social cohesion and regeneration; and the place of history in Welsh politics.
Guy Stoate is a qualified Social Worker, Teacher and Nurse with a Masters degree in Philosophy of Healthcare. He has considerable practical experience of working with children in a wide variety of settings. He is currently a Childcare Lecturer at Coleg Morgannwg teaching on a range of courses including the Foundation Degree in Childhood Studies. Guy has been an active Trade Unionist for many years and Chairs UCU Wales Education Policy Group. He is currently President of UCU Wales. He is married with three children and lives in Gwaelod-y- Garth near Cardiff.
Dr Kay Swinburne MEP was elected in June 2009 where she was the first Conservative in living memory to top the polls in Wales. With a strong background in finance, she has become the UK Conservative delegation’s Spokesman and the European Conservatives and Reformists Group Coordinator for the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in the European Parliament. Kay’s main political priorities in Wales include creating a strong, stable Welsh economy, which encourages both trade and businesses, particularly SMEs; and supporting the Welsh farming industry through reducing bureaucracy at EU level.
Mike Tan has over 30 years of management and leadership experience spent in the public and private sectors. After a successful career as a civil engineer, he founded Career Change Wales in 2008 which specialises in up-skilling and re-skilling individuals through accreditation such as ILM and Edexcel. He continues to be a visiting lecturer for the University of Glamorgan in Project Management, and Civil Engineering practice and sustainability. Mike has been trained as a mentor for Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation and has mentored technicians, undergraduates, graduates and senior engineers for many years. A qualified master trainer in iMindMap software and trained and qualified in the use of PRINCE2, Mike is an Executive Member of the Association of Consultant and Engineering (ACE) and sits on CIHT educational examination boards in examination panels.
Barry Taylor is Chair of the Caerffili/Blaenau Gwent cell of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society), a pressure group which campaigns for the future of the Welsh language throughout Wales. In his day-to-day life he is a teacher in an English-medium primary school, where he is responsible for the teaching of Welsh as a second language throughout the school.
David Taylor was Special Adviser to Peter Hain as Secretary of State for Wales until the last General Election. A former aide to Welsh Education Minister Leighton Andrews, he’s worked on more campaigns for Labour than he can remember. He is currently in Australia trying to help re-elect Welsh-born PM Julia Gillard.
Debbie Green head picture Debbie Thomas is the Policy and Campaigns Officer for NDCS (National Deaf Children’s Society) Cymru. She graduated from Cardiff University in 2006 with a First Class Honours in English Literature and Cultural Criticism. She has also worked as a journalist in the South Wales area.
Martin Thomas grew up in Pontardawe and escaped to the metropolis, Swansea, where to complete an English degree. He currently works for the South Wales Miners’ Library and is studying a masters in librarianship. He plays guitar in his spare time.
3996503846_3a83669301_o Meleri Thomas is PR Manager at Wales Millennium Centre. Prior to that she managed communications for Ofcom initially in Wales and for the past two and a half years at its headquarters in London. She is a former press officer at the Welsh Language Board and was national press officer for Plaid Cymru, based at the party’s head office in Ty Gwynfor. Meleri graduated from Bristol University in 1994 with a degree in Drama, Theatre and Film studies.
Rachel Thomas was born and bred in Cardiff. A long term and committed community campaigner, Rachel was also involved in the fight to save the Pantmawr Inn in north Cardiff. Rachel was invited to speak to MPs about community campaigning and saving pubs at an All Party Parliamentary Group in the House of Commons in 2009. She has a Masters degree in Political Communications from Cardiff University.
rhodriglyn-home Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM was elected to the National Assembly in 1999 and represents Carmarthen East and Dinefwr. Between 2007 and 2008 he served as Minister for Culture in the Welsh Assembly Government, and he is now one of the most senior backbenchers in the institution. In the Assembly he has served variously as Chair of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, Chair of the Culture Committee and Plaid’s Deputy Assembly Group Leader. He was born in Wrexham in 1953 and attended the University of Wales Aberystwyth, Bangor and Lampeter.A former Chair of CND Cymru, the Welsh spokesperson for Private Business and Chair of the Mid & South Wales Liaison Committee of NSPCC Wales, he is also a Minister of religion.
Roy J Thomas is a Director of the Public Trust Partnership formed in 2002 which provides strategic advice to major organisations particularly listed companies in the UK. A former corporate lawyer for over 20 years. Trained in the City of London with leading firm City firms Jaques & Lewis and Simmons & Simmons. He held the position of Legal Director and Agency Secretary of the Welsh Development Agency from 1994 to 2002. Deputy Chairman of the Wales International Business Council. Director of Cardiff Business Club. Director of the Millennium Stadium plc. Director and founder in 2009 of the Cardiff Business Partnership. Chair of Kidney Wales Foundation. Chair of the Donate Wales Campaign to better organ transplantation working with the Welsh Assembly Government. Vice President of the Wales India Centre.
Seth O Thomas works in the City of London, sits on the Board of Wales in London, and the Governing Council of the Royal Institute of International Affairs.  He writes in a personal capacity.
Simon Thomas is Plaid Cymru AM for Mid and West Wales. A former MP for Ceredigion between 2000 and 2005, he spoke in Parliament on environment, food and rural affairs, transport, International development, energy, and culture, media and sport. He has worked as a rural development manager, an anti-poverty officer, as the Development Manager for Technium Pembrokeshire, and as a researcher for Taff Ely Borough Council. He has also served as a Ceredigion county councillor. Having previously served as Plaid’s Director of Policy and Research, he spent three years as a Senior Special Advisor to the Welsh Government, advising the Deputy First Minister and the other Plaid Cymru Ministers and helping to deliver the One Wales programme. He is currently standing in the election to lead Plaid Cymru. Simon lives in Aberystwyth with his wife and two children.
Steffan Thomas is a socialist, European Politics graduate, call-centre drone and occasional musician. He lives in Swansea with his partner and a smug sense of superiority. He also has his own blog, phasedandbemused.
Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds was born in Torfaen, South Wales, where he attended St. Felix R.C. Primary School and St. Alban’s R.C.Comprehensive School, at which he is now a Governor. He read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, graduating in 2001 before starting work as a Lecturer in Politics at his old college, specialising in twentieth-century British government. He also trained as a barrister, and is a tenant at Civitas Law in Cardiff, Wales’s first specialist civil and public law Chambers. He is the Secretary of the Torfaen Constituency Labour Party . Nicklaus lives in north Torfaen with his wife Rebecca, his daughter Matilda, and his pet dog, Ellie. He writes in a personal capacity.
Richard Thomson2 Richard Thomson is a past Head of Campaigns for the SNP and a former Head of Research for the party’s Westminster MPs. His move into full-time political activity followed a career which saw him work in the pensions industry and dabble for a number of years as a semi-pro musician. He now lives in Aberdeenshire and is his party’s candidate in the Gordon Westminster constituency. He is a columnist for the monthly Scots Independent newspaper, and blogs at the similarly titled ‘Scots and Independent‘ website.
Robin Tilbrook is the Chairman and a founding member of the English Democrats. A former member of the Conservative Party, Mr Tilbrook is a solicitor who lives and works in Essex. Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, he was educated at Wellington College in Berkshire, the University of Kent, and the College of Law in Chester. He is married with two girls and a boy.
Ian Titherington was born and raised in Swansea. He was a Plaid Cymru candidate in the 2005 General Election and stood in the 2007 National Assembly election. He is also secretary of UNDEB – Plaid Cymru’s trade union – as well as a Unison branch officer. His political interests include workers’ rights, sustainable development and transport, and he is also an active anti-fascist campaigner.
David Torrance was born and brought up in Edinburgh and educated at Leith Academy, the University of Aberdeen and Cardiff University’s School of Journalism. He has a background in television and print journalism and also worked as Parliamentary Aide to the Shadow Scottish Secretary David Mundell at the House of Commons. He currently works as an Edinburgh-based freelance writer, journalist, public relations consultant and broadcaster, covering politics for STV, supplying obituaries to the Herald and writing historical comment pieces for the Scotsman. David’s first book, ‘The Scottish Secretaries’, was published by Birlinn to critical acclaim in 2006; his second, ‘George Younger: A Life Well Lived’, followed in 2008, while his third, ‘We in Scotland’ – Thatcherism in a Cold Climate, was published in 2009. He is currently working on an unauthorised biography of Alex Salmond. In between all of the above, David is also studying for a part-time PhD in political history at Queen Mary, University of London.
Ed Townsend graduated from the University of Leicester and Cardiff University Business School, working as a journalist, then a press officer for Dunlop and National Girobank. In 1980, he went to work for the Daily Post, but returned to the private sector five years later to work as press and PR manager for BT. From 2002 to 2003 he was press officer for the Welsh Liberal Democrats. He contested the constituency of Blaenau Gwent in the 2001 General Election and Newport East in the 2010 General Election.
Alan Trench is an honorary fellow in the School of Social and Political Studies at the University of Edinburgh, and before that was Research Fellow in the Political Economy of Multi-level Governance in the Law School there. He is also an honorary senior research fellow at the Constitution Unit at University College London. He has published widely on constitutional, intergovernmental and financial aspects of devolution, including editing four volumes in the Constitution Unit’s ‘State of the Nation’ series. He has been specialist adviser to two Parliamentary inquiries into devolution – by the Lords Constitution Committee in 2002-03, and by the Lords Select Committee on the Barnett Formula in 2009. He is also constitutional adviser to Tomorrow’s Wales/Cymru Yfory.
Carwyn Tywyn is currently Secretary of the Welsh Department of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches. He is also a professional folk harpist.