Introducing Anneessa Mahmood, our new Director of Member Services

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This week CTA welcomed Anneessa Mahmood as our new Director of Member Services! In her new role, Anneessa will be working to support our members across the UK, making sure they get the most out of being a member of the Community Transport Association. You can hear from Anneessa below:

“There’s something radical about you and your organisation – you design and deliver inclusive and accessible community based transport and shape society into something closer to how it should be. There’s no hanging about and wait-and-see for a future that might not emerge. You just do it. Community transport makes it happen.

So much goes into what you do. There’s a bit of partnership working, a bit of grant-bidding, a bit of compliance checking. There’s also quite a bit of relationship building and lots of finding practical ways to help people live in a dignified and independent way.  You practice the social ideal that the people we serve, our friends and neighbours and communities, are worth putting our hands up for – worth navigating regulatory frameworks, worth getting drivers trained and vehicles up to meeting high safety standards, worth finding best practice from others who do the same as you in a different area and worth finding ways for your organisations to survive and thrive.

I feel honoured to be part of a sector that shows day in and day out the power of people coming together on issues that matter to them.

I am thrilled to be stepping into the role of Director of Member Services at your Community Transport Association and I extend a huge hello to all of you. I have loved working in and with national member organisations and networks. At CTA, one of our values is that “we put members first”. To me, a member first approach requires understanding your priorities and concerns and looking at our member benefits and services through your lens. This is the way of working I’ll be bringing to the organisation from my experience at the National Union of Students in service design and delivery in a membership context.

I had the privilege of visiting EasyGo CT in Stockport on Tuesday this week. Easy Go have been running transport since 1981 and are based at the heart of their community, making a huge difference to their passengers. I was so impressed with the dedication of their staff team and the commitment of their volunteers. Carl told us that 45% of their passengers use a wheelchair and while we were there, drivers were doing family visits for their school services. It was incredibly insightful spending my first day seeing the day in and day out work of a member and I’ll be doing more of this across the UK over the coming weeks and months. I’ll also be understanding more about the context and regulatory frameworks the sector operates in, before then getting to work on how to make CTA a more responsive, relevant and accessible membership organisation.

I’m on anneessa@ctauk.org if any of this has struck a chord and you’d like to speak. Bye for now and watch this space.”