OUR MANAGEMENT TEAM
REBECCA MANSELL
CHIEF
EXECUTIVE
Rebecca was appointed to the role of Chief Executive in January 2022 when the BSL Bill was progressing through Parliament. Rebecca says it is a huge honour working for a prominent organisation in the field of sign language and her focus is to lead the delivery of BDA’s 10-year strategic vision to make significant impact for our language to thrive for future generations.
Rebecca brings to the role a breadth of experience from her years in fundraising having worked in the Deaf voluntary sector for organisations such as Sense International, SignHealth, deafPLUS and RNID. Her early career was as a Forensic Scientist specialising in DNA analysis.
As a professional fundraiser and member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIOF), Rebecca stood for election to join the Board of Trustees to fulfil her passion to increase representation in the fundraising profession. Rebecca has just completed her first term on the Board.
In her personal life, Rebecca became deaf at 4 through meningitis. She has 2 CODA children who are bilingual and bimodal. She is married to Leo who comes from a Deaf family. Their kids love CODA camp and have been going for several years!
JULIA ESSE
HEAD OF COMMUNICATION & FUNDRAISING
Julia Esse is an experienced communications and advocacy professional with a background in politics, international relations, and campaigns. She has worked across both corporate and charity sectors, including roles with the United States Senate, The Financial Times, and The Female Lead.
Originally from the US, Julia moved to the UK in 2020 and now leads our communications and fundraising efforts. Julia oversees and leads the communications team to create impactful campaigns, marketing, PR, and social media strategies. She also works closely with the fundraising team to manage legacy work, gain funding from trusts and foundations, and drive individual giving programmes.
TOM LICHY
HEAD OF POLICY & RESEARCH
Tom Lichy has over 20 years experience in policy and campaigning for deaf rights & sign language legislation. He was previously Chief Executive at Merton Centre for Independent Living, a pan-disability centre run and controlled by Deaf and Disabled people.
He has co-written a Private Members Bill on Deafness that was debated in Parliament; organised a conference to draft a BSL Bill that became a foundation for the current BSL Act 2022; worked in policy and legislation on genetic engineering and disability; and worked in a United Nations group that created a model regulatory framework for Deaf telecommunications relay services worldwide.
His core values are that Deaf signers should lead on all aspects of policy, design, delivery, and evaluation on all BSL-related issues across the UK. Tom has been a trustee at RAD, deafPLUS, UK Council on Deafness, and on the Board of Governors for Heathlands and Frank Barnes schools, - BSL-led schools run and managed by fluently signing deaf staff, both with 'Outstanding' ratings from Ofsted.
At the BDA Tom oversees and runs the Policy & Research teams to create impactful policies that create meaningful change for signers across the UK. A large part of his job is to engage with external organisations to create alignment with BDA’s policies. Tom’s team leads on Parliamentary and Government engagement, runs Parliamentary events, provides the secretariat for the Welsh Senedd Cross Party Group on Deaf issues, founded and supports the BSL Alliance an independent coalition of over 50 sign-led organisations, founded and supports the BSL Research Forum with signing researchers from 10 universities, and collaborates with policy & research partners like Cambridge University (Ethics of genetic screening), RAND (Economic value of signing to UK economy), and Manchester University (Research briefings).
Tom is deaf, a fluent BSL signer, is neurodiverse with ADHD, has two wonderful deaf children and a deaf cat that likes to fight dogs.
JAZ MANN
HEAD OF COMMUNITY SERVICES
As a profoundly deaf BSL user, Jaz is an innovative and proven senior manager with over 20 years' experience in programme design, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation within safeguarding, protection, social justice, and deaf and disability organisations in the UK and internationally in key partnership working with UNICEF, End Violence Against Children, Child Helpline International, Save the Children, World Federation of the Deaf and many more.
He began his career in the charity/NGO sector at RNID. Since then, he has held various senior management team roles including Head of Services at Action Deafness, and most recently Head of Global Programmes at DeafKidz International, where he was the architect of the acclaimed DeafKidz Defenders, a safeguarding resource funded by End Violence and Oak Foundation, and the award-winning DeafKidz Goal, funded by Comic Relief.
Now, as a member of BDA’s Senior Leadership Team, and in his role as Head of Community Jaz oversees all BDA's projects, services, and training/consultancy delivered throughout England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, ensuring all activities are delivered in line with BDA’s strategy, vision and objectives.
Jaz is the proud father of his young deaf son, and is a passionate advocate for empowering deaf people, raising awareness of their rights, and for improving the mental health and well-being of deaf people. He enjoys watching football in his spare time and is a Manchester United fanatic!
KELLY BRACHER
HEAD OF FINANCE
Kelly is a recent addition to our Finance team, having joined the BDA in July 2024. She has been working in Finance for over 25 years, and has worked in various sectors and industries, but this is her first role within the charitable sector.
In her brief time here to date, Kelly has been reviewing financial procedures, assisting with the year end audit, and producing management accounts and she is also learning BSL.
Outside interests include cycling, studying Spanish and going to comedy clubs.