Senior Management

Brian Carlin, CEO 

Brian has been working for Aspire since 1998 and was appointed as CEO in 2001.  He formerly worked in the Contract Leisure Management Sector and brought his business pedigree to support the Charity through a successful expansion of its services throughout the UK, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.  An Executive MBA Graduate from Anglia Ruskin University, Brian was also a part-time post-graduate lecturer in business and now uses his academic experience to support the Aspire Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology and has an Honorary Contract as an Associate Professor, Institute of Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Sciences, UCL. 

Brian has extensive Third Sector experience and was the former Chairman of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Charity and during this time was also the Chairman (2017) of the Charity Chairs Group at the Association of NHS Charities.  He is a founding Partner of Aspire Law LLP, Trustee of the British Triathlon Foundation Trust and a Longford Mentor whereby he supports former prisoners through higher education.  He has led Aspire to be ranked 18^th in the Sunday Times top 100 Best Not for Profit Organisations to work for and was ranked 10^th Most Inspirational Leader in 2018.

A keen cyclist and triathlete Brian has been representing Great Britain as a GB Age Group Long Distance Triathlete in the World and European Teams since 2010.

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Alex Rankin, Director of Services 

Alex did an MA in the History of Cinema and Popular Culture at Exeter University, specialising in pre-1918 films. He has singularly failed to use any of the knowledge gleaned from this course in his career to date. A very short stint in the world of corporate IT convinced him that he'd rather be elsewhere and Alex has worked for not-for-profit organisations ever since.
 
Alex joined Aspire in 2005 to launch their Campaigning work, a significant new venture for the Charity. In a relatively short space of time Aspire established excellent working relationships with key Parliamentarians and now regularly provides expert opinion on a wide range of issues. In 2009 Alex moved across to manage the Services Team; the department has grown significantly since then, expanding core programmes and adding new services for spinally injured people. This trend looks set to continue, particularly with the current rapid growth in the number of Aspire Houses available. 

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Paul Parrish, Director of Fundraising and Marketing 

After 15 years in the world of advertising where he worked at IPC Magazines, The Independent and The Big Issue, Paul changed career and moved to the not-for-profit sector. He subsequently worked with Cancer Research UK as their Senior Corporate Partnerships Manager. Between 2005 and 2012 he was the Fundraising and Marketing Director for a Hertfordshire hospice before joining Aspire as Fundraising and Marketing Director. A committed fundraiser, he is a firm believer in developing relationships between the charity and its supporters and not just asking for support without proper consideration. You will always receive a hearty thank you from Aspire

As well as managing fundraising and marketing for Aspire, Paul also believes he should lead by example and is personally committed to raising money for charity. Since 2007 he has raised over £64,000 through a series of ever longer endurance triathlons. In September 2014 he became the oldest person to complete the Arch to Arc, the world’s hardest triathlon, becoming the sixth fastest person to do so and raising over £24,000 for Aspire.

A father of three children, Paul fits his busy training schedule around work, going to gigs and eating out whenever anyone else is prepared to pay. 

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Tasha Webster, Director of Operations 

After a two week stint of work experience at the Mike Heaffey Centre, Tasha worked part time for Aspire as a receptionist and children’s party host whilst at College. She then went on to work in the leisure industry as a swimming teacher and children’s holiday camp manager before returning as Assistant Manager of the Mike Heaffey Centre in 1997. She was part of the management team overseeing the build of the Aspire National Training Centre and in 2002 she became General Manager.
 
Tasha is now Director of Operations responsible for operational systems, quality and personnel management of Aspire with specific responsibility for the day to day management and strategic development. Tasha has a Post Graduate Diploma in Management Studies from Hertfordshire University and the CIPD Advanced Diploma in Human Resource Management.
 
Tasha is married with four children and plays hockey for Harrow Hockey Club.  

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Ky-Ling Gavigan, Finance Manager                                                                                                         

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Dean Tearle, Aspire Leisure Centre Manager

Dean has worked in leisure sector for over 20 years been the Centre Manager at Aspire Leisure Centre since 2015. Having completed the NEBOSH General Certificate, Dean has a proven track record in health and safety management and is currently completing an Executive Development Programme with Imperial College and Corndel. To support his work in the leisure industry, Dean is a Mystery Visitor for Right Directions and Quest and is an advocate for supporting disabled people in the workplace.

Achievements at Aspire include the launch and development of the Aspire Leisure App which has had over 10,000 downloads and 1,000 hits per day, the ongoing renewal of the Quest accreditation scheme, in particular Quest Prime set up to support leisure centres after Covid as well as numerous other awards such as ISO14001, IFI and Ofsted.

Outside of work, Dean enjoys spending time with his family, DJing at functions, growing fresh veg at his allotment, is a Trustee at his local church and is an active member of his street community collecting donations for the local food bank.    

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The team