Speakers
Sharon Lowrie
Paul Bickerton
Orlaith Kelly
Seminar
This panel brings together experts to share practical insights, proven strategies, and real-world lessons on building productive partnerships, navigating expectations, and delivering value. You will leave with ideas, confidence, and tools to strengthen collaboration in your own organisations.
Sharon is the Chief Executive of Be Caring, and oversaw the company’s transformation from CASA, a struggling organisation to a financially prudent employee-owned social enterprise.
Under her leadership Be Caring has has been able to reward and incentivise colleagues in recognition of the hard work.
Sharon was appointed in 2018 from Locala, where she had worked as their Director of Finance and Business Development since 2015.
Paul has worked in adult social care for the last 34 years, having started his career as a carer.
Paul worked across a number of roles in the private social care sector for the first 14 years, before joining Manchester City Council. Paul's current role with the council is the Head of Commissioning, with strategic responsibility for adult social care commissioning, market shaping, and transformation. Paul has extensive experience working with providers, partners, and system leaders to develop sustainable, high‑quality care and support, with a particular focus recently on homecare and community‑based services, in preparation for our homecare tender.
Paul is committed to collaborative approaches that strengthen local care markets, support innovation, and improve outcomes for people who draw on care and support and those that deliver it.
Orlaith is a Strategic Lead at Manchester City Council with more than 15 years’ experience in adult social care. She began her career after qualifying as a social worker from the University of Manchester in 2011, spending eight years at Salford City Council across community, intermediate care, and hospital-based services. During this time, she gained both her Practice Educator and Best Interests Assessor qualifications.
In 2019, Orlaith joined Manchester City Council as a Team Manager within an Integrated Neighbourhood Team, later progressing into a Service Manager role and subsequently her current Strategic Lead position. She has led teams through the unprecedented challenges of the COVID‑19 pandemic, and has driven major programmes including the Trusted Assessor initiative and the delivery of a new Home Care Tender.
Jayne has worked in Adult Social Care for 38 years and prior to that also worked in special education. She has managed a range of service areas including operational social work and assessment, therapies, provider delivery and, since 2013, has led Commissioning for Wirral Council Adult Social Care directorate. Jayne has the portfolio lead for commissioning, contracts and service quality for Wirral community care market on behalf of Health and Care system partners.
Jayne has a passion for care delivered in people’s home and has worked closely with her local sector to grow and develop the local market, co-producing the model - and she believes good working relationships and a shared understating of all stakeholder challenges delivers the best outcomes for providers and people.