Senior Management Team

Rob Smith
CEO

Rob Smith was appointed the CEO of ILP in April 2021. Following an initial 11 years service with West Yorkshire Police he has had a 25-year career in the voluntary sector at Chief Officer level working within innovative and complex public/private/voluntary sector partnerships at a regional and national level. These include heading up Victim Support, Youth Justice, Children’s, Carers, Probation and Employment services amongst others. He sat on the Home Office/Ministry of Justice national voluntary sector advisory panel between 2003 and 2008 and was a member of the national T2A (Transitions to Adulthood) Alliance board between 2008 and 2011. He has also given evidence as an expert witness to the parliamentary justice select committee and was seconded to the National Offender Management Service to design new service delivery specification at a national level for short-sentenced prisoners.

Rob has a range of post graduate management qualifications specialising in the voluntary sector and studied for an MBA through the Open University.

Upon re-locating to the Plymouth area in 2019 Rob was first a Trustee and then interim CEO of the Harbour Centre (substance misuse charity) and was also Head of Strategic Development for Devon Mind between 2019 and 2021. He is currently Chair of the Devon Community Mental Health Alliance; he sits on the Plymouth Armed Forces Covenant partnership board and is Chair of the Plymouth Veterans Theme Group.

Chris Burnett
Operations Manager

Chris joined Improving Lives Plymouth in 2012; initially starting within our Volunteer Centre where he supported a variety of individuals, businesses and other charities with volunteer management and recruitment. Chris has progressed through various roles within ILP which has increased his knowledge of the operational and business support functions. Chris brings management experience from both the public and private sectors.

Chris oversees the operational functions of our Information and Advice services.

Larissa Milden
Operations Manager

Larissa joined the Improving Lives Plymouth team in 2011 as the Active for All Manager. In 2018, Larissa also took over the management of ILP’s Long-term Conditions Self-management project.

Prior to Improving Lives Plymouth, Larissa studied at Plymouth University and worked for the environmental conservation charity the British Trust for conservation Volunteers (BTCV) on local, regional and national projects.

Now an Operations Manager, Larissa oversees a portfolio of ILP projects relating to supporting people to improve their Health and Wellbeing.

Lee Sewrey
Operations Manager

Lee started his career in a supporting role in a residential care setting before moving to use his skills as a trainer and facilitator in the field of education where he taught adults with learning disabilities and worked as a Further Education Manager. A role then followed with SCOPE, the national charity charged with promoting equal opportunities for disabled people in the UK. He progressed his interest in the learning disability sector with a move to Improving Lives Plymouth to manage the Better Futures Service. Career advancement and the opportunity to work in the private sector took him to Hampshire, where he managed a high dependency CQC-registered residential home. He then relocated to Plymouth in 2012 to develop the new Caring for Carers service.