Wales committee

Committee Chair

Dr Lowthe-Thomas works for the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority as Director Nature Recovery and Climate Change at the Brecon Beacons National Park. Before that she was CEO of Severn-Wye Energy Agency – a sustainable energy charity working in Wales and the border counties. She previously held multiple roles in that organisation, including Director for Wales and Head of Community Energy. She is also Vice-President for Energy Efficiency and Fuel Poverty at Federene (European Federation of Energy Agencies). She gained her PhD at Cardiff University, studying Energy Crops and Biomass.

Dr Lowthe-Thomas was a founding board member at Community Energy Wales and spent ten years at Cardiff University as a Research associate.

Nicola built a career in creating services in the public, private, community and voluntary sectors after reading for her degree in Development as a mature student at Exeter University, before retiring from full-time work in 2017.

Prior to that Nicola served in the Royal Navy before taking time out to raise her children.

Since 2017 Nicola has concentrated on offering her services to the voluntary sector and to small businesses in Wales through her private business consultancy, offering pro-bono support to help charities thrive in Wales where she can.

Nicola has been a business mentor for Business Wales since 2015 and is also a freelance assessor for Comic Relief.

“It’s a huge privilege to be able to serve on the Wales Committee and the best part is seeing the outcomes people get by coming together to make things better”.

Fadhili is the Director of Sub-Sahara Advisory Panel (SSAP) a network of African communities in Wales working in international development and across Wales. At SSAP, he manages a team working on local and international projects (mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa).

Fadhili is also the Founder and Director of Watch-Africa Cymru: Wales’ African Film Festival. Having started the festival in 2013, it has grown to become one of the leading festival in Wales focusing on African cinema. Other than running SSAP and Watch-Africa Cymru, Fadhili is an Arts Associate for Arts Council Wales and RSA Fellow. A keen runner, footballer and enjoys a healthy debate.

Kate Young is the Director of the All Wales Forum of Parents and Carers, which is the national network for family carers of people with learning disabilities, engaging with over 4,000 families across Wales.

She holds the Vice Chair for Wales Carers Alliance, is the Health and Social Care representative for the Third Sector in Wales on the Partnership Council and sits on various Ministerial Advisory Groups and policy forums covering topics such as direct payments, Regional Partnership Boards, Advocacy, Inspection of Services and most recently the Covid Vaccine Stakeholder Board for Wales. Kate was also Chair of Vale People First for 10 years and Wales Trustee for the Family Fund UK for five years.

Kate has a sound understanding of the devolved administration in Wales and the cultural, social, and economic opportunities and challenges it offers to communities. She has a strong commitment to communities being at the heart of change, believing that our unique and diverse nature as a nation, when brought together, is a real force for change, innovation and inclusion.

She is a passionate advocate of rights and personal choice, with a particular interest in disability, carers and equality. As a sibling carer to her brother who lives with severe learning disabilities and autism, she has a personal understanding and lived experience of the social model of disability and of the inequality issues within society in Wales.

Trystan Pritchard is Chief Executive of St Davids Hospice in Llandudno, North Wales. The hospice delivers end of life care in the counties of Conwy, Gwynedd and Anglesey.

Previously, Trystan spent several years as Head of Communications for a major Health Board. He was later appointed to a senior role in local government in developing strategic partnership programmes across health and social care, children and young people and community safety.

Trystan is currently a Board Member of Social Care Wales, Mantell Gwynedd County Voluntary Council and is a former Chairman of the Citizens Advice Wales committee.

Away from work, Trystan enjoys spending time with his family, Welsh rugby and mountaineering.

Gwenllian is Chief Executive of Mudiad Meithrin, a voluntary organisation and the main provider and enabler of Welsh-medium early years care and education in the voluntary sector with over 1000 settings all over Wales. Gwenllian is a Trustee with the National Library of Wales and volunteers at her local Cylch Meithrin on the committee.

Originally from Bangor, she now lives with her husband and four children in Llanerfyl, Powys. She studied French and Spanish at Oxford University before completing a MScEcon and PhD in Political Theory at Cardiff University where she also taught as a politics tutor.

Gwenllian was elected to represent Riverside at Cardiff County Council in 2004 and was appointed as Plaid Cymru’s Chief Executive in 2007. She also worked as a Publications Officer for the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol at Aberystwyth University where she was also responsible for its research journal, ‘Gwerddon’.