Team

Fiona Ellis
Fiona Ellis is a founding director with pza specialising in community based economic development, area based regeneration and social inclusion. Fiona leads on our research, evaluation and review services, and manages the Community Voices Network.

Prior to establishing pza, Fiona’s experience has been gained within local authorities, Local Enterprise Companies, and third sector economic development agencies, and ranges from strategic planning and policy development to project development and delivery.

She has had extensive experience in major Area Regeneration Initiatives (Castlemilk Partnership, The Leith Project) providing wide-ranging experience of research, development and evaluation of holistic regeneration programmes.

She is also an experienced practitioner in the field of local economic development. She has previously worked with Strathclyde Community Business (now Community Enterprise in Strathclyde) and Leicester City Council and has considerable practical experience of working with the not-for-profit sector within a regeneration context.

Fiona was also Depute Chief Executive for Castlemilk Economic Development Agency (CEDA) with principal responsibility for strategy development and new project development.

Paul Zealey
Paul Zealey is a founding director with pza, and advises on social justice, third sector development and community regeneration. Paul leads on our policy into practice services, and manages our programme of learning events.

Immediately prior to establishing pza, Paul was a full time consultant to the Scottish Enterprise Network for two years, based with Scottish Enterprise Glasgow, advising on mainstreaming economic inclusion.

Paul was National Officer (chief executive officer) for CSV Scotland from 1994-1998. CSV was established to help young people maximise their potential and under his leadership the organisation grew to become one of Scotland’s major third sector organisations with a multi-million pound annual income, and a diverse portfolio of projects creating employment and active communities. CSV Scotland’s clients included long term unemployed, ex-offenders, people with disabilities and mental health problems, homeless people and older people, and projects won awards from the European Commission and Scottish Qualifications Agency for Equal Opportunities and Best Practice.

Paul has particular experience and interest in developing strategy. He was a member of the Scottish Social Inclusion Network Action Teams and Childcare and Early Years Forum, advising ministers on the implementation of the national social justice and childcare strategies respectively.

Paul has been involved with European programmes in Scotland since 1990. He has been a member of the Programme Management Committee in both urban and rural contexts and has significant subsequent consulting experience.

Paul is external examiner for the MSc in Urban Development at the University of Strathclyde and gives occasional lectures on community regeneration, social justice and social enterprise across Scotland and beyond.

Paul is currently a non-executive director of Scottish Screen, Scottish Screen Enterprises and GBPT, and a committee member of the Women’s Fund for Scotland. Former directorships have included SCVO, SEAD and VDS and committee memberships have included the Community Fund and the Big Lottery Fund.

Sara Daniels
Sara Daniels is a full-time research consultant with pza with particular experience in the field of social inclusion and learning. Sara’s key strengths include information retrieval, interpretation and dissemination and policy analysis.

Sara has been involved in the development of innovative projects designed to combat digital exclusion, promote life-long learning and the design and implementation of a citizens’ portal for the residents of Edinburgh.

Sara has wide-ranging experience of research and evaluation, first hand experience of supporting local community committees and partnerships and practical experience of supporting local partnerships to develop plans and strategies for the development of their area. She has worked with a range of organisations to develop strategic plans / business plans and fundraising strategies.

Sara has significant experience in reviewing and evaluating regeneration programmes and partnerships, and has been involved in gathering quantitative and qualitative evidence to support evaluations in a number of fields.

Associates
We retain a pool of experienced associates with particular specialisms who work with us on a project-by-project basis.