John Yates: Rural Forum Chair
John developed his professional career in the NHS. He had a number of senior positions including hospital management and planning officer for East Anglia. He worked closely with DCLG on sustainable communities, and had specific responsibility for key worker housing for NHS staff. John is a Town Councillor and Director of Ely Perspective. He has lived in villages around the country and in East Cambridgeshire for the last 20 years. He has seen the problems of rural deprivation first-hand, and wants to use his experience to improve the balance in service provision and opportunities for rural residents.

Pat Holtom: Rural Forum Vice-Chair
Vice-Chair of East of England Rural Forum, Chair of Norfolk Rural Forum; Chair of the Market Towns Sub-Group; Board Member of ACRE (Action With Communities in Rural England); Chair of the Waveney Valley Leader Local Area Action Group; Board Member of Screen East, the regional screen agency; former EEDA Board member with the rural issues brief; former Rural Development Officer with Norfolk County Council dealing with social, economic, environmental and training projects. I am currently working as a freelance consultant on rural issues including bid writing, evaluation, training, facilitation and research. 

Suzanne Harris: Rural Forum Vice-Chair
Suzanne works for Rural Community Council of Essex (RCCE) as Development Manager (for Partnerships, Relationships and Programmes); a role which sees her involved in lobbying and policy work, as well as co-ordinating the Essex Rural Partnership and delivery of its action plan.

Working on the Essex Local Area Agreement, Suzanne is joint-lead on National Indicator 4 (percentage of people who feel they can influence local decisions) and played a key role in establishing a Local Indicator for Access to Services in the Essex county LAA. Working on the previous LAA Suzanne played a significant part in re-writing the Essex Compact, which was launched in February 2009. In her personal life, Suzanne was editor of a Village Newsletter for a number of years and served on a Parochial Church Council for over 10 years; during this time she chaired a sub-committee and served a 3-year term on both Deanery and Diocesan Synod.

Suzanne has lived in rural Essex all her life and has a passion for ensuring that rural communities are able to be sustainable in social, economic and environmental terms.