Our leadership team

Since joining Dogs Trust in July 2019, Owen has been leading our work to improve the lives of dogs and their owners in the UK and around the world.  

Owen began his career as a nurse, training in Glasgow and working in Accident & Emergency. He moved into NHS management, holding a number of senior operational and director roles across hospitals in England and Wales, before moving into the charity sector. 

He was Deputy and Interim CEO at Victim Support, then Chief Executive at Prostate Cancer UK, and most recently prior to joining Dogs Trust, Global CEO of Movember.  

Although this was his first role in animal welfare, Owen had long admired and supported our work. And he’s proud of the many milestones already achieved during his time with us, from developing new centres, increasing the reach of our prevention work and bringing our international partner WVS into the Dogs Trust family. However, he takes the greatest joy in the work happening across the whole charity and seeing first-hand the life-changing difference it makes to dogs and their owners every single day.  

Now he’s excited by the opportunity to expand our impact even further – reaching more owners earlier to help them keep their dogs, expanding our capacity for rehoming, and growing international impact.  

He shares his life with two Dogs Trust adoptees, Saluki-cross Lexi and Collie-cross Hudson. After a slightly shaky start, they’ve become the best of friends who love chilling together on the sofa (or the pub) and chasing each other across the local fields. 

Louisa is our Deputy CEO, responsible for the teams that keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes so that we can deliver on our promises – helping more dogs find safe homes, and more owners stay together with the dogs they love. She joined Dogs Trust in 2023, describing it as her ‘dream job’ – a chance to bring together her skills and experience with a cause close to her heart. 

Louisa has built a career around making organisations stronger, more effective and better able to deliver real impact. After studying Law, she trained as a Chartered Accountant with PwC, but it wasn’t long before she realised she wanted to do more than identify problems through audit work – she wanted to fix them.

That drive has shaped a varied and impressive career, from leading transformation programmes at the National Trust to senior leadership roles across the charity and public sectors, including CEO of a small charity and COO at Innovate UK.  

Of the work she has been involved in here, she is especially proud of strengthening the organisation’s financial resilience, as well as transforming our London office into a modern, flexible workspace for colleagues that’s fit for the future.

A lifelong dog lover, Louisa shares her home with Roxy, her spirited Romanian rescue, who keeps her on her toes and reminds her every day why what we do is so important.

Rachel is our Chief Operating Officer (COO), leading the delivery of our mission both by helping more dogs in need of new homes and supporting owners who are struggling to keep their dogs, preventing relinquishment and unnecessary euthanasia wherever possible. Her area includes the rehoming centres across the UK, behaviour support and advice teams, community outreach services, customer service teams, and specialist vet, behaviour, data and project teams.  

Rachel brings a unique combination of leadership, operational, clinical and data expertise to the role. She began her career as a first opinion veterinary surgeon, then specialised in veterinary behavioural medicine, before moving into academia to develop an evidence-based approach to companion animal behaviour. She led a research and clinical group advancing companion animal welfare science at the University of Bristol vet school before joining Dogs Trust in 2016. Rachel has held different leadership roles over her 10 years at Dogs Trust, including overseeing strategic development and transformation.  

Rachel is passionate about dog welfare and achieving this both through the direct support for dogs who need new homes, but also through strengthening the direct support for dog owners. She’s incredibly proud of the teams across the UK who go the extra mile to help dogs and their owners every day. She also champions the innovative use of data and insights to help shape operational approaches and decisions for the future, as well as the importance of a culture of continuous improvement to ensure we are always improving the ways in which we help dogs and their owners.

Rachel shares her home with three Dogs Trust rescues: Boo, a Spaniel Labrador cross who is an enthusiast for everything that life brings; Tayto, a playful and cheeky Jack Russell Terrier cross, and Peaty, a clever and loving Collie cross. 

Our Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Jayne, leads the team responsible for bringing our brand to life – connecting with millions of dog lovers in ways that feel authentic, consistent and unmistakably Dogs Trust. A self-confessed ‘dog person’, she joined us in 2022, drawn by the opportunity to bring together everything she has learnt from her career.

Jayne has spent her career shaping how brands connect with people – ‘riding the digital wave’ since 1998 – she holds both an MA in Marketing and an MSc in Voluntary Sector Management. Her wealth of experience comes from varied roles at organisations ranging from the BBC, the Energy Savings Trust, City Hall where she worked with both Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson, to national charities, including the Children’s Society.  

Jayne’s highlights at Dogs Trust are as much about people as projects – from launching an award-winning website to delivering the charity’s first fully integrated campaign “Happy Place”, Jayne has developed a team culture rooted in collaboration and positivity. As for the future, she believes the best is yet to come, thanks to a great team, a growing focus on brand, data and audience-led insight, and a brief to raise awareness of our prevention services.

At home, Jayne’s world revolves around Biscuit, a nine-year-old Vizsla dog with a greying muzzle, who keeps the whole family active, grounded and smiling. 

As our Chief Income Generation Officer, Polly leads the teams responsible for growing the support that makes the charity’s work possible – helping to bring in the funds that change dogs’ lives every day.

She brings with her a wealth of experience across the charity sector, having previously held senior roles as Chief Income and Engagement Officer at FareShare, Director of Fundraising at WWF and, earlier in her career, in a Direct Marketing role at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. It was during her time at Battersea that her passion for dog welfare truly took hold – setting her on a path she has followed ever since.

Polly joined us in 2025, describing the opportunity as a ‘serendipitous moment’ that has allowed her to bring together her experience and her love of dogs. Since arriving, she has been inspired by the passion, knowledge and determination of the fundraising team, and the shared ambition to achieve even more for dogs.

As Dogs Trust evolves, she is excited by the potential to grow its reach and impact, supported by new technology that will help strengthen and supercharge fundraising efforts. For Polly, it all comes back to making a bigger difference – ensuring we can be there for every dog that needs us, now and in the future.

As our Chief of Staff, Adam brings together our people, properties, plans and priorities to make sure we deliver the greatest possible impact for dogs and their owners.  He also works closely with our sister charities, Worldwide Veterinary Services and Dogs Trust Ireland, ensuring effective collaboration and alignment between teams.

Adam joined us in 2018 as Operations Director, before moving into his current role in 2025. But his connection to Dogs Trust began much earlier, starting with the adoption of his first rescue dog, Sparky, in 2001, followed by Tilly in 2011 and Rupert in 2025. Having originally planned to volunteer, he instead seized the opportunity to work for us, combining his love of dogs with his experience running large-scale organisations.

Before joining us, Adam held senior leadership roles across multiple sectors. At Royal Mail, he led operations across 21 sites, supporting 42 managers and 1,650 frontline colleagues while delivering a major transformation programme. Prior to that, he worked at ALDI as a Retail Area Manager, driving significant sales growth and overseeing store redevelopment projects. He began his career as an Army Officer in the Royal Signals, and holds an MBA from the University of Birmingham.

Adam’s proudest moments include the rapid repurposing of standard kennels into quarantine kennels to help Ukrainian refugees with their pets, as well as the continuous development of rehoming centres and services. Looking to the future, he’s excited by new ways of delivering services and the opportunity to grow our reach in the UK and beyond. 

Luke is the founder of Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS) and its flagship project, Mission Rabies — pioneering organisations working in over 50 countries to deliver veterinary care, training, and disease control programmes at scale. These impactful initiatives are now part of the Dogs Trust family.

Luke graduated from the University of Bristol in 1999 and completed a clinical scholarship in large animal medicine and surgery at the University of Cambridge. He founded Pilgrims Veterinary Practice in the New Forest in 2005, which he ran for over a decade.

He established WVS in 2003 after recognising the stark global inequality in access to veterinary care. Driven by a belief that veterinary skills can and should be a force for good, he went on to launch Mission Rabies in 2013 - now one of the leading global initiatives tackling a disease that still kills a child every nine minutes. Luke has also contributed widely to the profession through teaching, media work, and advisory roles, including with the World Health Organization, and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in recognition of his contributions.

He is most proud of the teams working on the ground — treating animals who would otherwise have no access to care, often in the most challenging conditions. Building WVS into a global organisation and seeing Mission Rabies help drive down human deaths has been deeply meaningful.

Dogs Trust has worked closely with Luke and the WVS and Mission Rabies teams for many years, supporting their vital work. He is now excited to be formally part of Dogs Trust, bringing together shared values and expertise to create even greater impact for dogs and communities worldwide.

At home, Luke has a ‘slightly chaotic but much-loved’ collection of animals, including four dogs - Rex, Ivy, Freddie and Bruno - who are a constant reminder of why this work matters.

Karla leads Dogs Trust Ireland with a thoughtful, people-centred approach – building an ambitious organisation that can deliver lasting change for dogs.

Before joining in 2018, she worked across a wide range of sectors, in both commercial and not-for-profit settings. That breadth of experience has shaped her as a well-rounded leader, with strengths in service design, communications and operations. Her academic path most recently led her to study Organisational Development and Transformation at University College Cork, and she has a strong interest in Behavioural Psychology.  

Karla was drawn to Dogs Trust by the opportunity to combine compassion with professionalism at a pivotal moment for animal welfare in Ireland. Growing up in North Dublin, she saw first-hand the challenges facing animals; her mum ran a small wildlife rescue operation from their home, and Karla herself volunteered from a young age.

She is proud of helping to build a stronger organisation – developing high-performing teams, strengthening culture and creating the foundations for greater impact. She is excited by the potential of the new strategy to bring the Dogs Trust organisations together, think bigger and improve the lives of dogs at scale.

At home, Karla shares her life with Obie and David, two rescues whose stories – and big personalities – inspire her every day.