Meet the Team
Sarah Harrison
Founder & CEO
Formerly a Marketing Executive for Siemens, Sarah is the founder of Sarah’s Star and now works towards helping people to cope with their illness. Since being diagnosed with incurable breast cancer in 2019, Sarah recognised the need to support people in a more holistic way and empower them to feel purposeful despite their diagnosis.
Lucia Craven Athey
Senior Charity Administrator
​Lucia who joined us in April 2024. With a strong background in care, customer service, and social media, Lucia brings valuable experience and a passion for helping others. Her skills in communication and engagement are a great asset to our team.
Clare Crossling
Volunteer Team Leader
Clare is an ACII qualified Claims Executive with 17 years’ corporate insurance experience but in her free time, volunteers with various local charities, having also been a trustee at Cedarwood Trust and Sarah’s Star. Clare is the founder of a Facebook community group encouraging charitable giving and volunteering. In 2022 this group provided over 50 separate collections donating clothing, money and food to local charities.
Meet the Trustees
Liam Milligan
Chair
Liam works as Mission Director with North West Methodist Mission, a homeless charity providing support services in Derry / Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
Liam has worked as a senior manager in the commercial retail and statutory sectors and has over twenty-five years’ experience working in the charity sector. He has experience in delivery of services to adults in a community setting, cross border development work, community-based capacity building, reconciliation, training and rural development. He has also been involved in trans-European co-operation programmes and international exchange programmes. Liam has been an Associate Lecturer with the North-West Regional College on their HND, Chartered Institute of Management, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Programmes and bespoke programmes to industry.
Joanne Dunn
Secretary
Joanne is a Senior Project Manager in the Civil Service, with PRINCE2, Benefits and Change Management qualifications.
Joanne is responsible for ensuring successful delivery of business change and compliance projects to agreed timescales and quality to customers.
Joanne’s career in the Civil Service spans over 20 years, starting out as a caseworker before progressing into people management where she built high performing teams, helping people develop and aspire to reach their full potential.
Joanne holds Chartered Management Institution Level 5 qualification.
Joanne enjoys managing relationships with varied groups of stakeholders & business partners and interacting with people on a personal level.
Clare Crossling
Volunteer Team Leader
Sarah has taught maths in secondary schools across the Northeast for 18 years and currently teaches in Tynemouth.
Sarah has worked as a department lead and has experience managing teams of people. Sarah is an educational author and has a lot of experience advising on and writing mathematical resources for online education companies.
Brian Morrison
Trustee
Brian works as Service Delivery Platform Head of Technology Operations for Civica, a global leader in public sector software. Brian has worked as a senior manager in information technology for the past five years and has over twenty years’ experience working in the computing services sector.
Brian has experience in delivery of IT services to UK public sector organisations, including several registered charities.
Sharon Ellis
Trustee
Sharon works for Siemens Energy as a Commercial Sales Manager. She is a qualified CIMA Accountant with over 20 years of experience within Finance and Accounting roles as well as more recently within commercial and contracts management. She has also held the position of the Treasurer of a Sports and Social Club.
Sharon has experience of ensuring compliance with financial regulations and maintaining the integrity and transparency of financial data as well as liaising with internal and external auditors and tax authorities.
Nicky Thackray
Trustee
Nicky brings over 20 years of leadership experience and a deep commitment to making a meaningful difference in the lives of others. As a Trustee for Sarah’s Star, she is proud to support the charity’s mission of providing comfort, care, and connection to individuals with incurable illnesses and their families.
With a background in corporate leadership and coaching, Nicky has developed a wealth of expertise in strategy, resilience-building, and empowering people to thrive during life’s most challenging moments. As the Founder of My Zendays, she is dedicated to helping people live with greater happiness and fulfillment.