Ian Karten, Founder and Chair of Trustees

Born in Vienna, Ian read Engineering at London University, graduating in 1941 with a first class honours degree. He then served as Technical Officer in the RAF, 1942-1946, leaving as Flight Lieutenant. His subsequent career in industry included 15 years as Chairman and CEO of Multitone Electronics PLC, which pioneered pocket paging systems. In 1980 Ian founded and endowed the Ian Karten Charitable Trust

Dr Graham Jowett, Chair of the Network

Dr Graham Jowett has been a biochemist, mental health social worker and further education tutor and manager. He was principal of Treloar College for students with physical disabilities and complex needs for eleven years and Director of Education of the Treloar Trust. He is a board member of both the South East Region Learning and Skills Council and the National Association of Specialist Colleges.

Mubina Asaria, Director of the Network

An honours graduate in Economics & Politics, Mubina spent several years in adult education, delivering IT training both in the corporate and voluntary sector. She later joined the London based charity ASPIRE, managing their CTEC centre and assistive technology project for people with disabilities, aimed at developing mini CTECs across the UK to provide adaptive technology training and volunteering opportunities. She joined the board in 2007 and is currently the Virtual Learning Manager at Greenford High School, developing their VLE and e-learning programme.

Christine Price, Director of the Network

Christine has worked at Portland College for over 20 years and has been the CTEC manager since 2000 as well as being a member of the board.

Dave Fullerton, Director of the Network

Dave has been with Enham for 15 years and has been the lead in the program in independence and work development for 75 residents of their 3 care homes and local day clients for 8 years. The Development Programme had its Karten Centre opened in Sep 98. Through work with the Network Manager and support of the annual conference, Dave became part of the Karten Network board in Feb 07.

Kate Gascoyne, Director of the Network

Kate Gascoyne has been manager of the Hft Karten CTEC centre for 7½ years.The centre provides ICT training to staff, carers and adults with learning disabilities. Kate manages the day-to-day running of the centre including finance, marketing, Communication and booking arrangements as well as training learners and advising at conferences and seminars. The courses are researched, designed and created for either face-to-face, blended or e-learning modules and cover specialised areas such as communication, Person centred planning, Assistive technology and using graphics and multimedia techniques.

Ben Deakin, Director of the Network

Understanding the issues people face in Education and only being taken seriously about his Dyslexia upon reaching University, Ben has made it his life’s ambition to be involved in disability support and rights. He believes that anyone who is capable and able to succeed should simply not have to face the issues he did, which could have been rectifed easily with Assistive Technology (AT). Whilst working for an AT company Ben has been able to consult for Becta where he has held a seat on an expert reference group for inclusive educational practices, and consulted on the new Home Access program. Following the 2008 AGM Ben was inspired to become a member of the Karten board, and looks forward to supporting them wherever he can.

Tim Simon, Trustee

Tim Simon is a solicitor who has been a trustee of the Ian Karten Charitable Trust since its formation. He is a director of the Network and works closely with Ian Karten

Angela Hobbs, Trustee

Angela has worked for the Ian Karten Charitable Trust since 2001 and was appointed a Trustee in 2006.  She has also worked for the Karten Network since 2004.  Her role includes PA to Ian Karten.

Ceri Hibbert, Network Development Manager

Ceri has worked for the Karten Network and Trust since July 2008. Her background is in management and IT .