Claire Dove OBE, DL, has been a key player in the social enterprise movement since the early 1980s and has led the Blackburne House Group since its inception, using her entrepreneurial skills to help the organisation grow into an award winning and extremely successful social business.

One of the leading providers of adult and community education in the country, Blackburne House, a Beacon status college continues to expand its training remit for the women of Merseyside and our School for Social Entrepreneurs provides services across the Northwest of England.

Over the past 30 years, the Blackburne House Group has successfully established a number of highly acclaimed, award winning social enterprises, whose products and services are sought throughout the country. The businesses continue to support the educational aims of the organisation and provide tangible examples of how new markets can be used to serve local communities and support business development and growth.

Claire has also works on a national, regional and local basis to form policy that supports the rights of individuals to education and training and to promote entrepreneurship and social enterprise opportunities across our many diverse communities. Claire was one of the three commissioners on the National Worklessness Panel that produced the Houghton Review.

Claire is Chair of Social Enterprise UK (SEUK), the UK umbrella body for social enterprise, a member of the Alder Hey Hospital Trust and a Board Member for the Charity Commission. She has recently chaired the Liverpool Fairness Commission on behalf of Liverpool City Council and is currently serving on the Liverpool Mayoral Development Board and is chair of Society Advisory Board for the British Council.

Claire was awarded an MBE for her work in the mid-nineties and has received the OBE in 2013 as well as being given the Queens Lifetime Achievement Award for Enterprise Promotion. She is also the recipient of an Honorary Fellowship of Liverpool John Moores University, a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts, was voted nationally as an exemplary leader in Regeneration and is Deputy Lieutenant for Merseyside.