Chris Hart

Chris is Director of Thrive Trafford delivering VCFSE Infrastructure Support Services on behalf of Trafford Council for  10 years. Chris has worked extensivley throughout Greater Manchester, providing development support for VCFSEs through Pulse which Chris established in 2001 as a specialist VCFSE support organisation with a national reputation. This includes work in most of the 10 GM Boroughs, including developing social enteprises and providing investment readiness support, and also with GMCA acting as a Strategic Commissioning Partner for Victims Services and more recently Faciltiating Organisation for the GM Faith & Belief Advisory Panel.

Chris’s wider experience includes working in the private sector, originally qualifying as a business banker, before studying  a degree in Estate Management and working in the public sector on property and regeneration projects. Chris’s experience also includes 5 years as CEO of the Eldonian Village in Liverpool’s docklands area, a charitable trust and national model of best practice in community regeneration, having built over 400 homes through a community based housing association, developed 7 social enterpises incuding sports centre, day nursery, garden centre and managed workspace, employing over 150 people from the local community, and having won World Habitat Award status. Chris is committed to ensuring the VCFSE sector is strategically engaged and that its voice and the needs of Trafford's communities are represented within GM.