Sue Pillar-Lee

Sue has spent her career working in the public and non-profit sector, enjoying the rigors of developing initiatives, supporting teams and overcoming challenges.

Sue completed a full career serving in the British Army, commissioning initially into the Royal Corps of Signals, then transferring to the Intelligence Corps.  She has thoroughly enjoyed a very varied career: deploying with the UN to Angola; working on various contingency plans in the USA, Hong Kong and Gibraltar; a posting as Aide-de-Camp to the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander in NATO; undertaking tours in Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, Tampa, Qatar, Iraq and Afghanistan; and working with NATO, US forces, the Foreign Office and academics.  Her final appointment was as the Commanding Officer of 3 Military Intelligence Battalion, a organisation utilising Army Reserve personnel.  Here she was responsible for the selection, recruitment, training, pastoral/welfare support and employment of specialists for various Governmental-level taskings.  

During this time, Sue was selected to become a trustee with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a charity working with industry to remove Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) from the internet.  She was a member of the Board and Audit, Finance & Risk Committee for six years. 

She left the Army in 2014 and took up the post of Director Volunteer Operations with SSAFA – The Armed Forces Charity.  Here she had responsibility for the recruitment and coordination of 6,000+ Welfare Support Volunteers across UK and overseas, ensuring veterans, serving personnel and their families were assisted with welfare issues.  Sue also developed their mentoring service, the prison in-reach volunteer service and the Case Management System for 128 individual welfare organisations.  She enjoyed working with locally focused volunteers to improve processes, publicise their work, broaden their recruitment and engage with difficult to reach communities. 

Whilst having left SSAFA, Sue maintains contact with the military community through her current role as trustee and Interim Chair of the Finance Committee at St David’s Home for ex-service personnel.  She is also currently training to become a Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) Facilitator, helping those suffering with mild and moderate dementia.  She was extremely pleased to be voted-in as Vice Chair for Neighbourhood Watch Network.

When not at work, Sue enjoys travelling, hill walking and DIY.  She recently completed the Camino Frances, a 500-mile walk across Spain from the French Pyrenees to the Cathedral at Santiago de Compostela, and is looking forward to further challenges.