Trustee
Chief Executive of Disability Wales since 2001, Rhian Davies is a longstanding campaigner and advocate for disability rights and equality, drawing on lived experience.
Rhian is an active member of the Ministerial Disability Rights Taskforce, established to draft an Action Plan in response to the findings and recommendations outlined in the report Locked Out: Liberating the Lives and Rights of Disabled People in Wales beyond Covid-19 (2021). She chaired the Independent Living (Social Care) Working Group and delivered Social Model of Disability Training to the Cabinet ahead of their consideration of the draft Plan.
Rhian represents the Wales Disability Reference Group on the Third Sector Partnership Council and is a member of the Funding and Compliance sub-committee, contributing to revising the Funding Code of Practice.
Rhian was a Trustee of Women’s Equality Network Wales (2017 – 2023), serving as Vice-Chair for four years. She mentored on the WEN Mentoring Scheme as well as on the award winning ‘Equal Power Equal Voice’ Mentoring Programme. Aimed at increasing diversity in public life EPEV was delivered in partnership between WEN Wales, EYST, Stonewall Cymru and Disability Wales.
In 2017, Rhian represented civil society in Wales at Geneva during the UN Committee on the Rights of Disabled People’s first periodic review of the UK Government’s implementation of the Convention.
A former member of the EHRC’s Statutory Wales Committee (2007-2012), Rhian has an MSc in Equality and Diversity from Cardiff University (2010). She secured an Academi Wales bursary to participate in the ‘Women and Power’ Programme at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (2014).
Rhian is Chair of WCVA’s People and Remuneration Committee.