Alison Thorne

Founder of atconnect, 
Wales Lead for Women on Boards

Alison Thorne is a Chair, Non-Executive Director, Trustee and Committee member plus the founder of atconnect, a Business and People Development Company.

She has had a corporate career in retail, starting in David Morgans Cardiff to then hold executive board roles at Mothercare, George at Asda and Otto UK with leadership roles at Kingfisher and Storehouse specialising in Buying, Merchandising and Sourcing. 

She then developed her career moving into Executive search as a partner in a boutique search firm, prior to setting up a business ‘atconnect’ that supports companies to deliver through executive search and mentoring.

Alison has recently been appointed as a Special Panel Member for Public Appointments Wales and is currently the Wales Lead for Women on Boards, and a board member for Sport Wales where she sits on the Finance and Audit

Committee. Alison has been a trustee at Chwarae Teg since March 2016 and has sat on the Finance & Risk Committee and the Commercial Innovation Group. She was appointed Chair in July 2018.

She has previously served as a Non-Executive Director for a Retail Consultancy and as a trustee at Tropical Forest Trust (sustainable forest management)