Andrea Cooper

Andrea is the Chief Executive of UpRising, a leadership programme for 19-25 year olds. The charity’s mission is to open pathways to power for talented young adults from diverse backgrounds, and to equip them with the knowledge, networks, skills, and confidence to transform their communities in Britain and beyond for the better. It offers a unique combination of leadership training, mentoring, and support and currently works with 150 young people per year across East London, Birmingham, Bedford and Manchester, and has an alumni network of over 450 strong emerging leaders.

Andrea Cooper joined UpRising from the BBC, where she worked for 3 years as Business Manager on the £600m Digital Switchover Help Scheme - a BBC-run Scheme to help older and disabled people switch their TV set to digital, and then as Project Manager on the £800m New Broadcasting House project.

For 6 years previous to that, she was an Operations Director at Common Purpose - a not for profit leadership development organisation – with a focus on North West and London regions. She started her career with Procter & Gamble, where she worked for 7 years in a variety of commercial roles. She was Graduate Training manager for 2 years, and led on various community relations initiatives to develop young people’s skills.

Andrea is a Trustee of three charities: Street League, Initiatives of Change, and the Irene Prestwich Trust.