CEO, Youth Leads UK, Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester and Former Social Mobility Commissioner
Having grown up in care, Saeed is acutely aware of how young people from disadvantaged backgrounds can be overlooked when it comes to learning valuable life skills and having a voice in their future. That’s why, at the age of 15, he set up Youth Leads UK which has supported more than 12,500 disadvantaged young Greater Mancunians to access volunteering opportunities and skills development programmes. As well as being a Former Government Social Mobility Commissioner with special responsibility for young people and vulnerable groups, Saeed is a trustee of the youth and social mobility charities Generation, Education & Employers and Migrant Leaders, a Non-Executive Director at social housing group Bolton at Home, an Associate Non-Executive Director at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, and an Advisory Council Member to the Care Tech Foundation.
Saeed was the youngest person on Her Majesty the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List in 2019 awarded an MBE for services to young people and community in Greater Manchester. Later that year, Saeed went on to become the youngest person in history to be appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, a role he’ll use to connect more young people to the Crown, raise aspirations and support voluntary groups.