Steve Appleton serves as President and Chief Executive of Global Leadership Exchange (GLE)[1]. He has been in post since January 2022, having previously worked as the European Regional Lead between 2019-2022 and UK Liaison between 2017-2019.

Prior to taking up his role as CEO, Steve was Managing Director of Contact Consulting, a consultancy and research practice specialising in mental health, housing, disability and older age.

Steve originally trained as a social worker. He went on to hold operational management roles in local government and was a senior manager for a regional arm of the English National Health Service. He has worked nationally and internationally on population based mental health improvement programs in cities and urban regions.

Steve is based in the United Kingdom. In addition to his work at GLE he is an independent Trustee of a national mental health non-profit and Board member of a social enterprise company providing support to older people families. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

[1] GLE was previously known as the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership