Rory McDonnell
CEO and Founder
Before founding Cavalry Healthcare in 2018, Rory had worked as a carer, palliative care nurse, clinical educator and within service improvement and clinical education. His experience is mainly within outstanding rated charitable organisations.
He launched Cavalry with the aim of providing an ethical, high quality nursing agency service to care homes and hospices. His dedication to quality was fuelled directly by his personal experience of using agencies as a Senior Nurse himself.
Building on Cavalry’s growing reputation and keen to have a more direct impact on the quality of care for individuals, Rory started Cavalry’s CQC registered Complex Care at Home service in 2020, supporting children and adults with complex health needs in the community.
Rory’s ambition is for Cavalry to become a national, high quality care provider, building on the 8 local branches which he has already opened in the north-west – and which made Cavalry the fastest growing UK healthcare company in 2022.
Kate McDonnell
Co-owner/Director
Kate has extensive experience of the healthcare sector, but from a very different perspective: she has been on the receiving end of care for many years due to a chronic, disabling illness.
This mean she has no difficulty when it comes to spotting a good nurse or carer!
She also understands at first hand how enabling good care can be: despite her disability, she achieved a B.A. at Oxford University, a Masters at Liverpool University, became a founding member of a charity and was instrumental in growing it to employ over 100 staff and working internationally.
On the Board, Kate is a passionate advocate for our service-users and the quality of their care experience.
Brian McDonnell
Co-owner/Director
Brian has yet another perspective on the healthcare industry as he has been Kate’s carer and unpaid support worker for almost 40 years.
When Kate’s condition deteriorated, Brian made the difficult decision to leave his career in law to care for her and their two young children full-time. He has direct experience of the impact ill health and disability can have on a family and knows at first hand the value of the role of carer.
Brian was instrumental in setting up values-based recruitment structures at Cavalry and personally interviewed many of the nurses, carers and support workers who joined the company during its first two years.
His presence on the Board ensures that the voice of carers and HCAs will be heard, and that quality of care delivery will remain high on Cavalry’s agenda.
Mike Medlicott
Chief Commercial Officer
Mike came to Cavalry in 2020 and he has been a driving force in the rapid expansion of the company since then.
As Chief Commercial Officer, he leads the business development and key client teams across our branch network.
Mike has many years’ experience in healthcare management and business development, but he started his career as a Support Worker and has continued to put high-quality care and support at the very centre of everything Cavalry does.
He says: ‘I love leading a company that puts people before profit, and never loses sight of what we really stand for’.
Lawrence Whittaker
Co-owner/ Director
Lawrence is a serial entrepreneur and owns several large businesses. He has expertise in business start-up, business leadership and strategy. Lawrence started his first business whilst still at secondary school and is passionate about creating environments where everyone can flourish.
Lawrence and Rory are involved in several National and International business networks and are engaged in philanthropic giving through a number of organisations.