Meet The Team

Founder/Owner

Cristina, an experienced leader in social care, holds a Social Work degree, a Psychology Masters, Level 5 in Leadership and Management in Health and Social Care, and advanced coaching qualifications.

Together with her brother Silviu, she co-founded Sylvian Care in 2014, starting as a domiciliary care service focused on seniors in Reading and Wokingham. Their dedication led to a £2 million business, which in 2019 developed into a franchise business model. Now operating in 30+ locations nationwide, Sylvian Care Franchising is one of the UK’s fastest-growing care franchises.

Despite personal challenges, including single motherhood, Cristina's unwavering commitment earned her nominations for the Inspirational Women in Franchising of the Year in 2022 and Qualified Franchise Professional certification, in 2023. With her leadership and expertise, she aims to position Sylvian Care as a global pioneer in relationship-based care.

Founder/Owner

Silviu’s formal qualifications include Qualified Franchise Professional certification (2021), Level 5 Leadership in Health & Social Care (2016) and Nursing qualification (2002). Silviu also brings extensive practical nursing experience from both UK and internationally. His career path includes caring for adults and children with Learning Disabilities, supporting individuals living with Dementia, as well as serving in a large stroke unit.

With a commendable four-year military service in an Infantry Battalion, including active duty as a registered nurse in Iraq, Silviu embodies resilience and dedication.

In 2014, he co-founded Sylvian Care with his sister, Cristina, driven by a shared commitment to providing relationship-based care. Silviu's unwavering pursuit of excellence has undoubtedly contributed to Sylvian's success.

Silviu's leadership and clinical expertise make him an advocate for transformative care, ensuring that every individual receives the attention and support they need to thrive.

Non-Executive Director

Katie is an inspiring leader with a distinguished reputation in both Health and Social Care, and in Franchising.

She is passionate about fostering a strong team culture to achieve success, prioritising collaboration and mutual support. She's known for her strategic thinking and innovative approach, having effectively implemented operational improvements throughout her career.

With this focus on team leadership and resource management, Katie brings valuable expertise to her role as a Non-Executive Director, where she supports the CEOs in streamlining processes and developing the support provided to our franchise network.

Her energy and determination drive continual business improvements, within Sylvian Care franchise.

Head of Franchise Recruitment

Since gaining a Marketing Degree in 2010 Emma has worked in various commercial roles in industries including retail, property, and adult learning. Though she truly found her calling in 2019, when she discovered the franchise world. Since then, she hasn’t looked back and is a passionate advocate for franchising. Her broad knowledge of the industry gained her the Qualified Franchise Professional certification in May 2022.

Emma has overseen the establishment of more than 95 new and resale franchises, with Sylvian being the 9th brand she has helped to develop.

Emma understands that a franchise investment is a significant and often nerve-wracking prospect, so her aim is to ensure that anyone considering Sylvian has complete transparency around the business opportunity. She takes pride in presenting the business model in a straightforward and clear way, to enable potential investors to decide if the opportunity is the right fit.

Head of Quality and Compliance

With 17 years of management experience and an ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management) qualification, Karen is an accomplished senior leader in the health and social care sector. Her expertise includes people management, contract management, supported housing, health and safety, complaints and investigations, policy research and development, data security, quality assurance, and regulatory care compliance in England and Wales.

Karen's successful track record spans the third, public, and private sectors, where she is known for her confident, mature, and compassionate leadership style, consistently achieving impressive results.

Her roles have included leading quality governance for CQC registered services, managing group quality assurance and regulatory care compliance, and overseeing housing support operations and commissioning services.

Head of Business Support

Dan’s diverse career spans local government, co-operative societies, private sector, and entrepreneurial ventures.

In operational management roles, he led call centre functions and non-clinical aspects of a private hospital, enhancing his leadership and process improvement skills. With a background in IT, he excelled in senior IT operational management, overseeing teams of varying sizes.

For the past six years, he has contributed to an International Homecare Franchise, coaching and nurturing franchisees through their growth journey.

Dan focuses on people, processes, service, and support, with expertise in leadership, recruitment, process design, negotiation, customer service, and sales.

What’s more, for twelve years, Dan operated his own franchised business, so has witnessed first-hand, the challenges of business ownership. His wealth of commercial experience makes him ideally suited to his role in franchise business support, and invaluable asset to the Sylvian team.

Systems Support Officer

Chris has a broad background in various care services and holds a Level 5 qualification in Health and Social Care.

He initially joined Sylvian Care as the Registered Manager of the Reading and Wokingham branch in 2016, later transitioning to the franchising team in 2021.

Now working as our Systems Support Specialist, Chris is overseeing IT and processes whilst completing Microsoft 365 qualifications, in order to further enhance his skills, and apply his wealth of experience to our franchise network.

With his unique blend of care management experience and technical proficiency, Chris plays a pivotal role in supporting our franchise partners, with admin processes.

Quality and Compliance Officer

Glynis is a highly accomplished professional with a wealth of experience and qualifications in the health and social care industry. Her career in care began in 1998 and she has steadily worked her way up the ranks to become a Registered Care Manager for a variety of care providers across Berkshire, Hampshire, and Buckinghamshire.

Glynis successfully completed her Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care Services, in June 2017, and has developed a great depth and breadth of managerial expertise within the sector. Working with various local authorities, Glynis has overseen many CQC inspections, achieving several “Good” ratings.

Having joined us as a Registered Manager in 2021, due to her exceptional talent in the sector, Glynis was ideally placed to join the Sylvian Care Franchising Team to support our franchise network in improving their quality assurance processes.

PA/Business Administrator

Jo is a skilled Personal Assistant and Office Manager, with a diverse background including the roles as Health & Safety Manager, HR Officer, and Sales Manager.

Throughout her career, Jo has provided confidential support to senior management while effectively managing office responsibilities for top executives. Notable highlights include serving as a PA to Dr. Brian May's Save Me Trust, PA to the Managing Director at The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, and HR Generalist at Perforce Software UK Ltd.

Holding an ACEA (Advanced Certificate for the Executive Assistant) and being high proficiency in Microsoft Office, Jo is an invaluable team member and plays a crucial role in the day-to-day operations of Sylvian Care.

CQC Onboarding Specialist / Virtual Assistant

With a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Media and Communication, our onboarding specialist, Marina brings a decade of admin and finance experience to her role. In supporting our franchise partners with their CQC (Care Quality Commission) registrations, Marina works diligently to handle, sometimes complex and time-consuming tasks, with precision and efficiency.

CQC registrations can prove a particularly intricate process, so Marina’s contribution and guidance on this procedure are invaluable to our new business owners, as they embark on establishing their home care companies.

Marina’s sound knowledge and understanding help to take much of the stress out of navigating CQQ registration.

Finance Assistant

Marketing Officer