Meet The Team

CEO/Founder

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.

Director/Founder

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.

Finance Assistant

Marketing Officer

As Marketing Officer at Sylvian Domiciliary Care for over 2 years, Jecel brings over five years of experience and creativity in the advertising and marketing industry.

Hailing from the Philippines, Jecel is responsible for website maintenance and the development of various marketing materials for Sylvian locations, plus internal communications.

With a keen eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, Jecel ensures that the company's materials are engaging and align with Sylvian's mission of fostering meaningful connections with our audience.