Meet the Team – Kirsty
Meet Kirsty – The Evaluator’s Big Picture Thinker, Data Detective, and All-Round Fixer
If you’ve ever worked with The Evaluator, chances are you’ve come across our founder and director, Kirsty Rose Parker. And if you haven’t yet – here’s your chance to get to know the woman who makes data dance, who turns tricky problems into elegant solutions, and who’s been quietly transforming how projects understand and show their impact for over 25 years.
Kirsty set up The Evaluator in 2017, but she brought with her a big suitcase of skills: from project management and evaluation, to communication, strategy, and storytelling with numbers. With an MA in Economics from the University of Edinburgh, she’s as comfortable building social return models as she is running a creative workshop – and she’s especially passionate about making sure that data is actually useful, not just gathered for the sake of it. Over the years, she’s worked across the arts, charities, public sector, and health, bringing insight and structure to projects that range from cultural hubs and climate programmes to dementia support and wellbeing initiatives.
Before founding The Evaluator, Kirsty led some huge transformation projects. As Arts Development Manager, she grew a tiny department with a shoestring budget into a thriving, multi-strand team delivering large-scale events, mental health programmes, and town centre regeneration projects. As ACE Centre Manager, she helped launch a major cultural venue from the ground up – recruiting staff, shaping the building, designing business plans, and opening the doors to over 80,000 visitors in the first year. She’s worked with councils, creatives, health commissioners and community groups alike – and has always brought the same energy: curious, kind, clever, and committed to making things better.
As a qualified Social Return on Investment analyst, Kirsty also knows how to pin down value where it counts. Her approach is never just about ticking boxes – it’s about genuinely figuring out what’s working, what’s changing, and why it matters. She’s endlessly creative, loves a good negotiation, and has a knack for spotting opportunities that others might miss. She’s also a friendly face, brilliant with project participants, and passionate about making evaluation simple, meaningful, and even (dare we say it) enjoyable.
At heart, Kirsty believes that everyone – from grassroots volunteers to senior stakeholders – deserves to see the impact of their work clearly. And she’s built The Evaluator around that belief. If you ask her what she does, she’ll say, “We figure it out for you.” And that’s exactly what she does.
