GOOD THINGS FOUNDATION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Finance
I lead the finance team at Good Things. We are responsible for management of the organisation's finances. This includes making sure funding is used in accordance with the terms on which it has been granted, monitoring & identifying risk in levels of funding / income and ensuring compliance with relevant charity standards and accounting legislation.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Technology Team
- Senior Developer
Adam's main task at the moment is to get the flash courses on the Learn My Way website working on tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices. When not working on these HTML5 courses, he can usually be found working on a variety of small projects that keep our work ticking along.
Aisha creates engaging content for projects, campaigns, and communication plans across all online and offline channels. She helps to develop the stories of the people we work with, communicating their voices. Aisha also helps deliver communications to our National Digital Inclusion Network through newsletters and social media.
Job Titles:
- Senior Network Delivery Officer
Alison regularly talks to our network, finding out how they help people learn basic digital skills and use Learn My Way so she can share this with other organisations.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director for Digital Inclusion Delivery
Angela leads the Digital Inclusion Delivery team at Good Things, responsible for making sure they provide a great service to community partners and the people they work with.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Technology Team
- Test and Release Manager
As part of the digital team, Angie's role is to increase the quality of software releases that are made live. She designs, plans and executes tests ensuring our systems work as intended and ensures that data quality is maintained, with an eye on usability.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Community Engagement and Experience Team
- UKCRF Community Engagement Manager
Job Titles:
- Senior Network Delivery Officer
The thing that Bryony likes best about her role is that she gets to speak to staff and volunteers from Online Centres regularly. She finds it really interesting to learn about the varied types of organisations that join the Network, and the creative ways in which they support digital skills learning.
Job Titles:
- Partnerships and Fundraising Manager
Danielle seeks opportunities to inspire support to Fix The Digital Divide - for Good. She believes in the power of collaborative working to end digital poverty and exclusion. If you'd like to explore ways your organisation can help, Danielle is standing by to support.
Job Titles:
- Executive in the Data and Software Industry
David started his career in strategy consulting and corporate finance, before entering the data and software industry 19 years ago with a number of global executive roles at Thomson Reuters and Experian. He is passionate about digital transformation and about building great digital experiences using data and software.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Community Engagement and Experience Team
- Director of Evidence and Engagement
Emma leads a team of specialist experts - skilled in service design, user research, evaluation, data insights, marketing, communications, external affairs and advocacy. A social researcher by training, Emma has straddled research, policy and practice for two decades. Before joining Good Things Foundation in 2018, Emma worked at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation where she led the Policy and Research department, overseeing programmes on poverty, place, housing, ageing, disability, race equality, and communities. Emma draws on her wider understanding of social, economic and health inequalities to inform Good Things Foundation's strategy and delivery.
Emma is deeply committed to social justice and tackling inequality. She brings energy and enthusiasm to every partnership, and a strong belief that change is possible. Especially when solutions are co-designed with community partners and people with lived experience.
"I believe we can close the digital divide in the UK. We know a great deal about how to do this already. What we need to do now is to commit and collaborate - working with communities and across government, industry and civil society to make change happen."
As Finance Manager Erika oversees end-to-end finance operations, balances sheet reconciliation, manages accounts preparation, and grants & supplier payments. She's someone who is always looking to make improvements to procedures and controls, and looks after projects income and expenditure supervision.
Job Titles:
- Head of Network Delivery & Customer Support
Gabi's team has a dual focus - grant giving and customer support. She leads on providing a robust end to end grant giving service and seeks to maximise the impact of our funding to community partners whilst ensuring strong quality assurance and fraud detection. She also leads and develops the customer support function, ensuring excellent frontline service for our network and our corporate contact channels.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Operations Team
- IT Support Technician
Gavin makes improvements to our IT infrastructure, provides internal IT support, and helps implement new processes within the organisation.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Technology Team
- Salesforce Administrator
Hannah helps to shape Salesforce to meet the requirements of Good Things Foundation. She keeps our data clean and updates the system to match user requirements.
Job Titles:
- Advocacy Manager
- Staff Elected Trustee
As well as being staff trustee, Hannah leads on Good Things Foundation's advocacy efforts. Hannah works across teams to shape creative campaigns that lobby political actors and move people to action to tackle the UK's digital divide.
Job Titles:
- Communications and External Affairs Manager
Heidi builds organisational reputation and positions Good Things externally, managing stakeholder relationships and dealing with government departments and corporate partners. She also provides editorial guidance and delivers communication plans.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Group Chief Executive
- Good Things CEO
- Good Things' Group CEO
- Group Chief Executive & Staff Trustee
- Our Chief Executive
- Our Group CEO
Helen's job is to keep all of the plates spinning! She's both hands-off - planning for an ambitious future - and hands-on - motivating the team and our partners to do the best they possibly can. She's passionate about helping people to get the most out of the web and all of the opportunities it brings. She loves talking to the people in local communities who make it all come together, and to the wonderful people who have taken the plunge to do something different and digital with their lives.
Helen Milner OBE is the Group Chief Executive of Good Things Foundation. Founded as a staff-led mutual charity in the UK in 2011, Helen led the establishment of a subsidiary charity, opening an office in Sydney in August 2017, and running the Be Connected Network for the Australian Government.
Helen has over 30 years experience of working in and leading organisations creating and delivering education over and about the internet. She was awarded an OBE for services to digital inclusion in the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours List. In 2017, she won the title of Digital Leader of the Year (UK) and was named by Computer Weekly as the 14th most influential person in UK IT in 2020. Working with British Parliament, Helen was a member of the Speaker's Commission for Digital Democracy and an Advisor on Digital Engagement to the Public Accounts Committee. She is a Board Member of FutureDotNow, a member of the Minister's Digital Skills Partnership Board, and is on the Adult Advisory Group for MaPS (the UK's Money and Pension Service).
Our Group CEO Helen Milner comments on Chancellor Rishi Sunak's spending review and what needs to be done to support digitally excluded people as part of the digital recovery post-Covid.
Good Things' Group CEO Helen Milner looks at innovative ways to bring digital health literacy and digital services to people in communities in order to achieve better health outcomes.
Our Chief Executive Helen Milner is awarded an OBE for services to digital inclusion in the Queen's Birthday Honours
Helen Milner is appointed as Member of the Ministerial Digital Skills Partnership Board and co-Chair of the Local Digital Skills
Hilary supports our community partners with all things volunteering. This includes working with our funding partners to ensure that employee volunteering adds real value to the work of organisations providing digital skills in local communities, by building and developing the sustainability and skills of those organisations themselves. She also develops training materials and resources for our community partners to use.
Job Titles:
- Head of Community Engagement and Experience
As Head of Community Engagement and Experience, Isobel leads the development and implementation of our strategies to grow and strengthen our network of community partners. She ensures that they - and the people they support - benefit from the resources and support we offer to help fix the digital divide.
Job Titles:
- Developer
- Member of the Technology Team
Jamie leads on the frontend technical development of key projects, like Next Gen Learn My Way.
Job Titles:
- Research & Evaluation Manager
Jo's role involves designing and delivering the strategy for evaluating the impact of the work that Good Things Foundation does. This involves working out how best to collect data on Good Things' activities and outcomes, and making sense of that data to help shape the organisation's delivery and influence wider policy and practice. With a background and PhD in public health, Jo is interested in generating understanding of how we can improve wellbeing and reduce health inequalities through digital inclusion.
Job Titles:
- Network Delivery and Customer Support Manager
At Good Things Foundation, Jonathan is responsible for the delivery of a number of our grant funded programmes, as well as quality and delivery assurance across our portfolio of projects. Alongside this, Jonathan manages the team that offers support to our community partners delivering our projects and using our websites.
Julie's core responsibilities include strategic leadership, overseeing delivery of business plan, supporting staff and working with partners and clients. Julie previously worked as CEO at the regional social enterprise network, and also as social enterprise ambassador for the SW region. She is also a Trustee of Devon Air Ambulance, and a non-executive director at South West Business Council.
Skilled in leadership and its development, strategic management, partnership development, project design and development, coaching and mentoring for leaders; Julie is passionate about both digital inclusion and social enterprise, as well as building and supporting people and teams.
Job Titles:
- Head of Research and Data Insights
Katie leads our team of researchers and data specialists. The research team helps us understand the difference we are making, how many people we are helping and understand what works and how we can improve the lives of those who are digitally excluded. Katie sees equality of access to digital services and devices as a basic need and is passionate about making this possible for as many people as we can.
Job Titles:
- Network Delivery and Customer Support Officer
Katy supports with network recruitment and customer support calls. She enjoys reaching out to organisations and hearing about the work they do and how Good Things can help their delivery of digital inclusion support. Katy also takes customer support calls and enjoys the variety and collaborative nature of both roles.
Job Titles:
- Community Engagement Officer
Lauren supports the Community Engagement and Experience team to grow and strengthen the Online Centres Network. Through the collection of network insights, she works to tailor our support to the needs of network members and their learners.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Member of the Operations Team
Lisa leads the way, taking the overview of Good Things Foundation's plans, resources, and risks. She ensures the development of high-quality and efficient services, programmes, and projects. With over 30 years of experience in programme and project delivery in senior roles in the learning and skills sector, Lisa is the perfect person to make Good Things Foundation the leading digital inclusion charity in the UK and beyond.
Prior to joining Good Things Foundation, Lisa led the programme to implement a new National Assessment and Accreditation System for children's social work in Local Authorities across England.
"Having access to the internet and the digital world, being able to use digital services with confidence and knowing how to keep yourself safe in a digital world, are fundamental to equality of opportunity. I was inspired to join Good Things Foundation to help make this happen through working in partnership with individuals and organisations who share that vision."
Lisa leads the way, taking the overview of Good Things Foundation's plans, resources, and risks. She ensures the development of high-quality and efficient services, programmes, and projects to make Good Things Foundation the leading digital inclusion charity in the UK and beyond.
Lisa's role is a very varied one, no two days are the same, which is what she loves. She maintains the Sales and Purchase Ledger, processes expenses, grant payments, Bank Reconciliations and any other tasks that arise throughout the day.
Liz is a long-term campaigner on the importance of everyone benefitting from digital technology. She is CEO of FutureDotNow, a business to business coalition focused on accelerating the UK's digital skills at scale. Prior to that, she was Director of Digital Society for BT Group responsible for their digital and social inclusion strategies and cross-sector collaborations with government, civil society and other leading businesses.
Liz is Chair of the Good Things Foundation, and a trustee of the London Transport Museum. She sits on the Board of the Government's Digital Skills Partnership and was appointed a Social Mobility Commissioner in 2018.
Liz was awarded an MBE in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to digital literacy and social inclusion. In 2020 she was named by Computer Weekly in the top thirty most influential women in UK IT and Women in Telecoms 2020 finalist at the World Communications Awards.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Technology Team
- Product and Service Delivery Manager
Mary looks after Learn My Way and the Online Centre Network Membership site, overseeing development and making sure that they are fit for purpose and provide a great user experience for learners and network members.
Job Titles:
- Delivery and Engagement Intern
Matthew supports the Community Engagement and Experience team and will be working on the new Welsh Learn My Way. Matthew also does research to help tailor how we do things like meet-ups and training sessions. Matthew enjoys these online sessions and getting the opportunity to interact with members of the network.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Operations Team
- Operations Manager
Megan's role is to provide operational support for projects, particularly looking at process improvement. She gets to work with a range of people across the organisation and beyond, which is ideal since she loves meeting and talking to new people.
Job Titles:
- Learning Design & User Experience Officer
Michael manages the development of the courses on the Learn My Way website and supports people in the Online Centres Network with a wide range of learning resources. He's worked as a tutor so knows some of the challenges they face, and uses this experience to help us develop our learning offer.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director for Communications, Campaigns and Advocacy
Natasha leads Good Things Foundation's programme of communications, campaigns and advocacy, ensuring that our work reaches and impacts a complex ecosystem of stakeholders.
She works to maintain and develop our profile, ensuring that we are recognised as the UK's leading digital inclusion charity. With the support of the CCA team, she develops and delivers compelling campaigns, builds new and stewards existing strategic partnerships and elevates advocacy and public affairs.
Job Titles:
- Head of Partnerships and Fundraising
Natasha leads the team responsible for fundraising and managing our relationships with funders, sponsors and donors. Her aim is to ensure that Good Things Foundation has the appropriate level of funding to deliver its mission and that supporters feel appreciated, engaged and acknowledged. She enjoys connecting individuals and organisations to the impact that their contribution has made towards fixing the digital divide.
Job Titles:
- Community Engagement Manager - Greater Manchester
Natasha's role is to offer help, support and foster relationships between community organisations, further education providers, local authorities and Good Things Foundation. Natasha enjoys connecting centres and equipping them to ensure they can change peoples lives through the Community Digital Skills Pathway project, helping people to get connected and go onto further education or gain new life skills.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Chief of Staff
- Chairman of TechUK 's Central Government Council
- Chief of Staff, Accenture
Naureen is Chief of Staff to the CEO of Accenture's Government practice. Prior to joining Accenture, she held a number of senior roles, including Director of Government Relations at Computacenter and Director of Public Services at techUK which is the trade association for the UK tech industry. She started her career in the field of Equality and Human Rights, working for the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the NSPCC leading their policy and public affairs work at EU and International level.
Naureen is Chair of techUK's Central Government Council - a group of senior industry leaders representing views of tech companies to government. She is also a Governor of Laycock Primary School in Islington.
Job Titles:
- Dean
- Programme Lead, Starting Point Community Learning Partnership
Nicola is the Programme Lead for the Starting Point Community Learning Partnership in Stockport, a social enterprise focused on creating exceptional community learning spaces. She also has more than 10 years experience in developing and delivering IT training for organisations including IBM, Merseyside Police and the Ministry of Justice.
She describes herself as ‘passionate about increasing social and digital inclusion by listening to people, working out what drives them and encouraging them to take positive action to bring about change'.
Job Titles:
- Legal Manager
- Member of the Operations Team
Peter is Good Thing's lawyer. He looks after all legal matters for the charity. He likes working with our partners to ensure that we have robust contracts that enable productive and effective relationships that maximise our impact for the benefit of those we help.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Technology Team
- Senior Developer
The focus of Phil's day-to-day role is the user and how all the digital team's front-end work satisfies the user's needs. His role ranges from UX analysis and interface design through to advising the team on best practice and sometimes even building the front-end. He likes his role as it is very varied and he gets to problem-solve on a daily basis. There's never a dull moment.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Operations Team
- Project Manager
Phil's role is to facilitate the effective delivery of key projects. Phil works with subject matter experts within Good Things Foundation, our funding partners and the Online Centre Network to collectively help reduce the digital divide.
Phoebe leads the creation of new and engaging content for both online and offline channels and supports our fundraising and advocacy work. She also delivers our new storytelling approach, collecting and sharing case studies about our beneficiaries and our community partners. Phoebe also supports the Network and Skills workstream with communications to our Online Centres.
Job Titles:
- Partnerships and Fundraising Manager
Rob is responsible for driving the day to day delivery of a number of projects across Good Things Foundation, along with finding and developing relationships with partners who share our vision for a world where everyone benefits from digital.
Job Titles:
- Culture Sector Professional
Chair of Chelmsford Cultural Development Trust, Trustee of The Heritage Alliance and a Deputy Lieutenant and Parish Councillor in Essex, Roy is involved in various activities that nourish creativity and strengthen community life.
Formerly Director of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich and Auckland War Memorial Museum, New Zealand, he was previously a rear admiral in the Royal Navy.
Roy has long prioritised digital investment for positive social outcomes. As an experienced board member, he is an advocate for empathetic leadership, based on respect for diversity and equality.
Job Titles:
- Network Delivery and Customer Support Officer
Sarah works on our network team and enjoys hearing about how organisations are supporting people to learn digital skills.
Job Titles:
- Head of Operations
- Staff Elected Trustee
As well as being staff trustee, Sital's job is to help ensure that Good Things Foundation can deliver its ambitious programme to make a difference to people's lives. As Head of Business Operations she takes a holistic view of planning, resourcing and risk in the organisation's operation.
Thalia works with Good Things Foundation because she loves bringing people together to make (good) things happen! She works with external partners and project teams throughout the organisation to deliver digital inclusion projects like Make it Click and Everyone Connected.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Staff Elected Trustee
Tom supports the delivery of multiple projects at Good Things Foundation, which involves bringing together staff across teams and our external partners to help promote digital inclusion. Tom loves working collaboratively to make a difference and enjoys working for an organisation that is paving the way for others to reach those most in need when it comes to using digital.
Vinous brings a host of experience from the technology world, at techUK and Public First, and the political sphere, as former Deputy Director of Communications, and Senior Policy Adviser with the Liberal Democrats.