TRUST FOR LONDON - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Grants
- Director of Grants Read
Alex joined the team in 2022 from Paul Hamlyn Foundation where he led it's work on migration as head of programme.
Prior to working in philanthropy, Alex worked for over 15 years in various areas of social justice including migration, youth work, homelessness and international development including in Nepal, Ghana and the UK. Alex was social protection programme manager at the Overseas Development Institute, and deputy chief executive at Praxis Community Projects, an organisation supporting migrants and refugees in London.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Consultant With the International Law Firm DLA Piper UK LLP
Alison Gowman is a consultant with the international law firm DLA Piper UK LLP specialising in real estate. Over a 30 year career, she has acted on numerous major commercial property transactions, specialising in landlord and tenant matters and waste management. She is an elected Alderman of the City of London representing Dowgate Ward. She served as Sheriff of the City of London 2021-22.
Alison has been involved in all aspects of the work of the City of London during her years of service and is presently a member of the City Corporation's Property Investment Board and Markets Board. She recently concluded several years as Chair and Deputy Chair of the City Bridge Trust and continues as a member of the Bridge House Estates Board. She is a Governor of the Museum of London. She sits as a Magistrate in Central London.
She has served on the Boards of the Sir John Soane's Museum and the Greenwich Foundation which together with the Museum of London have given her an appreciation of architecture and place. She has served professionally on the Law Society's E-conveyancing panel and the City of London Land Law Committee.
She has a lifetime's passion for sustainability and recently concluded a term as non-executive director of the Green Finance Institute. She founded and chairs the Livery Climate Action Group. She is also Chair of the London Road Safety Council.
Andrew joined the board 2020. He is is a Chartered Surveyor who worked in private practice and then spent 26 years with Church Commissioners for England, as Chief Surveyor (1994-2003) and then Secretary (CEO), before retiring in January 2020.
He is currently Chair of William Leech Investments and Foundation Trusts, a charitable investment company owned by five Christian charities. Andrew is also trustee of the Mrs Jane Cart TrustHe and is a Director of USS (Universities Superannuation Scheme). In addition, he sits on the Board of Finance and chairs the Glebe Committee for the Diocese of St Albans.
Andrew is an accredited mediator from the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution and a Trustee of Mediation Hertfordshire, a local mediation service offering pro bono mediation to communities in the county.
In January 2020, he was awarded an OBE for services to the Church.
Austin has over 20 years experience of working in the third sector, back to volunteering with the Terrence Higgins Trust in the late 1980's.
Since then he has worked as research associate for the Institute of Education (HIV/AIDS, Mental Health research and evaluation) and studied for a MSc in Social Science Research Methods and Statistics. Austin has worked as a grants officer for a number of funders including Opportunities for Volunteering and Big Lottery Fund (previously National Lottery Charities Board). He also has experience in evaluation and learning as lead officer for the Diana Memorial Fund, and more recently as UK Grants Learning Manager for Comic Relief.
Deborah joined us in 2021 as HR Manager to oversee our people and office functions.
Prior to this Deborah has worked in the private and not for profit sectors with organisations that ranged from just a few employees to nationals and multinationals. Most recently she has worked mainly with not for profit organisations of fewer than 50 employees. While being a generalist, much of Deborah's work in the past 15 years has focused on helping to establish the HR function internally, improve people related systems, and facilitate culture change.
For leisure Deborah has many interests - two wheeled adventures with friends, whether cycling or motorbiking, feature most regularly.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Accountant
- Trustee
Denise became a Trustee in 2021, having previously been a Co-opted members on our finance and resources committee.
Denise is a Chartered Accountant with over 35 years' experience of working in the public, private and charity sectors; she has worked extensively with charities and social enterprises since 2004, including six years as the Fundraising and Finance Director of Mango, a UK based international non-governmental organisation (now part of Humentum) working to strengthen financial management and accountability of humanitarian relief and development organisations around the world.
Since 2011, Denise has managed two family businesses. She is a trustee of a number of UK charities including the Trust for London's subsidiary, Resource for London, JW3 Trust, Nisa-Nashim, the Jewish and Muslim Women's Network and OneVoice Europe.
Job Titles:
- Director of Social Investment
- Senior Manager of the Holloway Neighbourhood Group
Douglas has been with us since 2010 and leads our social investment work.
Previously senior manager of the Holloway Neighbourhood Group, Douglas has over a decade's experience of the voluntary sector. A graduate in Communication & Media Production, his earlier employment includes development and production roles in film and television.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Trustee
- Director of the Runnymede Trust
Dr Omar Khan was appointed as Chair of Trust for London in April 2023. Omar has extensive experience working on social justice issues. He is currently director of TASO (Transforming Access & Student Outcomes in Higher Education), and was previously director at race equality think tank, the Runnymede Trust.
As director of the Runnymede Trust, Omar played a central role in the organisation's work to challenge race disparity and all forms of racism. He was instrumental in bringing the injustices of the Windrush scandal to public attention, highlighting the disproportionate impact of austerity policies on Black and ethnic minority women, and leading ground-breaking research into race and class inequality and Islamophobia.
Omar is currently on the board of Barrow Cadbury Trust and has worked with foundations across the country. He also has valuable insight into the experience of being a grant seeker and, during his time at Runnymede, applied for and received funding from Trust for London.
Giulietta works with the senior management team and board of trustees on our governance.
Giulietta has been working as a pa to chief executives in the charity sector since 2008. Prior to joining us, she was ea to the ceo at Changing Faces, a charity that worked with people with a visible difference. This is her first role in an endowed trust and she finds it interesting being ‘on the other side'.
Giulietta is passionate about charity governance and ensuring systems are up-to-date and compliant with legislation. She likes learning about all the new tech that is now available to help her streamline processes, particularly if that tech allows her to make colour-coded lists and matrixes.
In her spare time, Giulietta volunteers for Girlguiding, running a Brownie unit for 20-ish little girls, who she is convinced are going to run the world.
Job Titles:
- Director of Finance and Resources
Heather joined us as director of finance and resources in July 2022.
Before this Heather was director of finance and operations at Action Tutoring, a national education charity. Heather has 15 years of finance experience in charities and local government. After graduating with a maths degree at Manchester University, she trained as a chartered accountant while working at Lewisham Council. She then moved on to London Councils and the homeless charity Shelter.
Abbas has been a grants manager with us for over 25 years.
Before to joining the team he worked for Common Purpose, a number of voluntary sector organisations and the former Inner London Education Authority. Abbas also has a great deal of experience of local government and has held a number of elected positions.
In addition to paid positions, he has served on committees of a number of housing associations, voluntary organisations, governing bodies of both both primary and secondary schools and grant giving trusts.
Hilary joined the team in 2019 to support both us and the organisations we fund to effectively learn from our work.
Before joining us Hilary worked at Christian Aid in the Research, Evidence and Learning team in a similar role with a global remit, supporting the organisation and their delivery partners globally to strengthen their research and evaluation work.
Hilary has a particular interest in creative research and evaluation approaches to support community learning, equitable research partnerships, and research communication. They also have a PhD in Politics from the University of Edinburgh.
Jamie joined us in 2022 and works on communications planning and managing our external channels.
Before joining the team, Jamie worked in local government communications at the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. He has an academic background in Journalism and Political Communication.
Jamie is passionate about fighting inequality and empowering people and communities to tell their stories.
Outside of the trust he is an avid reader and a long term sufferer of Exeter City Football Club.
Jané joined the team in 2022, and has worked in international development for 10 years, supporting local organisations internationally on community projects focused on inclusion and disability.
She has been active in various community projects in London, from youth projects in Brixton to most recently being a team member of Hart Club, an art studio and gallery championing neurodiversity in the arts. Out of this Jané started E numbers, a creative neuroqueer night bringing together creatives to explore and affirm what it means to be neurodivergent. Originally from the rural Highlands, while she loves living in London Jané misses the sea.
Job Titles:
- Senior Grants Administrator
Jaspal joined the team in 1988 and provides secretarial and administrative support to the senior management team and grants managers.
Before joining us, Jaspal worked for an insurance company, and has over 20 years' experience of working in the charity sector. Jaspal enjoys cooking and her chickpea curry is famous in the office.
Joanna joined the team in 2021. She's supported private and public businesses, particularly Sainsbury's, in thinking strategically and practically about disability for more than 10 years, first as a director at the Business Disability Forum then as a freelance consultant.
Joanna began her career as a solicitor before joining the voluntary sector. Although she didn't have experience of grant-making before joining us, she remembers what it's like applying for grants, particularly from when she was deputy ceo of SignHealth. Joanna is also chair of Transport for London's Independent Disability Advisory Group.
She has an MSc in Gerontology (older people) from King's College London, and is interested in the intersection between age and disability. Last but not least, she is a governor of Frank Barnes school for deaf children, which has a bilingual policy - treating the learning of British Sign Language and English with equal importance.
Johanna joined the team in 2021 with a decade of experience working across communications, marketing and publishing in the UK and internationally.
Before joining us Johanna worked as communications lead for London's life sciences cluster organisation, helping health services, academia and businesses collaborate to accelerate innovation and provide better patient care. She spent a number of years working in publishing in Mexico, Dubai and Azerbaijan before returning to her home town of London to put down more permanent roots.
Johanna is passionate about social justice, beautiful buildings, the natural world and Mexican food.
Klara Skrivankova joined us in March 2019 and brings over 18 years of experience in policy, research and strategy development.
Klara is an internationally recognised expert on modern slavery, decent work and responsible business. Before joining our team, she worked at the human rights charity Anti-Slavery International and as an expert advisor for the Ethical Trading Initiative and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. She has also served on boards of two United Nations Trust Funds and advised international bodies, including the Council of Europe.
Klara currently serves on the boards of PIN UK, Hibiscus Initiatives and the Association of Charitable Foundations. She is also involved with international anti-trafficking and business and human rights initiatives.
Laura Mansfield joined the team in 2002.
Before this Laura worked at a variety of organisations, including a local authority and a television research company. Laura provides administrative and secretarial support to the grants managers and other team members to ensure the smooth running of the organisation.
Job Titles:
- Social Investment Manager
Luke joined us in 2021 as our first social investment manager.
Luke joined the team at a time when organisations are in great need of affordable finance and flexible terms, which we are offering as part of our social enterprise strategy. He will be working closely with frontline organisations seeking social investment to reduce poverty and inequality in London.
Luke has worked on social investment within charities for several years, and is excited to focus on helping charities and social enterprises in London. He previously led a programme supporting ex-offenders and people in recovery from addiction into employment through social investment, which has given him an interest in working with smaller, grassroots-led organisations. He is also happy to chat with individuals and organisations about any questions that arise around social investment and whether it is a viable option for you.
His personal interests include taking part in triathlons, as well as any endeavour that can get him out of childcare for a couple of hours.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive
- Director of Policy
Manny joined the team in 2018 as director of policy and became our chief executive in 2021.
Before this Manny was a director at the London Community Foundation, which distributes small grants to community organisations across the city.
Manny also spent a decade working in the field of social innovation. He worked at Nesta, the UK's innovation foundation, on a wide range of issues related to public service reform. He also worked for the Young Foundation, leading work on communities and housing.
Manny started his career as a community worker in the Welsh valleys, working with the region's small Black and minority ethnic population to tackle racism. He also worked for the Paddington Development Trust as a neighbourhood officer in the Queen's Park area of London.
He has lots of experience of working with low-income communities across the country and is passionate about a range of social issues related to life in low-income communities, and poverty more broadly.
Martin joined the team in 2005.
He has previously worked for the DWP at Barking & Dagenham council, and Romford council. He has been a Quality Assurance Manager for YMCA gym's, Editorial Assistant at What Mobile magazine and Office Manager at CHA advertising.
Meredith began her career in investment banking, working in New York, Frankfurt and London for Goldman Sachs, where she was latterly an Executive Director covering the Consumer and Retail industry. Meredith moved into the voluntary sector, working as an Investment Director at venture philanthropy funder Impetus Trust.
While at Impetus, she co-led the development of its first sector-specific fund, dedicated to helping charities working to reduce re-offending scale their impact. After the fund was successfully closed, Meredith joined the terminal illness charity Marie Curie, where she held a number of roles, culminating in four years as Executive Director of Fundraising and Engagement, with responsible for income generation, marketing, digital, policy and public affairs, and research.
Meredith is passionate about helping voluntary organisations thrive and is especially committed to strengthening the voice of women and girls and to making a difference within the London community. To that end, Meredith has served as a trustee of Hestia Housing and Support, Toynbee Hall, BookTrust and the Junior League of London. She currently serves as Chair of the SOFII Foundation, Deputy Chair of Plan International UK, and as a trustee of Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), in addition to her role with the Trust, which she joined in 2017.
Meredith lives in London with her husband and their three sons. In her spare time, she is a keen theatre-goer and concert attendee.
Nick became a Trustee in 2022 and sits on the asset allocation and social enterprise committees.
He began his career in chartered accountancy and then spent close to thirty years in investment management before taking up a number of Trustee/Co-opted roles within the voluntary sector. He managed Investment portfolios for a range of clients, including Pension Funds and retail investors.
Nick fervently believes in supporting younger people and, alongside his responsibilities as our Trustee, he is Trustee for Action4Youth, a charity in Buckinghamshire offering transformative and empowering experiences to inspire the young.
Nick lives near Amersham with his wife, Jo, and they have three grown-up children. They travel widely and Nick also enjoys watching Saracens, playing golf and padel.
Job Titles:
- Accountant
- Director
- Trustee
Nigel is an experienced Director in medium and large sized organisations having worked at Hawker Siddeley, Shell, Cable & Wireless, Centrica, and Morrison plc before moving in 2013 to FirstPort, the UK's largest residential property management company, first as Chief Financial Officer and, since 2015, as Chief Executive.
Nigel is a qualified accountant and a Chartered Director. He loves London as a cosmopolitan and energetic city and is keen to reduce inequality and promote opportunity.
Nigel has previously been a charity Trustee, being Treasurer for the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) from 2008 to 2014 when the global financial slowdown meant the charity had to focus sharply to deliver its core aims during a period of fewer resources.
Outside of work, Nigel is interested in current affairs, uses the gym, and enjoys travel, movies, and all types of music.
Precious joined the Trust's trustee board in March 2021. She is the founder and Chief Executive of Social Practice ENT - a not-for-profit accounting and consultancy social enterprise that is built on social justice principles.
Precious began her career working as an external auditor in Birmingham where she qualified as a chartered accountant. As part of the external audit team, she worked with a range of clients including charities, multi-academy trusts, housing associations and large corporations with group income over £500m. She then subsequently went on to work as an accounting and strategic consultant in London, before forming Social Practice ENT.
In addition to being a chartered accountant, Precious holds a Master's degree in Charity Management and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She is passionate about inclusive governance, and through Social Practice ENT, Precious helps Civil Society Organisations to develop inclusive policies and board cultures. She also oversees the Social Practice Academy's flagship Beyond Suffrage trustee training programme.
Rebecca joined us in 2020 and brings 20 years experience in policy, campaigning and research roles across a broad range of areas relating to social and economic inequalities.
She has developed high profile and innovative projects at a local and national level, empowering people directly affected by poverty and injustice.
Prior to joining the team, Rebecca was head of policy at the human rights charity INQUEST working on campaigns, evidence gathering and parliamentary influencing. Before that she was project coordinator at Community Plan for Holloway and Senior Policy Associate at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.
Rebecca holds an Msc in Criminal Justice Policy from the London School of Economics.
Rokhsana Fiaz has served as the Mayor of Newham since May 2018 - and as a a councillor in the borough since 2014. Before entering politics, Rokhsana spent time working in journalism, leading projects in the public sector, and most recently as a CEO in the charity sector.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Chief Leader Writer
Sonia is Chief Leader Writer and a columnist for the Observer. She is a former head of public services and consumer rights policy at Which?, the Consumers' Association, where she led their work on public services.
Prior to this, she was a Senior Policy Adviser to Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, the Leader of the Opposition. She has also worked as Head of Policy and Strategy at the Dartington Social Research Unit and led programmes of work on public services, education, children and families at the think tanks Demos and the Institute for Public Policy Research. Sonia is also a trustee of the education charity Ambition School Leadership.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Trustee of Other London
Stephen is the Executive Director for Care and Communities at Peabody.
He joined Peabody in 1998 and is responsible for Peabody's care services supported housing business as well as the work of its community foundation. In his time at Peabody he has also overseen housing management, development and sales and new business development. Prior to joining Peabody, he worked in training and employment and was a director of a national training company from 1993 to 1997.
Stephen is also a trustee of other London charitable organisations including House of St Barnabas and Central and Cecil Housing Trust and chairs United St Saviours Charity.
Tina has been with us since 1984, and manages the IT systems and grants database.
Tina recently led on our move to Office 365 and Salesforce, as well as overseeing the organisation's wider digitisation project. She played a vital role in helping shift us to remote and then hybrid working as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tina is married with two children. She is a eucharistic minister and a registrar of her local Catholic Church.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Management Accountant
- Finance Manager
Tunde is our Finance Manager and joined the team in 2016.
Tunde is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant. He has worked in the charity sector for several years and brings a wealth of financial and operational experience to our work.
Winnel joined the team in 2016.
Her previous career started at HSBC in 1978 where she worked in the branch network and then became a managers Assistant in fraud investigations.
After a brief spell as a carer, she worked for the Premier Inn hotel. Her last role was as an administrator for a children's charity. She has two children.