We were honoured when Girlguiding chose to work with Trustees Unlimited in their search for trustees and absolutely delighted with the successful outcome.
Melissa Baxter led on the search and met with some exceptional candidates along the way, resulting in a fantastic shortlist. Girlguiding made an excellent final decision and we would like to wish the four appointed candidates every success in their trustee roles. As you can see from the short summaries below, they are sure to add great value to the Girlguiding board.
Mary Agbesanwa
Mary joined PwC in 2016 as the Financial Services Operations Management Consultant and is now the Fintech Scale Programme Lead. In the role she connects industry leaders and decision-makers in large organisations to innovative start-ups who are redefining the financial services industry, to create mutual business opportunities and accelerate commercial growth.
Mary is a former Brownie and Guide where she learnt important life skills early on in her life. Mary is passionate about the future of the financial services industry, supporting millennials to achieve their full potential and driving diversity and inclusion. She is a management consultant and Co-Chair of PwC’s Multicultural Business Network (MBN), where she leads the 15 people-strong Steering Committee and regularly chairs the quarterly leadership meetings with the partner sponsors.
Outside of work Mary is a spokesperson for gender equality, millennials and diversity and inclusion. She has a popular blog called A Millennial’s Diary and co-runs a digital-first global female millennial personal development and entrepreneurial community called Now You’re Talking. She has also been selected as a McKinsey Next Generation Women Leader 2020 and No.1 on EMpower and Yahoo Finance’s Future Leader List 2020.
Jill McLaughlin
Jill started in the catering industry and progressed through to senior management in the private services sector before moving to the charitable sector.
She served as the senior executive responsible for multiple professional services, in the British Film Institute and most recently as Director of Corporate Services for Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.
Having retired from full time employment Jill is now providing consultancy and training services through her own company, a Leading Governance Consultant for the National Governors Association and is a non legal member of Employment Tribunals in London.
Jill was a Brownie, Guide and Ranger in Ware, Hertfordshire in the 1960’s and 70’s. She achieved many badges, her Queens Guide and Duke of Edinburgh awards. She benefited from many varied experiences ranging from sailing, kayaking, camping, helping local organisations and trips to London theatre. Girlguiding introduced her to many experiences, formed the basis of her young social life and enabled many leadership experiences.
For the last ten years Jill has been a school Governor in London Borough of Islington, taking up the role of Chair of Governors of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School, an outstanding girls secondary school providing high quality education and development for girls from many different backgrounds. Jill is currently Chair of Governors of Islington Futures Federation of Community Schools, a group of four schools in Islington.
Deborah O’Neill
Deborah joined Oliver Wyman as a consultant in 2008. Since then she has been an Engagement manger, Principal and Partner supporting cross-industry organisations with their digital initiatives.
Currently Deborah is a Partner and UK Head of Digital, where she played a pivotal role in the corporate Social Impact Programme to support pro bono or low-fee work on projects delivering social and client impact, which won the 2015 Lord Mayor’s ‘Future-Proofing Charities Award’
Deborah was involved in Guiding until she went to university and she has sought ways to be involved in Girlguiding since. She has extensive experience in providing strategic leadership, building new businesses and shaping professional thought through addressing global industry conferences as a keynote speaker. She combines creativity with commercial acumen to deliver digital transformation programmes and connect clients with innovative technological solutions that facilitate and sharpen decision-making.
In 2019 she provided her professional advisory services (pro-bono) to lead a project that supported Girlguiding to become more data-driven.
Sue Parker-Tantush
Sue is the Group Health and Safety Manager for the Co-op Group, where she led the transformational change of the Co-op’s Health and Safety Strategy for 70,000 employees, across UK and NI.
She is also the Chair of Governors for a Local Governing Board at the Co-op Academy Trust
Sue was previously the Group Safety and Compliance Officer at Kingfisher plc
Sue is the Chair of an inner-city school and was previously Chair and then leader of a Scout group. She was also a Brownie and a Guide in her village growing up. She has seen first-hand the impact of being exposed to wider opportunities and the positive change this can have on young people.
She’s a qualified Risk Management and Safety professional, currently accountable for the risk-based Safety Strategy of a complex organisation. As the Chair of the Local Governance Body of a Co-op Academy School, Sue has helped to change the operating model to promote effective governance.
For further information about Girlguiding, and the other members of their board, click here.
