Our team

Sophie has been active in the charity sector for almost twenty years and has a wealth of experience as a non executive and executive leader.

Sophie serves as Chair of early years charity Little Village and is a trustee of the Royal Voluntary Service. She is also co-founder and co-chair of youth social action charity Generation Change. In this role she represented the youth social action sector on the Steering Committee of HRH Prince of Wales’ #iwill campaign.

Prior to joining Trustees Unlimited, Sophie spent eight years as the founding Chief Executive of full time youth social action charity City Year UK. She was introduced to City Year while she was Deputy Chief Executive of the Private Equity Foundation and led efforts to bring the organisation to the UK, raising initial funding and building a range of stakeholder support for City Year’s model of full time social action.

In 2016, Sophie received the Mayor’s Fund for London Individual Award for ‘outstanding achievement and lasting impact in tackling the skills and employment agenda for young Londoners from disadvantaged backgrounds’.

She was also listed in the Debrett’s 500 List of top “Philanthropists and Activists” in 2017 and in Management Today’s 35 Women under 35 list in 2011.

Stacey Bennett is Trustees Unlimited’s Operations & Marketing Executive.  She has been involved in the Step on Board programme since its creation, and moved across to support the whole of Trustees Unlimited in January 2019. 

Stacey started her career with an award-winning digital communications agency where she account managed clients such as BP, Whitbread and BT. Over the next 10 years Stacey developed her skills and experience of social media, marketing, office management and project management in a variety of roles in the private sector before moving to the charity sector where she worked with NCVO, Unicef and the British Red Cross. Stacey then joined the Step on Board team in its early days as freelance programme coordinator and became a permanent member of the team in 2019. In her spare time Stacey is a jewellery designer including designing a range of jewellery featured in A Man on a Bench fashion show at Tate Modern in collaboration with the Museum of Homelessness.

Stacey runs our social media including our Twitter account: @trusteesunltd

Lorna has played a key role in delivering, since its inception, the ground-breaking Step on Board Programme. She works with senior directors and emerging leaders from some of the UK’s largest and most well-known companies including Google, Barclays, Mishcon de Reya and EY and has facilitated the introduction of over 250 of them to board positions.

Lorna has spent the best part of her career in the voluntary sector. She has held several roles in fundraising, events and senior management. As a volunteer she has helped children struggling with literacy and worked with a national family and mediation service.

Tessa Moore has recently joined the Step on Board team following a broad career in international brand development, strategy and marketing working for global media businesses including Virgin Publishing, Disney and FremantleMedia. As part of her role as head of Brand Management at Disney EMEA, she was responsible for their CSR strategy and community relations. 

In 2008, she launched a major £10m fundraising  partnership with Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity to drive their redevelopment programme. She is a Trustee at Royal Trinity Hospice in Clapham.

Ian is MD of Russam.  He’s a founding board member of Trustees Unlimited and co-founder of Step on Board. He is also a founding Director of Europe’s largest multi-event cycling facility, Cyclopark and sits on the Professional Advisory Board of CharityWorks, the UK’s non-profit graduate scheme.  He has recently been appointed Chair of the national bullying charity, Kidscape.

Ian has a track record of delivering high profile non-executive and executive roles including the boards and CEOs of many household name organisations. 

Earlier in his career he was Chief Executive of a charity which specialises in the fields of homelessness, addiction, mentoring and international development. During this time he managed the creation and development of subsidiary organisations in Afghanistan and Pakistan both pre and post September 11th. The charity became the first non-governmental organisation in the world to win a management consultancy role with the Asian Development Bank.

Ian holds a degree in Business Information Systems, a Masters degree in Management from Cass Business School and the Certificate in Charity in Law and Governance from ICSA: the Governance Institute. 

Melissa Baxter leads the executive search team at Russam GMS and has over 15 years senior level recruitment and consultancy experience; she is a successful talent acquisition and delivery specialist who will find innovative ways of working collaboratively with organisations to appoint the very best people to create and build exceptional high performing teams. Before joining Russam GMS, she worked for a leading executive search business successfully appointing to senior level appointments in Central and Local Government, the not for profit and private sector; she was also a Founding Director of an executive search firm working on high profile executive and non-executive roles.  Melissa has a wide range of experience recruiting to and advising boards across all sectors and she has a particular skill in identifying talent and working with individuals and organisations to ensure that the most successful appointments are made. She has led searches which have resulted in the successful appointments of Chief Executives and Directors across all disciplines within the not for profit and private sector. 

Melissa is also a qualified and accredited Executive Coach who creates robust, strong and confidence-building working partnerships which are underpinned by sound coaching principles and well validated techniques. Melissa adopts an integrated approach, drawing on a variety of methodologies to support her clients, build their confidence and help them maximise their career potential. Melissa coaches and supports many women; the results and the feedback have been very positive. She also works with organisations to support them in the delivery of well-designed and integrated executive coaching programmes to ensure outstanding results that provide maximum returns on investment. Melissa leads on executive search across all sectors at Russam GMS. Her earlier career was within the private sector where Melissa operated at a senior level in the UK and internationally.

Marsha Islar Gosling joined Russam GMS in 2013 and has supported executive search in the appointment of a number of senior level individuals within the not for profit sector.  Her earlier career was within retail and she has also successfully run her own business. Marsha brings excellent insights and business acumen and works every effectively with clients and candidates to understand their requirements and delivers to an exceptionally high standard. 

A chartered member of CIPD, Marsha has degree in Business and an MSc in Human Resource Development from the University of London.

Leading transformational change in prominent public and non-profit organizations has been the focus of David’s career. From 2003 to 2009 he was chief executive of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy through a period of intense international interest in democratic transitions; and from 1997 to 2002 director general of the Commonwealth Institute where he championed education for diversity.  From 1987 to 1995 he was chief executive of Relate, the UK’s leading relationship counselling agency, where he led a major rebranding and organisational turnaround and increased the organisation’s volume of work by 60%. He was also an influential advisor to the British government on reform of the law on divorce. 

David qualified as a business coach with Meyler Campbell in 2015 and works across a wide spectrum among senior leaders in the corporate, legal and non-profit sectors. Alongside his coaching practice David chairs the board of Y Care International, part of the worldwide YMCA movement, working with some of the poorest young people in the world to help themselves out of poverty. He is at ease at very senior levels in complex, high profile organisations and has extensive international experience, particularly in the Middle East.

Dame Mary has been Chair of Trustees, at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) since November 2016. She is a cross sector leader who is also currently a non-executive director of HSBC Bank plc, a member of the Governing Body at London Business School, a Trustee of Teach First and Director on the board of the LSO (London Symphony Orchestra).  She is a member of the Asia Advisory Board for the University of Nottingham. Following the earlier stages of her life journey as a teacher, including as a headteacher of two comprehensive schools she was Chief Executive of the children’s charity NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children). She was the Founding Director of Clore Social Leadership, developing leaders for charities and social enterprises. Recently, with NCVO, she led on the development of the Charity Ethical Principles, published in early 2019.  She works with the Step on Board Programme with Russam GMS and NCVO as an advisory consultant.

Mike has worked across the public, private and voluntary sector for the whole of his career with his final full-time role as Director Corporate Responsibility in KPMG covering Europe, Middle East and Africa. During this time, he developed the Firm’s strategic approach to being responsible citizens with the result that by the time he stepped down 91 country practices had aligned their aims, programmes and ambitions to achieve significant impacts in social mobility and climate change. He was the founding Chair of the Living Wage Foundation and appointed ‘Chairman Emeritus’ in recognition of the pivotal role he played in its development. During his stewardship more than 3,000 employers adopted this voluntary scheme. Prior to KPMG Mike worked for the United Nations Environment Programme developing its Finance Initiative, now a global movement and had a successful career in financial services stretching more than two decades. During all this time he has been a trustee of not for profit organisations and is currently Chair of the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust taking over from the founder, double gold winner Dame Kelly Holmes. The Trust was set up 10 years ago to help young people suffering from disadvantage get on track using world class athletes to inspire young people to realise the attitudes they need to achieve fulfilling lives. Additionally, he is Chair of The Passage, the homeless charity, based in London and the largest resource centre in Europe helping homeless people transform their lives.

Mike was named by Economia the magazine of the Institute of Chartered Accountants as one of the Top 50 most influential businessmen globally and in 2017 he was appointed a Founding Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability. One of the first practitioners to be recognised by his peers in this way.

Hilary has private, public and third sector experience. She is now a portfolio Not for Profit Chairman and Trustee, and an executive coach and career mentor. She had a 25-year career in Executive Search and worked on secondment in talent management in the Cabinet Office. Following a first career in advertising and marketing, Hilary did the full-time MBA at Cranfield. She then joined A T Kearney where she became a Vice President Executive Search.  She was also a Vice-President in global firm Korn Ferry. At ATK she led the UK practice on Board/Leadership Assessment.

Hilary was a Director of the Institute of Directors, has served as Chairman of City Women’s Network, the Association of MBAs, the MS Society and of the UK charity for disabled children, KIDS. She is currently Chair of Kings College Hospital Charity, a Trustee of Leonard Cheshire, and Deputy Chair of the International Advisory Board at Cranfield School of Management.  Hilary undertook the research for 4 reports on UK Boards (Women on FTSE Boards, Chairmen, NEDs and Board Appraisals), and presents on the Cranfield Non-Executive Director programme – now focusing her presentation on Trustee and NED appointments in the Third Sector. She has been active in supporting women on boards, speaking at conferences, and was the first woman to appear on the front cover of BusinessWeek International (Breaking through the Glass Ceiling).  Hilary has a BSc (Hons) in Economics from University College London, an MBA from Cranfield, and an MSc in Coaching and Behavioural Change from Henley Business School.

Bob Humphreys initially trained as a civil engineer but subsequently qualified as a Chartered Accountant, and spent a total of 26 years with PwC, the last 12 of which as a partner in the assurance practice. During his career with PwC he worked both in the UK and internationally, for a variety of multi-national and flagship clients across a range of sectors. He specialised in working with charities from 2001 to 2009, and was the leader of PwC’s Charities Group. In 2009 he left PwC to take up the role of head of finance and IT at Oxfam GB, and from 2015 was the head of finance for Oxfam International. He stepped down from full time employment in 2016 to focus on developing his contribution as a board member, coach and consultant. He has served on the board of Prostate Cancer UK and is now the Treasurer of the Education Development Trust. He is a member of the ICAEW’s Corporate Governance Committee and of the CIPFA Charities Board, and a member of the Large Charities Committee of CFG. 

Srabani has had an extensive leadership career in the not-for-profit sector. She has been the CEO of 3 organisations: Alcohol Concern, Contact a Family and the British Association for Adoption and Fostering. She has more than 25 years’ Board experience and is currently Chair of two not-for-profits: campaigning organisation 38 Degrees and children and young people’s charity The Winch. In 2014 she set up a consultancy specialising in supporting not-for-profit organisation on leadership, strategy and organisational development. She has just launched a new organisation called Full Colour which aims to develop emerging BAME leaders, and to support existing leaders develop practical ways to lead inclusively. Srabani was awarded an OBE for her services to children and families.

Graham had 40 years wide-ranging experience in banking, entirely with Lloyds Banking Group where he lead significant branch networks, acted as head of HR & Marketing functions sat on the Retail Banking Board, heading-up the Customer Experience & Communications functions. He was also Group Director, Responsible Business in his final 4 years before retiring in 2015. Graham sat on the Board of the Institute of Financial Services (previously Institute of Bankers), on the Professional Standards Board and is a Trustee and current Vice Chair of The Brain Tumour Charity.

Helen Simpson is Trustees Unlimited’s independent Chair.   Helen is an experienced senior leader, with a portfolio of non-executive roles.  She is currently a Board member at Your Homes Newcastle, (the management organisation for Newcastle’s social housing) and a Board member of Ashfaleia, which manages YHN’s charitable programmes. 

Helen is a Trustee at St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity (working with the vulnerably housed in partnership with BBC Radio 4), a Trustee at CPASPT and consults and coaches with selected organisations and individuals through Simpson & Associates. 

She previously enjoyed a senior executive career in the IT and energy sectors with BT and BP including leading BT Group’s Volunteering Programme globally,  BT’s Mobility outsourcing business, IT partnerships, strategy, business development deals and internet product roles.

Ian is MD of Russam.  He’s a founding board member of Trustees Unlimited and co-founder of Step on Board. He is also a founding Director of Europe’s largest multi-event cycling facility, Cyclopark and sits on the Professional Advisory Board of CharityWorks, the UK’s non-profit graduate scheme.  He has recently been appointed Chair of the national bullying charity, Kidscape.

Ian has a track record of delivering high profile non-executive and executive roles including the boards and CEOs of many household name organisations. 

Earlier in his career he was Chief Executive of a charity which specialises in the fields of homelessness, addiction, mentoring and international development. During this time he managed the creation and development of subsidiary organisations in Afghanistan and Pakistan both pre and post September 11th. The charity became the first non-governmental organisation in the world to win a management consultancy role with the Asian Development Bank.

Ian holds a degree in Business Information Systems, a Masters degree in Management from Cass Business School and the Certificate in Charity in Law and Governance from ICSA: the Governance Institute.

Cathy Kay has over 20 years’ experience in recruitment and executive search and coaching.  She has expertise across all sectors for Fortune 500, as well as recently funded start-up companies. She works across all sectors and functions; particularly recognised for her work within the technology industry including innovation, digital transformation, technology infrastructures and for companies where tech is a vital platform. Cathy also has notable success in Financial Services, Supply Chain and Transport & Logistics and Private Equity focusing on Senior Managers, Directors and above.  Cathy is passionate about supporting entrepreneurs in start-up communities advising on growth and people. She is leading the diversity initiatives for Russam and serves as a Trustee for Trustees Unlimited. You may be interested that she has swam the Solent twice to raise funds for West Wight Sports and Community Centre – a registered Charity.

Richard is the Director of Enterprise and Development at NCVO responsible for the Charities and Evaluations Services, Marketing, Enterprise & Membership, including, fundraising, training, events, business development and sustainable funding. He also oversees Quality Standards, Collaborative Ventures and the development of new products and services that benefit Civil Society.

Richard was previously Group Development Director for BTCV a leading UK based conservation volunteering charity now called The Conservation Volunteers (TCV). He started work in the Voluntary sector working for a youth enterprise charity after 6 years in the Private sector.

He has worked in the charity and social enterprise sector for more than 35 years focusing on youth enterprise, unemployment measures, environmental issues, income generation, partnership development, trading subsidiaries and diversity.

Richard is a trustee of RAFT (Restoration of Appearance & Function Trust), a trustee of the London Welsh Centre and an ambassador for TCV.  He is a Director of NCVO Trading Ltd, was a non-executive director (NED) of CaSE insurance before it was sold and is a NED of Trustees Unlimited LLP and the Public Sector Transformation Academy (PSTA) all collaborative ventures. Richard is the founder and ex-chair of the Business Launchpad (ex WYEC) and volunteers at Battersea Ironsides RFC where he helps to coach U12’s.

Richard moved to London in 1975, is married with three children and lives in South West London. Born in Swansea, He is a passionate supporter of Wales as are his family and still thinks of it as “home”.

You can find more detail on Linkedin or follow him on Twitter @richrobwilliams.

Susan Cordingley is director of planning and resources at NCVO and is responsible for the organisation’s planning and financial management, IT, HR and digital communications. She is also NCVO’s company secretary and supports the governance of NCVO. Susan sits on Oxfam GB’s Audit, Finance and Risk Committee as an independent member and is a member of the steering group of the Heads Together Workplace Wellbeing Programme.

Susan is a Chartered Accountant, training at Haysmacintyre, where she was responsible for a mixed portfolio of corporate and charity clients and also has an MBA from London Business School. She has recently returned to NCVO, having worked for the organisation fifteen years ago in a similar role.

Susan also spent time in a senior management role at Guide Dogs for The Blind, before taking a career break to bring up her children, during which time she was treasurer and trustee for a number of charities and studied for a psychology degree with the Open University.

Martin is Bates Wells’ Managing Partner and has been a practising employment lawyer since 1996. As Managing Partner Martin works closely with the firm’s Management Board and Senior Management Team to develop and deliver the firm’s strategy and business activities.

During his leadership Martin has overseen the firm’s certification as a B Corp and has spearheaded a number of firm-wide initiatives to advance the responsible agenda; steering Bates Wells into the impact economy space, narrowing the firm’s gender salary gap, and taking practical action to promote inclusion and diversity.

Martin is an experienced advocate in the Employment Tribunal and an accredited CEDR mediator. He works in all areas of employment law with a particular focus on TUPE issues arising out of mergers and acquisitions, and the protection of confidential information and other confidential property by the enforcement of contractual covenants.

Peter Bennett is the Partnership Executive Officer of Bates Wells. He heads up the support services, ensures the efficient management of the firm and assists the partners in setting and achieving strategic objectives.

He is dual qualified in accountancy and marketing and has a successful career in the management of law firms. He often takes responsibility for contract compliance on major client contracts, particularly where these involve services from across Bates Wells.

Finance, Business Development, IT & Web, HR, Premises and Graduate Recruitment are all part of his remit. He is a Member of the Marketing committee of CaSE insurance and a Member of the Careers Service Syndicate for the University of Cambridge.

He is the co-author for Sweet and Maxwell on “Conditional Fees – Law & Practice” and he has lectured on legal management issues at both the main Bar and Law Society conferences. Peter is Honorary Treasurer of the newly created Institute of Health Visiting.

Tesse is one of the leading practitioners in behavioural leadership and the application of coaching and mentoring methods to strengthen governance and leadership. A qualified solicitor by background (currently non practising), Tesse has served numerous clients in the voluntary and community sector, and the public and private sector, enabling them to undertake change processes by using depth of her experience and expertise to enhance the quality of their service provision and leadership  She has led Bates Wells’ governance consultancy, OnBoard, since 2005 and has held a range of non-executive positions including as an Equal Opportunities Commissioner from 1997-2000. 

Tesse has been asked to bring her expertise to a range of fora including the Cultural Governance Alliance as a founding member, ICSA and the All Party Parliamentary Group on civil society.  She is a judge for the prestigious Charity Governance Awards, and in 2019 was appointed the lead judge for the BOND Diversity Award and will be judging the 2020 Diversity Awards.  She is chair of the Governance and Nominations Committee at International Students House.

Yasmin Waljee OBE has been key to establishing and embedding a pro bono culture within Hogan Lovells. Yasmin is an international human rights lawyer and has advised on issues relating to compensation for victims of crime and terrorism including the July 7 bombing  and regularly works on public policy issues in this area. Yasmin co-leads the firm’s award-winning social enterprise and social finance practice. HL BaSE.

Her appointment in 1997 as a legally qualified, full time pro-bono manager was the first of its kind in Europe. 

Yasmin is the Vice-Chair of Mosaic, the HRH Prince of Wales led initiative to support young Muslims and their peers growing up in deprived areas whilst breaking down the barriers and suspicions with British Society.

Srabani has had an extensive leadership career in the not-for-profit sector. She has been the CEO of 3 organisations: Alcohol Concern, Contact a Family and the British Association for Adoption and Fostering. She has more than 25 years’ Board experience and is currently Chair of two not-for-profits: campaigning organisation 38 Degrees and children and young people’s charity The Winch. In 2014 she set up a consultancy specialising in supporting not-for-profit organisation on leadership, strategy and organisational development. She has just launched a new organisation called Full Colour which aims to develop emerging BAME leaders, and to support existing leaders develop practical ways to lead inclusively. Srabani was awarded an OBE for her services to children and families.