Our people

Sufina became Director in January 2020. She works closely with Trustees, the team and stakeholders, including grant-holders, to ensure all aspects of the Foundation’s strategy, governance and grantmaking work are delivered effectively. In 2022, Sufina finished a two-year Executive MBA programme, with a specialism in Strategic Leadership, at Warwick Business School.

Before joining the Foundation, Sufina worked in corporate strategy and performance at the City of London Corporation. She has also worked for the National Lottery Community Fund and City Bridge Foundation in grantmaking, strategy and policy roles. Sufina started her career in service delivery and business development roles for charities working with adults with learning disabilities and older people.

Sufina is a Trustee for We Belong, The Charterhouse and the Association of Charitable Foundations. She is also a Grants and Evaluation Committee Member for Youth Futures Foundation. Sufina is an honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, having chaired their Expert Panel on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Sufina was awarded an MBE for charitable services in 2020.

Alice became our Head of Research and Impact in May 2024. She works closely with our Director, Trustees and the wider team to drive forward the delivery of our strategy for 2022-25, including through our publicly available Impact Framework and Investment Policy, as well as supporting with the development of future strategies.

Alice joined us from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation, where she was Evaluation and Learning Lead for three funding programmes at Impact on Urban Health since July 2021. Prior to this role, Alice worked as a consultant at the social enterprise Renaisi, specialising in supporting philanthropic funders to learn and understand the impact of their grantmaking. In her time in this role, Alice led multi-year evaluation and learning partnerships for a range of funders including City Bridge Foundation, Power to Change Trust, The National Lottery Community Fund and Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Previously she worked in the social action sector as a member of the senior management team at Student Hubs.

Alice is a volunteer grants coordinator for the LGBTQ Funding Circle. She is also the Chair of Trustees at Stepney City Farm.

Mark became Finance and Operations Manager in August 2023. He is responsible for overseeing and ensuring the efficient management of the Foundations finances, investments, resources and the office. He also supports with the design and implementation of the Foundation’s Investment Policy.

Mark is a qualified accountant (FCCA) who has previously spent over 20 years in the Banking and Financial Services Sector in various roles and has been involved in the delivery of a-number of internal finance and IT programmes.

He is a Trustee of the Abbeyfield Billericay Society who provide assisted living for the over 55s.

Kate became Senior Grants Manager in December 2022. She manages the Foundation’s Grants Team and is responsible for grantmaking operations and advising on grantmaking related policy.

Before joining the Foundation, Kate worked as a Grants Manager at Paul Hamlyn Foundation, focusing on supporting organisations working with young people. She has been involved with the voluntary sector since she was a teenager, when she lived in supported accommodation. In her early career she delivered frontline work with children and young people in schools, colleges and non-formal settings. She went on to manage major national projects at UK Youth and The Foyer Federation. She also worked as Development Manager at The Foyer Federation, with a focus on Advantaged Thinking initiatives.

Kate has a BA in English and Comparative Literary Studies from the University of Warwick, is a Prince2 qualified practitioner, and in 2022 completed a Diploma in Voluntary Sector Management at Bayes Business School. She was a trustee at the National Association for People Abused in Childhood and has previously volunteered on the Grant Funders Network and on the Lived Experience Movement.

Stephanie became Grants Manager in February 2023, having first joined us as our Grants Officer in November 2022. She works remotely for us from Yorkshire. She is responsible for providing administrative and organisational support for the day-to-day operations of the Grants Team. This support includes responding to initial enquiries by email and phone, assisting with the first and second stages of the application process, and working with the Grants Manager and Senior Grants Manager to support the Grants Team to fulfil their duties. Her role also involves managing a small portfolio of grants and participating in special projects.

Raised in the Pacific Northwest, Stephanie moved to the UK to complete a Masters in Social Work. After completing her studies, she began her career in the voluntary sector as a service manager for a charity working with older people. She brings prior grantmaking experience from her time as a Funding Officer at The National Lottery Community Fund.

Beth became Grants Officer in April 2024. She works remotely for us from Yorkshire. Beth is responsible for providing administrative and organisational support for the day-to-day operations of the Grants Team, including managing a small portfolio of grants, participating in special projects and contributing to the administration of the Foundation as required.

Beth spent several years working in a Special Educational Needs School with young people with severe and complex learning difficulties whilst completing her degree.

She is an experienced grantmaker, having worked at the Family Fund which is the UK's largest grantmaking charity for families raising a disabled or seriously ill child and from her time as a Funding Officer at The National Lottery Community Fund.

Nadia joined us as our Executive Assistant (maternity leave cover) in May 2024. She works remotely and on a part-time basis through Virtually Priceless, an organisation that provides virtual assistant support to multiple organisations. Nadia supports the Director with the management of her diary, as well as ensuring all of our governance processes are being delivered. She also provides some support with our finances and operations. Nadia is an experienced virtual assistant and works for a range of charity, public and private organisations and clients.

Lauren became Executive Assistant in October 2022, and is responsible for overseeing and supporting the administration and governance functions of the organisation, which includes executive support to the Foundation’s Director and to the Board, and supporting the wider team with day-to-day administrative tasks, including the running of our office, and fulfilling our governance duties.

Before joining the Foundation, Lauren was working on a fixed-term contract with the Department for Work and Pensions as a work coach. She has an extensive background working as a Personal Assistant and Office Manager, including her time with us a few years ago as Office Manager and PA. She first started her career at the disability charity Livability as a governance assistant and then progressed to work across multiple sectors in key administrative functions – including a short-term stint as cabin crew for Emirates airlines!

Peter was appointed to the Trustee Board in March 2014, following a career in the arts and cultural sector spanning theatre, dance, arts management and education.
His former roles include Chair of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Chair and Pro Chancellor of the University of Westminster, Chair of the Magic Circle Foundation, Director-General of The English Speaking Union, Chief Executive of The Scottish Ballet, Chair of the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Dean of the Arts Educational Schools and Chief Executive of Shakespeare’s Globe.
Peter is currently Trustee of Noel Coward Foundation, Governor of English National Ballet School, Honorary President of Tavaziva Dance Company, and a Member of Council of Shakespeare’s Globe. He holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Westminster and is an Honorary Fellow of South Bank University. He received an OBE for services to drama in the 2011 New Year's Honours, and a CBE for services to cultural heritage in the 2023 New Year's Honours.

Geraldine was appointed to the Trustee Board in July 2016. Geraldine’s career has been in frontline community work, including as Chief Executive of Community Links, a social action charity working alongside local people to tackle inequality in east London. She also founded a social enterprise, GAP Research, which supported residents in highly diverse communities to undertake their own research and to work with public agencies to design effective solutions to long standing problems.

Bringing that experience into the funding sector, Geraldine is now the Director of Collaboration at London Funders, and the Co-ordinator of the Trust for London's Citizenship and Integration Initiative.

Keith was appointed to the Trustee Board in January 2018. He is a qualified accountant who has spent most of his career in investment management for large institutions. This has involved roles with organisations in the public, private and charitable sectors, including Investment Strategist with the BP Pension Fund and Chief Investment Officer with the Railways Industry Pension Schemes.

Keith is also a trustee of the Dunhill Medical Trust.

Tufyal Choudhury was appointed to the Trustee Board in May 2018. He is an Associate Professor of Law at Durham University; a Senior Research Fellow on National Security and the Rule of Law at the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law and Society, and a fellow of the German Marshall Fund Trans-Atlantic Forum on Migration and Integration. His research focuses on human rights, integration and counter terrorism law and policy. He is also a trustee of the Democratic Audit, and Director of MFest (Festival of Muslim Cultures and Ideas).

Annika was appointed to the Trustee Board in June 2018. A social entrepreneur, she is co-founder of CAST, a charity that works to build a more resilient and responsive social sector using digital technology. Prior to CAST, Annika was CEO of Nominet Trust, which, under her leadership, invested more than £40m in early-stage ventures that deploy technology for social innovation. Previous roles include founding Generation Global, which brings together young people from different cultures to learn from one another, and CEO of Futurelab, which uses digital means to open up education to some of the most disadvantaged young people around the world.

Annika is Chair of the University of Chichester and a non-executive director of Wey Education plc. She was awarded an OBE in the 2018 New Year’s Honours for services to social innovation and digital technology.

Becca was appointed to the Trustee Board in September 2018. She brings experience of working in the charity sector in policy, campaigns and public affairs. In her spare time, she is co-director of the award-winning IC Change campaign, which aims to end violence against women. She has a strong interest in enabling people with lived-experience to participate in and lead social change, developed through her employment, academic interests and personal experience as a disabled woman. Becca’s work has been recognised through the Gender Campaigner of the Year award from Sheila McKechnie Foundation, acknowledgment by President Obama and inclusion on the University of London’s 150 ‘Leading Women’ list.

Jonny was appointed to the Trustee Board in March 2021. He is currently WCMC Chief Executive Officer at the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), and chair elect of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, a collaboration between the University of Cambridge and nine leading internationally focused nature conservation organisations.

Since 2012, Jonny has served as an elected Council member for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), where he also chaired the Council’s policy and programme committee for four years. In addition, Jonny is non-executive director of Corrour Estate, a large upland estate in Scotland; chair of the Ecological Advisory Board of Ardtornish Estate, and trustee of the Postcode Trusts, which disburse funds from the People’s Postcode Lottery.

Jonny holds a BA (Hons.) and an MsC (Hons.). He is an honorary fellow of the University of Edinburgh, an Ambassador for the Scottish Wildlife Trust, and an honorary fellow of Scottish Environment Link.

Lily was appointed to the Trustee Board in February 2022. She has worked across responsible investment, social and environmental action, and network building. She is currently Senior Research Associate at Jesus College, Cambridge, leading development of a 1.5°C-aligned corporate bond index. Lily was previously Head of Networks at the responsible investment charity ShareAction. Alongside leading the Charities Responsible Investment Network (of which John Ellerman Foundation is a member), she developed a sister network for the higher education sector and collaborated with the Department for Work and Pensions to launch the Occupational Pensions Stewardship Council, a £550bn community of UK pension schemes sharing knowledge and practice on investor stewardship. She is a non-executive director at Positive Money, and a Trustee at NEON.

Nell is part of the John Ellerman Foundation Board Shadowing Scheme, which is running from May to December 2024. Nell is an actor, writer, theatre maker, producer and director, multi-arts facilitator, and trauma-conscious coach. She is the founder of Response Ability Theatre (RAT): a theatre and participation arts charity that seeks to represent and support people who experience or are at risk of experiencing trauma. She has delivered her bespoke workshop methodologies for trauma survivors and for people in positions of care for trauma survivors for Council-based social care teams, NHS psychology teams, grassroots and independent support organisations, and faith-based safeguarding teams, as well as publicly in connection with RAT’s own productions. She is an artistic associate with Arts and Homelessness International, CRIPtic Arts, and the Museum of Homelessness. She has guest lectured at Queen Mary University of London, University College London, and the University of Warwick. This year, she is a Fellow for the British Council at the Venice Biennale.

Hirra is part of the John Ellerman Foundation Board Shadowing Scheme, which is running from May to December 2024. Hirra is co-director of climate change charity Possible, and formerly headed up their Car Free Cities programme where she was a key campaigner for London’s ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) expansion. She is passionate about designing anti-oppressive and sustainable futures, and regularly shares her expertise with the public including in The Guardian and gal-dem. She has previous experience of being a Trustee of Wen (the Women’s Environmental Network) between 2019 and 2022. She has also worked for Amnesty International UK and used evidence and insight around the experiences of underrepresented people to drive positive change, as well as extensively exploring British Muslim identities.

Charlotte is part of the John Ellerman Foundation Board Shadowing Scheme, which is running from May to December 2024. Charlotte is born of a line of strong women who have worked in the charitable sector, thus shaping her early life and the development of a strong social conscience. Whilst her early adult life was focussed on looking after her three children, she also made time to work in the sector – starting as a volunteer for Headway Nottingham , a small local charity offering empowering support to adults living with disability following brain injury, before then becoming a member of staff. She has been managing the charity for the last seven years, reporting directly to the Board of Trustees as the most senior member of staff. Her role involves all elements of management, and she has seen the charity through some difficult times but is now concentrated on developing a five-year strategy that will build the charity’s sustainability and provide a good foundation for future growth.