Our Trustees

Saffron is an experienced executive leader, charity trustee and activist, who has worked in public sector policy, advocacy and communications for nearly 30 years.

She has been NHS Providers deputy chief executive since 2018, and between June 2022 – February 2023 was interim chief executive. Before moving into healthcare, Saffron was head of public affairs at the Local Government Association. Her early career focused on influencing European policy and politics, and she started working life in adult and community education.

For ten years she was a board member and then chair of a 16–19 college in Hampshire and is currently a trustee of GambleAware, a leading charity committed to minimising gambling-related harm.

A committed feminist, and proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, she uses her lived experience of sexual abuse as a child and young person to fuel her activism on behalf of survivors and her commitment to equity and justice for women and girls.

Tanya Tracey is a dedicated leader and advocate with a commitment to dismantling societal structures that perpetuate racism and injustice. Her passion lies in demystifying and decriminalising the lives of women who have survived incarceration and advocating for those who are disproportionately overrepresented in the criminal justice system.

With nine years of experience as trustee of Clean Break Theatre Company, two of which she spent as co-chair, Tanya brings a wealth of knowledge, vision, expertise, and a relentless drive for change to her role. Her belief in the importance of centering those with lived experience in governance and leadership is deeply rooted in her own journey, driving her to challenge power hierarchies and amplify the voices of the most marginalised.

Tanya has dedicated over 15 years to advocacy and working towards transformation and justice within organisations such as Women in Prison, nia, User Voice, and Cranstoun. Currently, as the Criminal Justice Services Manager at Birth Companions, Tanya oversees contract delivery and leads a team in providing essential emotional support, advocacy, and group work for pregnant women and mothers in prison whilst campaigning to end the imprisonment of perinatal women.

Victoria Harfield qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC and currently works with a number of small charities to support with their finances, from transactional bookkeeping, supporting fundraising bids, forecasting cash and reporting to trustees. 

She previously volunteered in a women's centre supporting women impacted by the criminal justice system.

Tina Ajuonuma is an organisational behaviour and culture practitioner, facilitator, and researcher with extensive experience working within organisations to interrogate and challenge oppressive cultures and systems, and to reimagine care centred ways of existing.

As the Founder and CEO of the organisational development and learning agency The Better Org, Tina engages organisations around the world in the work of cultural transformation through the lens of anti-racist, intersectional feminist and liberatory practice, thereby enabling them to reflect and navigate through cultural tensions, to dialogue and give shape to better ways of operating internally, better ways of engaging with external stakeholders, and better ways of being of service within the broader social change eco-system.

Abbi Ayers has worked with women and girls in contact with the criminal justice system for over 14 years as a services coordinator, women's centres manager, perinatal specialist and safeguarding lead.

Abbi is currently Development Manager of the National Women's Justice Coalition, where she leads projects and workstreams focused on driving systems change, achieving social justice and improving outcomes for women. Abbi has developed and managed services in women's prison over a number of years and has worked for women's specialist organisations including Birth Companions and Advance. She is also a qualified antenatal yoga teacher and breastfeeding counsellor, has considerable experience of leading antenatal classes and postnatal support groups, and currently volunteers for the Trussell Trust's North Enfield Food Bank.

Anne specialises in social impact strategy and evaluation, with 25 years’ voluntary sector and philanthropy experience, improving effectiveness to reduce inequality.

As a feminist leader, Anne has been deeply engaged in women’s rights through her volunteering, research and consultancy support.  She has advised numerous organisations tackling violence against women, including the Centre for Women’s Justice, Standing Together Against Violence Against Women, and Women’s Aid. She was also trustee and volunteer counsellor for Herts Rape Crisis for five years.

She has previously led the evaluation team at the thinktank and consultancy NPC, and set up the evidence team at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation, where she focused on reducing health inequalities. She currently provides strategy and impact support as independent consultant.

Laura McIntyre is a leader in the voluntary sector, in her role as Head of Services for Women and Children for Changing Lives, a national charity with roots in the North East.

Laura has set up and developed a range of innovative services for women across the North and Midlands, including developing peer research methodology which have contributed to policy recommendations and policy change at a local and national level. She has set up women’s centres, both building-based and virtually, and has developed trauma-responsive models of care for Changing Lives. Laura is a Winston Churchill Fellow of 2011 and has specialist expertise supporting women who sell and exchange sex, and women who are targeted and groomed for sexual exploitation.

Shani Newbold is a leading diversity and inclusion campaigner who has spent her career re-addressing the balance of diversity leadership and Board appointments.

She is the Founder and Managing Partner of Cadence Partners, a talent acquisition and EDI consultancy focused on building workplaces that are diverse, inclusive, and genuinely committed to driving positive social change. She has over 20 years of experience in executive recruitment, talent management, and coaching, both in the UK and the US, and sits on a number of advisory boards. Her energy and drive to address inequality grows stronger every day, especially when it comes to creating fairer more transparent recruitment processes, developing diverse talent, and building inclusive organisations.

Rani Patel is the founder and Managing Director of CALLING, a new creative company launched with a mission to empower voices from the margins.

Prior to launching CALLING, she spent the last three years as business partner and director of cultural collaborations at youth marketing and purpose agency, Livity. She is an award-winning creative leader and has been recognised as an industry voice with 15 years’ experience.

She holds the firm belief that brands can be purposeful, affecting real change at a local and societal level and uses her voice in the media to discuss the race issues within the industry and brand world through her writing for industry and consumer press such as Campaign Magazine, Marketing Society and Vogue.

Lynn Percival brings a wealth of charity and fundraising knowledge, as well as extensive experience from the private sector.

After almost 10 years in financial services, where she held a number of marketing and product development roles in the UK, Europe and Africa, Lynn joined the non-profit sector specialising in fundraising. Passionate about equality, justice and tackling climate change, Lynn has led fundraising teams at Stonewall, Education Support and Rich Mix and now has a global fundraising role at the Jane Goodall Institute.

Mariam is a Programme Officer at the Tudor Trust, a charitable trust with a mission to advance racial justice by resourcing power in communities. Mariam supports the development of the grant-making strategy at Tudor, alongside building and managing relationships with partners.

Prior to joining Tudor, Mariam worked as a policy officer at the Wellcome Trust with a focus on global climate and health policy. Previously, Mariam was at Professors Without Borders a charity dedicated to improving equitable access to quality education.

Mariam holds and BA in criminology and sociology and MA in international relations.

Tanja is an economist with over 20 years of experience in measuring policy impacts on markets, citizens, consumers and the economy gained in large corporates, public sector regulators, as well as in consulting.

She recently set up her own economic consultancy, diktyo economics, advising clients on competition and regulatory matters. Throughout her career she helped align organisations’ priority setting and impact with strategic direction as well and has sponsored corporate inclusion and diversity journeys (most recently in her department at BT Group).

Given her background as a second-generation migrant, she has lived experience of being part of a marginalised community. Tanja has previously regularly raised funds for refugee and children’s charities and was a parent governor at a London state primary school.

Shiryn Sayani is an award-winning communications and campaigns professional, currently working at the GLA leading the Mayor of London’s campaigns to make London fairer.

Shiryn has a communications and advocacy background with a particular focus on equality, human rights and justice-related issues. She previously established and led the communications function at the Race Equality Foundation. Prior to this, she started her career in policy, communications and campaigns roles at the Bar Council, after graduating with an LLB Law degree from the University of Exeter. She is CIPR qualified (holding a Specialist Diploma in Public Affairs), a member of the Media Trust’s Stronger Voices Advisory Group, and was named one of PRWeek’s 30 Under 30 high-performing comms professionals.