Our Team

Tony has been working and volunteering in the charity sector for the past 30 years, most recently in an operational Director role for the Papworth Trust, a disability charity working in the East of England.

Prior to this he was the deputy CEO of Volunteering England. Tony has carried out a number of senior management roles since the early 2000’s.

Tony is vice chair of Hertfordshire Hearing advisory service a small charity supporting people with hearing loss in the East. He is also a crew member and trustee of his local independent life boat in Felixstowe on the east coast, which is where he lives. He has broad experience of social care delivery in the community and has set up and managed numerous community based projects and services.

Michelle is CIMA qualified with over 16 years’ experience in the not-for-profit and private sectors. She is responsible for the Finance and Resources function at CUF and remains one of the longest standing member of staff.

Michelle exercises her passion for music in her local church at Kensington Temple and enjoys supporting other women. She likes reading and does whatever it takes to remain healthy.

Liz is the Programme Director of Near Neighbours. She works from home in Retford, Nottinghamshire, is mum to two boys, and is often travelling the country visiting Near Neighbours activities. She grew up in South Yorkshire and likes jazz, films and walking her dog Ben.

Sarah has been working in the charity sector for 15 years, most recently as the Operations Director for The Honeypot Children’s Charity, an organisation that provides respite breaks and outreach support to young carers.

Prior to this, she was the Head of Specialist Services at The Royal British Legion, leading a broad portfolio of national services for the armed forces community including Benefits, Money and Debt Advice services, Independent Living Advice, a Handy Van service for older veterans and the Moneyforce website aimed at promoting financial capability to younger service personnel. Previous roles included managing domiciliary respite care services for children and adults and running projects helping people with disabilities and other disadvantages return to work.

Sarah lives in London with her partner and 3 cats and provides supported lodgings through The Albert Kennedy Trust for young people aged 16-21 who are at risk of homelessness.

Ben joined CUF in December 2017 bringing 10 years of charity sector experience with him. Having previously worked at a range of regional and national charities such as Hospice in the Weald, The Diocese of London and Richard House Children’s Hospice.

Ben has garnered a wide breadth of fundraising experience including managing organisational change and development. With a passion for building relationships and developing staff, Ben incorporates a relationship fundraising approach to everything he does.

Ben provides leadership across CUF’s fundraising directorate and is responsible for driving the charity’s grassroot income generation and supporter growth. In his spare time, he enjoys travelling and recently he passed his PgDip in Charity Marketing and Fundraising.

Jon oversees the development of the Together Network for CUF, including help with governance, strategic planning, recruitment, supporting staff and trustees, and network gatherings.

Jon lives in Birmingham, he has a background in regeneration and community development work, and experience working in the private, public and charity sectors, as well as in his local church. Music and running are his main passions outside of work, which his family both tolerate and occasionally enjoy.

Jessamin joined CUF in March 2018. Jessamin is a PhD Candidate in Sociology and Social Policy at Princeton University, specialising in inequality, race and ethnicity, and religion.

She has conducted quantitative and qualitative research on social capital formation, interfaith relations, immigrant identity, and social and political attitudes of evangelical Christians. Prior to her studies at Princeton, Jessamin spent several years working in international development programme design and institutional fundraising, based in Delhi and London. She is an active member of her church in East London and has great love for travel, music, low-maintenance houseplants, and strong coffee.

Mark is a well known figure in the voluntary and community sector, having previously headed up a street children’s charity Action for Brazil's Children (ABC) Trust; managed Lloyds Foundation's regional grants programme and worked as a manager for community development specialists, Community Action Suffolk.

Mark has worked with voluntary and community sector leaders for over more than three decades, helping them to build more effective organisations - and achieving their social mission, income and charity ambitions. He has considerable local government experience as well, having served as a councillor for 22 years and as a member of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board. Mark has also worked as a senior Home Office Civil Servant focused on community safety and regeneration in south-east London. He also continues to undertake a wide range of voluntary roles in his community and in support of the most fragile voluntary groups in deprived and diverse community settings; and he is director of Civil Society Consulting CIC.

Having delivered a business planning and fundraising support programme to members of the Together Network (Sustainability Project), Mark’s focus at CUF remains on supporting the Together Network joint ventures in their social action work, and Near Neighbours hubs to increase their reach and impact through priority programmes such as Places of Welcome and Catalyst Young Leaders.

Sarah has been working in the charity sector for 15 years, most recently as the Operations Director for The Honeypot Children’s Charity, an organisation that provides respite breaks and outreach support to young carers. Prior to this, she was the Head of Specialist Services at The Royal British Legion, leading a broad portfolio of national services for the armed forces community including Benefits, Money and Debt Advice services, Independent Living Advice, a Handy Van service for older veterans and the Moneyforce website aimed at promoting financial capability to younger service personnel. Previous roles included managing domiciliary respite care services for children and adults and running projects helping people with disabilities and other disadvantages return to work.

Sarah lives in London with her partner and 3 cats and provides supported lodgings through The Albert Kennedy Trust for young people aged 16-21 who are at risk of homelessness.

Ali joined CUF and Near Neighbours as the Grants Coordinator for Near Neighbours and Together Grants in May 2016. He previously worked for a Muslim lifestyle magazine and a social enterprise that advised charities on their fundraising and programme development. He enjoys working with the many different and varied organisations that Near Neighbours supports and the Hub Coordinators across the country.

In his spare time, Ali volunteers with Al-Mizan Charitable Trust, which supports people living in poverty across the UK, plays football, and reads books. He studied Financial Economics at the University of Leicester.

Florence is the Administrator for the Near Neighbours Catalyst programme. She has had a career as an Administrator spanning two decades in the corporate and private world. Florence has also volunteered as an advisor with Ealing Equality Council and also helps as a leader at Kensington Temple Children’s Ministry.

She runs a monthly CV and Job Search workshop at Northolt Library through her organisation called Dream Possibilities - her way of giving back to her community. Florence has two teenagers who keep her on her toes and in her spare time she likes to do a bit of writing including poetry.

Amy joined CUF in Spring of 2016 and supports the growing Together Network through communications, sharing learning, reporting, events and resources.

Before CUF she enjoyed reading Philosophy at the University of Birmingham, and spent eighteen months working within digital media. Amy spends free time at her local Vineyard Church, baking or dancing, and lives near Sutton with her husband (and two cats).

Paul joined CUF in 2004 as part of the Grants team. He transferred to the Finance team in 2010. Paul is responsible for ensuring the accuracy and consistency of financial data in CUF’s databases.

He has a degree in mathematics and is in the final stages of completing an accountancy qualification.

Edel joined us in June 2019. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant and comes to us with many years’ experience of Finance roles within the Financial Services Industry, including Business Partnering, Expense Management and Financial Controllership. Edel is responsible for the Financial Reporting, Budgeting and Forecasting for CUF, including the day to day management of the Finance team.

Edel is a practising Catholic. Since joining CUF she has been struck by a feeling of peace in her work and hopes that she can use her skills and talents to contribute to the charitable works of CUF.

Edel sings in a Choral Society and has recently sung on tour with them in Perugia. She is also learning to play the piano and enjoys spending time with family.

Holly joined CUF in summer 2018 from Canterbury Diocese where she worked as a Training and Events Coordinator in their Local Church Development department. She brings over ten years’ experience of working in the third sector, and four years of event management to her role in the Fundraising team at CUF where she is responsible for delivering programmes such as the Advent Sleepout Challenge and Raise Your Voices.

In her spare time she is involved in Christian peace activism, sits on the PCC of her local church and also enjoys spending time outdoors.

Sam joined CUF in late 2015 from Macmillan Cancer Support where he worked in their Corporate Partnerships Department. He is responsible for managing and formulating the strategic organisational processes for CUF and the Joint Ventures across England, as well as managing the database and high-value project support. He enjoys the outdoors, fishing and kayaking, and holds a BA (Hons) from The University of Southampton.

Rhea joined the CUF team in December 2017 with over 13 years of management experience in the NGO/INGO sector. Her more recent experience has been in Project Management in overseas, food & nutrition-related programming.

Rhea has worked for 5 years on partnerships and building relationships for the establishment of feeding centres in rural Lesotho. This has taught her that investing in long-lasting relationships can yield powerful social action change and enrich the lives of those in need. She joins the fundraising team, endeavoring to do just that!

Elieshia has worked for Church Urban Fund since 2014 and is fairly new to fundraising. She has worked in various retail companies and a mega UK church. Elieshia is a wife, mother of 3 and has over 10 years experience in the sector.