Our Team

Raised in Surrey, Bishop Rob Wickham studied geography at Durham University, specialising in urban regeneration. Bishop Rob has also completed an MA in Theology, politics and faith-based organisations, focusing his thesis on the Church’s past and future engagement with education. He has written another thesis on the creative use of church buildings.

Before training for ordination at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, he witnessed high unemployment while working in a Tyneside council estate in the declining years of the nearby the Swan Hunter Shipyard, where decades earlier his grandfather had worked.

As rector of St John’s, Hackney, in east London, then-Fr Rob oversaw a re-ordering of the 2,000-seater church to allow for greater community use. The church hosted concerts by Coldplay, Elbow, Gary Barlow, Emilie Sandé and Sinéad O’Connor, as well as job fairs, a food bank, a night shelter, debt advice, the local branch of the credit union, and what became the most-used knife bin in London.

His pectoral cross was crafted from some of the 4,500 knives and firearms the police collected over three and a half years from the knife bin, which is still in use. In 2012 the Speaker of Hackney Council gave him an award for outstanding community building during and after the London riots the previous year. In the days after the disturbances, he led a peace vigil with other faith leaders, headed a clean-up operation, hosted community meetings in the church and organised a community street party for 400 people, to help restore trust.

In 2015 was made Bishop of Edmonton in north London, becoming the country’s youngest bishop at only 43.

Adam is CUF’s Deputy CEO, joining the team in April 2022.

Prior to this Adam was Chief Officer of Transforming Communities Together, which is a Core Member of CUF’s Together Network. Adam has lots of experience of the non-profit sector having held senior roles in communications, fundraising and grant-making. He has a deep passion for church involvement with social action projects and is a Self-Supporting Priest in the Diocese of Lichfield. Adam has a Master’s Degree in Theology and his dissertation focused on the links between the Eucharist and social action.

Adam Lives in Wolverhampton and in his spare time enjoys walking (especially with his dog), reading and exploring historical places.

Vinyo joined CUF in August 2022. She qualified as an Accountant (FCCA) in 1993, following a BSc (Hons) degree in Business Administration. Her passion for working to make a positive difference in people’s lives has led to a career spanning 28 years in senior management roles in health and social care, working most recently as Director of Finance and IT for St Michael’s Hospice in Hastings and St Wilfrid’s Hospice in Eastbourne.

She has worked in the private sector, and for the last 19 years in the charitable sector, during which she studied for a Master of Studies in Social Enterprise and Community Development at the University of Cambridge. Vinyo has thrived on the diverse aspects of her previous roles and is committed to working collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organisational financial sustainability.

Vinyo lives in East Sussex with her family and enjoys taking long walks, especially by the sea. Other interests include zumba, dance-based exercise, volunteering and spending time with family and friends.

Liz is the Director of Partnerships. She works from home in Retford, Nottinghamshire, is mum to two boys, and is often travelling the country visiting Near Neighbours projects and and Together Network 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.

Polly manages the development and promotion of the Growing Good Toolkit. She has worked for a number of organisations in the charity sector, covering a range of issues including infant health, homelessness and financial education.

Laura joined CUF from a background of both local and national charity communications. She brings her experience of partnership working and passion for co-production to the team.

Nadine joined CUF after serving the Methodist Church as a minister for 26 years. From a pre-school in post-Apartheid South Africa to a community centre in south London, to facilitate community cohesion she has developed contextual, non-directive approaches in, for example, an anti-racism project, community-led, multi-agency homelessness prevention services in partnership with a local authority and services commissioned and funded to mitigate social isolation.

Nadine currently serves as a charity trustee at Queen Victoria Seamen’s Rest, preventing homelessness and was formerly director of QVSR Seafarers Centres, a charitable company, both serving seafarers.

Nadine is married to Francis and lives in south west Surrey. She can usually be found working in her garden, completing crochet projects or taking long walks.

Part of the CUF team since 2016, Amy focuses on supporting the Together Network Members and helping to share their expertise with churches. Amy lives in South London with her family (which includes two cats) and loves her local (Vineyard) church, cooking and calligraphy.

Gillian is the Governance Officer & Office Manager for Church Urban Fund, although she joined originally as Grants Officer for Near Neighbours in March 2019. She has worked in the charitable sector since 1999. She is passionate about community, environmental matters, and social justice, and was a volunteer with her church’s weekly community breakfast for 14 years. In her spare time, she looks after her 2 chickens and cat, and gardens (her own garden & allotment plus a friend’s garden, and also indulges in guerrilla gardening along her street too). Gillian has a daughter in her mid-20s.

Jessica Walker joined CUF as the Programme Manager for the Relational Homelessness Project in July 2022. Jessica brings over 8 years of experience working in the not-for-profit sector, most recently for St Mungo's, a large national homelessness charity. In this role, Jessica managed a service providing access to education, training and employment for those with experience of homelessness.

Jessica holds an MRes in Crime Science and a BA in Geography. She lives in Leicester, and spends most of her free time with her two dogs.

Lisa has over 15 years experience of managing, producing and delivering community and education projects in a range of settings within the creative and cultural sector.

Lisa joined CUF as Youth and Community Programme Manager in 2022. She was most recently Head of Creative Learning at a music and arts venue, where she built the creative learning programme on the principle that the venue was a site for learning and participation, with a particular focus on creating opportunities for young people who wouldn't usually have an opportunity to access the arts. She is accustomed to working from the grassroots level to develop partnerships with providers who have already built trust and rapport with the communities they work with, which in turn aids in breaking down barriers to initial engagement. Her passion lies in creating opportunities for young people and communities to come together, contrary to the constraints often experienced in other aspects of their lives, in which they can begin to exercise agency, explore their values, feel empowered and have their voices heard.

Lisa has a passion for the outdoors, so when time allows can often be found hiking up a mountain or escaping to the Cornish coast to explore the beautiful South West Coastal Path with her husband and two boys.

Sophie Edwardson joined CUF as the Listening and Learning Officer in July 2022, with previous experience of 4 years as the Kids Pastor at Harbour Church UK. She holds a MRes in Science and a BSc in Geography. She has volunteered at homeless drop-in services for over 8 years and her postgraduate research concerned the stories and aspirations of those faced with homelessness and spaces of care in the city. She lives in Portsmouth and likes to be by the seaside! She spends her free time running, playing netball or at a gig.

Kelly joined the Church Urban Fund in 2020. Having previously worked in the veterinary sector and other roles, she decided to apply her knowledge to Fundraising. In her spare time, she enjoys baking, Ballroom dancing and walking, with the odd charity walk thrown in on occasion (and looking after her cat!).

Elieshia joined our fundraising team in 2014. She is responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the data held on our database as well as giving support to our donors where needed.

In 2006, she shifted from the import and export sector to non-for-profit where she gained most of her valuable knowledge and skills in CRM software.

When Elieshia is not working, she volunteers at her church who runs a not-for-profit charity supporting those who are ostracized in her community.

When she is not working or volunteering, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, swimming and cycling, and just being outdoors in the countryside or at the seaside.

Paul joined CUF in 2004 as part of the Grants team. He transferred to the Finance team in 2010. Paul is responsible for financial statements and internal financial reporting.

He has a degree in mathematics and is an ACCA qualified accountant.

Ben joined CUF in 2021. He has experience in both the private and not for profit sectors and prior to joining CUF spent fourteen years working with Christian Aid at its London Head Office. Ben took part in auditing and training programmes in offices globally, such as the Ethiopia office in Addis Ababa.

As a chess enthusiast, he takes no prisoners and shows an uncharacteristic ruthlessness towards his opponents whether they are family members or strangers! Ben also enjoys being walked by his lively dachshund throughout the Kent countryside and the vineyards of Burgundy where he spends his holidays.

Jose joined CUF in January 2024, following a MSc in International Business and Marketing he has worked in a variety of sectors but always with the passion of making the world a better place. Jose has a variety of interests from bouldering to ballroom and currently lives in Paris, France where he pastors a church.