Our Trustees

Katherine McPherson is Chief Strategy Officer at Fieldfisher, a former board member of the Church of England Strategic Investment Board, and member of the deanery leadership team of her local church’s PCC. A lifelong Christian, Katherine envisions local churches as beacons of light, their rays reaching out into communities of all faiths and none. She believes in the pooling of resources to achieve this vision, and CUF’s collaboration with partners on a national and local level as key to tackling the big issues of the day. She takes a hands on approach to faith, inspired to go out and speak to everyone, making sure her neighbours know the church cares and is ready to support them.

The Rev Cate Allison is an Assistant Curate at St James and Emnmanuel church in Didsbury, South Manchester. Before ordination in October 2020, she worked in a variety of roles in the voluntary sector (Citizens Advice Bureau) and in local government and between 2011 and 2019 she was the CEO of Manchester Action on Street Health (MASH), a charity supporting female sex workers, including migrant women.

She is involved in delivering Places of Welcome in her parish, and is also a trustee of Home Community Café, an independent charity providing welcoming space for individuals and grass roots organisations in Didsbury.

She brings her experience of working with families and women from different background and of dealing with the complexities of working with different communities.

Jac is a serving senior executive within Local Government and has spent her entire working life in the wider public sector.

Throughout her career Jac has specialised in HR, Organisation Development and Communications and Engagement but also has experience leading large Health and Safety, Risk Management and Legal functions.

Jac is passionate about relationships, community and belonging, whether that is within family, church, organisations, or wider societal groups.

Jac is a trustee of Salisbury Vineyard Church where she and her husband are also part of the church family

Sue is a retired housing association Chief Executive.

Sue is passionate about social housing, rural communities and the environment. She helped establish the Homes for Cathy group of housing associations that work to prevent and address homelessness.

Sue’s other interests include a community link with Tanzania and chairing her local Flood Group.

Sue was previously inaugural chair of the Rural Housing Alliance; co-chair of the Rural Housing Network; a Trustee of the National Flood Forum; Chair of the Association of Retirement Housing Managers and Chair of Gordon House Association (charity for compulsive gamblers).

Sue’s church is St Andrew’s, Paddock Wood, where she is lay Chair and was warden for seven years. Sue chairs the Bereko Community Partnership (church, schools and Town Council) and its parish link with Bereko, Tanzania. Sue also chairs Rochester Diocese’s Clergy Houses Committee and its Kondoa Companionship Group.

Chris is the Chief Executive of The Investment Association, a post he has held since September 2016. The IA is the trade body that represents UK-based investment managers. He is a member of HM Treasury’s Asset Management Taskforce, and was a founding member of its Financial Services Trade & Investment Board. He serves on the Chancellor’s Financial Services Industry Advisory Group and Department for International Trade’s Financial Services Trade Advisory Group. He is a Board member on EFAMA, the European trade association for investment management and is a member of the Regulation Committee of IIFA, the international association for investment management. He was previously a member of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Regulatory Decisions Committee, a Settlement Decision Maker for the Payment Services Regulator. He served on the Foreign & Commonwealth’s Diplomatic Excellence Panel.

Before joining The Investment Association he was the founding CEO of TheCityUK, held senior posts in banking, insurance and consulting with major global firms. He is a regular columnist, commentator and speaker on issues of international competitiveness and regulation in financial services. Chris is also the current Chair of Just Finance Foundation, a CUF partner charity.

Chandru Dissanayeke is a Director in the UK Government where he is responsible for regulatory reform of safety in buildings, construction products, and building professions. During his career he has held a variety of policy roles across several departments. He lives in London where he is involved in his local community and is a trustee at his local church.

Matthew Girt is Diocesan Secretary for the Diocese of Rochester. Matthew has a background in government, town planning and major regeneration projects, and previous to his roles in Rochester was part of the Senior Management Team at the Diocese of London leading on the churches response to new housing areas, this included the building of its first new church in a new place for over 40 years. Matthew has also during his career founded and run a company dealing with data analysis for the property sector and government, been an elected Councillor, and a visiting lecturer in politics to the MBA programme at University of Nevada, USA.

From 2001 to 2016 Alison was Finance Director at Business In The Community, one of a group of not-for-profit organisations of which the Prince of Wales is president. From 1993 to 2000 she was Finance Director at ECHG, which provides supported and sheltered housing services. Prior to that she worked in retail and IT as a senior Finance professional having qualified in 1976 as a Chartered Accountant. Alison was educated at Harrogate Grammar School and St Hugh's College, Oxford, and has an MA in Mathematics. She is also a Trustee of All Nations Christian College and All Souls Serve the City CIO so she endeavours to stay current with changes in charity finance.