Our Trustees

Andrew has been a Director of the UK Branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation since September 2007. An international charitable foundation with cultural educational, social and scientific interests, the UK branch aims to bring about long-term improvements in wellbeing, particularly for the most vulnerable, by creating connections across boundaries (national borders, communities, disciplines and sectors) which deliver social, cultural and environmental value.

A strong believer in the value of collaboration, Andrew played a major role in the establishment of the Making Every Adult Matter (MEAM) Coalition, the Campaign to End Loneliness and the international arts and homelessness movement (With One Voice).

He was a founding director of the Social Innovation Exchange (SIX) and a council member of Collaborate CIC. He is a committee member of Healthwatch England, a director of the Forces in Mind Trust, a trustee of the Association of Charitable Foundations and a Church Warden at St Dunstan-in-the-West, Fleet Street.

He previously served as chair of DV8 Physical Theatre, of Space Studios, group chair of People Can, a trustee of Addaction and director of Yorkshire Metropolitan Housing, among other appointments.

Andrew joined the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation where he was Director of Policy Development and Communications. He has previously held senior roles at UK Sport, the National Consumer Council, HSBC Holdings, the Arts Council of England and the Foyer Federation for Youth, as well as working for the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Homelessness and Housing Need.

Andrew has been employed by the Church of England as Social Responsibility Officer for Hull and East Riding since November 1988. He was a member of the Government’s oversight body of a failing Hull City Council and later, a Hull City Councillor, until May 2018 when he stepped down.

Andrew has several governance roles being Chair, treasurer and trustee of a number of local voluntary organisations large and small. He is also a community activist, working with unpaid and unfunded groups across Hull. He has major interests in community development work and housing/regeneration.

Andrew is married with two children. For the last twenty years, his family have lived on North Bransholme estate, Hull’s outer-most council estate.

John has had a career in environmental and urban regeneration as Development Director for the Groundwork Foundation and then as the Regeneration Consultant for Anthony Collins Solicitors based in Birmingham.

John and his wife Linda moved to Uncllys Farm in the Wyre Forest near Bewdley in Worcestershire in 2004. Since then they have worked hard to restore and develop the farm as a modern interpretation of Ruskin’s ideas for within a rural community.

John is an experienced regeneration practitioner and has used his skills to bring about significant improvements at Uncllys and in the wider landscape of the Wyre Forest.

He is active in Bewdley, founding and remaining a director of Bewdley Development Trust to regenerate the town after severe floods in 2000 and then the aftermath of foot and mouth disease.

John was active in the setting up of Thrive Together Birmingham, a CUF/Birmingham Diocese Joint Venture. He chairs the Development Committee and is a CUF Trustee.

John and Linda have two grown-up children Jenny and James.

Anderson is the lecturer of World Christianity and Religious Studies in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University, UK. He is an Anglican theologian and priest from the Church of South India (an Anglican Province).

He currently serves the Church of England in Lancashire, North West of England. His research interests and publications lay in the lived facet of World Christianity and its theological and missional engagement with other faith communities.

Anderson is also deeply passionate about social justice as a Gospel imperative and currently involved in a number of inter-religious and peace initiatives. Alongside being an expert in South Asian and West African Christianity, he is also conducting research on the diverse ethnic and racial make and its implications for Christianity in Britain. Anderson has published widely in the areas of Contextual Theology, Mission and Ecumenical Studies, and Culture and Christianity.

Catherine is the Continuing Ministerial Development Officer for the Diocese of Newcastle and Priest in Charge of the village of Stannington in Northumberland.

She served for 11 years as Team Vicar and then Team Rector in Newcastle’s multi-cultural and deprived west end where she learned the power of intelligently directed financial resources to transform communities.

Catherine is particularly interested in partnerships between local people and national organisations which can lead to projects with roots, purpose, and longevity, creating hope in areas which often feel abandoned.

Catherine is a strong communicator. She contributes occasionally to the Church press and serves on the General Synod of the Church of England where she has spoken several times about issues of deprivation and social justice. She has also contributed to a book on northern spirituality.

Catherine is married to John and they have three school-aged children.

Alec is the strategic lead for involvement for one of twelve national learning programmes within the Fulfilling Lives initiative. Employed by Plus Dane Housing, he works with people who are often excluded from the support they need, and bring lived experiences of homelessness, offending, substance misuse and/or mental ill health.

A community development worker and activist at heart, he was instrumental in establishing a number of grassroots initiatives including the West Cheshire Poverty Truth Commission and the Welcome Network (part of Feeding Britain).

Alec is currently an external trustee of the Student’s Union at the University of Chester and has been a trustee of his local parish church.

Alec was previously the Living Wage Campaign Co-ordinator for Church Action on Poverty. Before that, he worked for ActionAid UK and also led the West Cheshire Foodbank where he worked alongside the board of trustees to catalyse social action initiatives and to campaign for food justice.

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.

Philip holds several charity trustee roles linked to the Church of England, applying the experience gained during his career in the public service and as a lay minister (Reader) in a South London inner city parish for 40 years.

Besides CUF, he is a trustee of Canterbury Christ Church University, and chairs its Audit and Risk Committee. He is a member of the Southwark Diocesan Council and chairs its Diocesan Advisory Committee, which deals with planning issues affecting CofE churches. He sits on the national church Environment Working Group.

Previously, Philip was first Director-General and then Chair of Ofwat, the economic water regulator (2000-2012). He has been a Board member of Ofqual, the exams regulator. He spent 10 years as a member of the Archbishops’ Council, the central charity trustee body for the CofE, and chaired its Mission and Public Affairs Council. He was for 4 years Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District, responsible to the Commissioner and Home Secretary for the Metropolitan Police budget and most of its support services. Most of his career was in the Department of the Environment, responsible for policy advice and financial controls over local government finance, housing, the environment and urban regeneration.

Paula is a Barrister and a Bencher of Gray's Inn, London and is also a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

She was a Senior Advisor to Africa Matters Limited, a unique business consultancy focused on supporting commercial expansion and development in Africa and established in 1997 by its then Chairman, Baroness Lynda Chalker of Wallasey.

Before joining Africa Matters Limited in November 2008, Paula was the General Counsel (Intellectual Property) and a Vice-President of Nestlé SA., based at their international headquarters in Vevey (Switzerland). She had held this position since October 2002, having previously joined the legal department of Nestlé UK Ltd in 1990 where she became Company Secretary and Head of the Legal and Pensions Departments. Paula has also been legal advisor to various other UK companies and has practiced as a Senior State Counsel in Northern Nigeria.

She has spoken at many international events on the importance of intellectual property to business and particularly on the need to combat the growth of the counterfeit trade, having seen the horrific consequences of the use of counterfeit drugs, food and building materials in various countries in Africa. She now enjoys wor

Rob has had an extensive career in the John Lewis Partnership and is currently their Head of Partnership Democratic Engagement

Committed to using his leadership experience Rob has supported many Christian and other organisations channel their energy and focus to deliver their key aspirations. He has taken on many speaking engagements including at the Faith in Business conference but especially enjoys talking about engaging effectively with employees. Encouraging leadership and supporting social enterprise are real passions of his.

He has been a Board Director of Westminster Abbey Enterprises since 2013 and along with his wife Liz runs a small Christian retreat house in north Norfolk providing much-needed recuperation for church leaders and staff.

In his previous commercial responsibilities, Rob was Managing Director of four separate John Lewis branches between 1997 and 2013 - most latterly overseeing the opening of the new Cambridge store in 2008. He has been a governor in schools and held a leadership role for many years in Bretton Baptist Church, Peterborough where he and Liz are still active members.