Our Team

Stacey Bennett

Stacey Bennett

Head of Marketing & Operations

Read bio

Stacey Bennett is Head of Marketing and Operations for Trustees Unlimited. She has been involved in the Step on Board programme since its creation, and moved across to support the whole of Trustees Unlimited in January 2019.

Stacey started her career with an award-winning digital communications agency where she account managed clients such as BP, Whitbread and BT. 

Over the next 10 years Stacey developed her skills and experience of social media, marketing, office management and project management in a variety of roles in the private sector before moving to the charity sector where she worked with NCVO, Unicef and the British Red Cross. Stacey then joined the Step on Board team in its early days as freelance programme coordinator and became a permanent member of the team in 2019.

In her spare time Stacey is a jeweller including designing a range of jewellery featured in A Man on a Bench fashion show at Tate Modern in collaboration with the Museum of Homelessness.

Stacey runs our social media including our Twitter account: @trusteesunltd

Seetha Chinnappa-Sarwal

Seetha Chinnappa-Sarwal

Associate Consultant

Read bio

Seetha is a global nomad of Indian origin and a British citizen, and as well as working with Trustees Unlimited, is a Partner with X-PM part of a global organisation dealing with worldwide interim leadership and advisor to a number of start-ups and small businesses in India and Europe.

Her management career specialising in Product management, Marketing and Communications has spanned a couple of decades in Technology, Media & Telecoms for Financial Services

with large corporations such as Reuters, BT and SunGard in London, Singapore, Bombay and Geneva.

She set up and shut down a small media company funded by Softbank in London at the height of the first dotcom boom in the late 1990s and has been a director of a UK based technology start-up in recent years.

Seetha was a key member of the founding team that set up the Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka

when it was a war zone. She has raised funds for the Commonwealth Writers Short story prize, hosted an Anglophone radio show about books and writes a regular film and poetry column for an expat magazine. She also has a keen interest in mental health and chronic illness.

Seetha’s role within Trustees Unlimited is to help us expand and deliver great results for our Step on Board clients in Asia.

Dan Francis

Dan Francis

Associate

Read bio

Dan leads NCVO’s charity governance work, managing a small team of consultants to deliver practical support to boards. Dan’s consulting focuses on governance reviews, board performance and trustee training, he works with a range of charities from small community organisation to household name national and international organisations.

Dan also manages NCVO’s corporate board level volunteering programme; Step on Board.

Dan was heavily involved in developing the Charity Governance Code and continues as a member of the Code’s cross sector steering group. Dan joined NCVO from the UK National Union of Students’ (NUS) where, as a Consultant, he supported students’ unions as charities.

Dan has experience of interim senior management assignments and is the trustee of Hackney CVS.

Darren Franklin

Darren Franklin

Associate

Read bio

Darren has had a varied career with experience in wide-ranging roles in Sales, Recruitment, People Development, Contract Management and latterly Higher Education. He is a knowledgeable Board Member with Governance experience at a school level as well as a County level, being a member of the Buckinghamshire County Council School Consultative Boa.

Arvinda Gohil is an experienced Executive and Non-Executive, having started her career in housing bringing significant experience of working in the housing, homelessness,
and charity sectors. Her long history and considerable experience include the Chief Executive of Central YMCA, the founder YMCA; Community Links a place-based charity in Newham London;

Emmaus UK; Director for Membership, Governance, and Regions for the National Housing Federation; Assistant Director for London at the Housing Corporation, setting up a capacity-building agency in South Africa for emerging housing organisations, and Chief Executive of two housing associations. She was a key figure in the setting up of Housing Associations specifically for the Black, Asian and Minoritsied communities, and instrumental in setting up Unity Housing Association, where she was its first Chief Executive.

Arvinda also has significant experience in the voluntary sector, working for a women’s refuge, running a positive

action programme to enable access to
employment, and running a regeneration partnership.

In addition to the Executive roles, Arvinda has held several non-executive and Trustee roles including in Housing Associations, refugee organisations, a University and a social investment charity. She is currently on the Board of Sanctuary Housing, chairs a place-based charity in Clerkenwell called the Peel, and is a non-executive director at the Conduit.

David French

Associate

Read bio

David has long experience in governance and senior leadership roles across the non-profit sector, in each case leading deep systemic change. He was Chair of Y Care International (2016-21), the development agency of the YMCA movement, and has been a trustee or chair of charities across different fields over many years.

He was chief executive of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office agency (2003-09); director general of the Commonwealth Institute, uncoupling from the FCO to become an independent charity (1997-2002); chief executive of Relate, the UK’s leading relationship counselling agency (1987-95); and director of services, The Children’s Society (1978-87), after an early career initially at NCVO, the umbrella organisation for the NfP sector (1971-74). In his coaching practice since 2015 (www.davidfrench.coach) he works with senior and emerging leaders across the private, non-profit and public sectors.

Most recently he has been a member of the Archbishops’ Commission on Families and Households (2021-23) whose report was launched in April 2023. He is a graduate of Durham University (Politics, Sociology and Psychology, 1969), the Henley General Management Programme (1984), the Cabinet Office Top Management Programme (1995) and Meyler Campbell Business Coaching (2015). He also qualified as a Myers Briggs (MBTI) practitioner (2016). He and his wife have four married sons and a small army of grandchildren.

Arvinda Gohil

Associate

Read bio

Arvinda Gohil is an experienced Executive and Non-Executive, having started her career in housing bringing significant experience of working in the housing, homelessness, and charity sectors. Her long history and considerable experience include the Chief Executive of Central YMCA, the founder YMCA; Community Links a place-based charity in Newham London; Emmaus UK; Director for Membership, Governance, and Regions for the National Housing Federation; Assistant Director for London at the Housing Corporation, setting

up a capacity-building agency in South Africa for emerging housing organisations, and Chief Executive of two housing associations. She was a key figure in the setting up of Housing Associations specifically for the Black, Asian and Minoritsied communities, and instrumental in setting up Unity Housing Association, where she was its first Chief Executive.

Arvinda also has significant experience in the voluntary sector, working for a women’s refuge, running a positive action programme to enable

access to employment, and running a regeneration partnership. In addition to the Executive roles, Arvinda has held several non-executive and Trustee roles including in Housing Association, refugee organisations, a University and a social investment charity. She is currently on the Board of Sanctuary Housing, chairs a place-based charity in Clerkenwell called the Peel, and is a non-executive director at the Conduit.

Bob Humphreys

Bob Humphreys

Associate

Read bio

Bob Humphreys initially trained as a civil engineer but subsequently qualified as a Chartered Accountant, and spent a total of 26 years with PwC, the last 12 of which as a partner in the assurance practice. During his career with PwC he worked both in the UK and internationally, for a variety of multi-national and flagship clients across a range of sectors.

He specialised in working with charities from 2001 to 2009, and was the leader of PwC?s Charities Group. In 2009 he left PwC to take up the role of head of finance and IT at Oxfam GB, and from 2015 was the head of finance for Oxfam International. He stepped down from full time employment in 2016 to focus on developing his contribution as a board member, coach and consultant.

He has served on the board of Prostate Cancer UK and is now the Treasurer of the Education Development Trust. He is a member of the ICAEW?s Corporate Governance Committee and of the CIPFA Charities Board, and a member of the Large Charities Committee of CFG.

Ian Joseph

Managing Director

Read bio

Ian is Managing Director of Trustees Unlimited. He also sits on the board of Russam, an executive search business and the UK?s longest established interim management company, and is Chair of Kidscape, the national bullying charity.

He was a founding Trustee of Cyclopark, one of Europe?s largest multi-sports centres, and was an advisor to and is a mentor with CharityWorks, the UK?s non-profit graduate scheme.

He holds an MSc in Voluntary Sector Management from Cass Business School, the Certificate in Charity Law & Governance from The Chartered Governance Institute, and is a qualified coach with a Postgraduate Certificate in Coaching Psychology from Birkbeck, University of London.

Graham Lindsay

Graham Lindsay

Associate

Read bio

Graham has 40 years wide-ranging experience in retail, wealth and commercial banking with hands-on experience from frontline to Boardroom. Graham has led significant branch networks for Lloyds Banking Group, acted as HR Director & Group Marketing Director & sat on the Retail Board.

His last role was Group Responsible Business and Community Affairs Director building the responsible business agenda. Graham is well networked across the UK FS industry and for 6 years sat on the Board of the Institute of Financial Services (previously Institute of Bankers) and also on the Professional Standards Board.

He now has a portfolio of non-executive roles and is Vice-Chair and board member of The Brain Tumour charity.

Dame Mary Marsh

Dame Mary Marsh

Associate

Read bio

Dame Mary is a cross sector leader and non-exec with engagement and achievements in a diversity of contexts. She is currently a Director on the Board of the LSO (London Symphony Orchestra), a Trustee of the British Spanish Society and of Memo/Eden Portland and an Associate consultant with Trustees Unlimited. She was until recently a Trustee of Teach First, a non-executive director of HSBC Bank plc and a member of the Governing Body at London Business School.

She was Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health from 2016-21. Following the earlier stages of her life journey as a teacher, including as a headteacher of two comprehensive schools in the 1990s, she was Chief Executive of the children’s charity NSPCC and Founding Director of the Clore Social Leadership Programme.

Mary is also a member of the Asia Advisory Group for the University of Nottingham and a contributor to the development of leadership, governance and life journeys in the charity, public and business sectors.

Lorna McCusker

Research Consultant

Read bio

Lorna has played a key role in delivering, since its inception, the ground-breaking Step on Board Programme.

She works with senior directors and emerging leaders from some of the UK’s largest and most well-known companies including Google, Barclays, Mishcon de Reya and EY and has facilitated the introduction of over 250 of them to board positions.

Lorna has spent the best part of her career in the voluntary sector. She has held several roles in fundraising, events and senior management. As a volunteer she has helped children struggling with literacy and worked with a national family and mediation service.

Tessa Moore

Research Consultant

Read bio

Tessa Moore has been part of the Step on Board team for five years working with a range of senior directors and emerging leaders from some of the UK’s largest and most well-known companies including Mishcon de Reya, KPMG, Deloitte and UBS. She has had a broad career working mainly in international brand development, strategy and marketing for global media businesses including Virgin, Disney and Fremantle Media.

As part of her role as head of Brand Management at The Walt Disney Company, she was responsible for their CSR strategy and community relations across Europe and spearheaded a £10m capital campaign for Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity.

As well as her Step on Board role, she is currently a freelance marketing strategist in children’s television. She was a trustee at Royal Trinity Hospice for 8 years, was on the development committee of Book Trust and is currently a trustee at Rowcroft Hospice in Devon. She lives between London and Devon where she spends increasing amounts of time enjoying everything the West Country has to offer!

Sarah Porter

Administrator

Read bio

Sarah Porter is Step on Board’s Administrator. She started her career in event management working for Macmillan Cancer Support before joining the Government?s advisor on architecture and the built

environment to support their events programme. She later went on to work for the UK Government and managed the flagship events programme for NCVO where she first worked with Trustees Unlimited.

Passionate about art and design, she set up her own business as a practicing artist in 2016, exhibiting internationally and winning numerous accolades for her work. When not working for Trustees Unlimited, you’ll find Sarah painting from her studio in East London.