Lucy Ball
Lucy is a policy adviser and consultant with particular expertise in setting up and running grant making trusts and foundations and corporate giving to charity.
Lydia Fowles (Treasurer)
Lydia is a CIMA chartered management accountant, having qualified during her 10 years working in Financial Services. She then took the leap across to the charity sector in the hope of making more of a positive difference in the world, joining Comic Relief in 2018. She has worked across several different roles in the FInance team and is currently their Financial Data and Systems Lead.
Viv Gray
Viv is a founder member of Birth Companions with a background in birth education and birth support. She is a midwife in independent practice, acupuncturist and trainee clinical hypnotherapist.
Liz Hogarth OBE
Liz worked in the voluntary sector and probation service before heading up the probation team in HMP Holloway for eight years. At the Home Office and MoJ Liz worked closely with Baroness Corston on developing the Corston Report and implementing its recommendations. She was awarded the OBE in 2008 for services to women offenders. Liz now works in a voluntary capacity as an advisor to Baroness Corston and Chair of the Corston Independent Funders Coalition.
Sam Matthews (Chair)
Sam is Director of Deliver at Leap Confronting Conflict, prior to that she was CEO at Charities Evaluation Services. Leap supports young people to gain a greater understanding of themselves and their relationship to conflict – the organisation works in prisons and in local communities. Sam’s career spans over 20 years in the civil society sector where she developed specialist skills in quality assurance, change management and performance improvement. She is also a skilled trainer and facilitator.
Jenny Mcleish
Jenny is a former criminal and family law barrister who joined the voluntary sector to focus on improving services and support for mothers and babies experiencing disadvantage. She is also a health services researcher at Oxford University and has a particular research focus on volunteer, peer and doula support for families experiencing disadvantage.
Diana Parkinson MBE
Diana is one of the founders of Birth Companions and has been Chair of Trustees since 2001. She has held both front-line and senior management positions in the criminal justice sector before moving into freelance work specialising in monitoring and evaluation. During this time, she also trained as an antenatal teacher and ran antenatal classes for pregnant women and their partners. More recently, she has gained a Masters in research methods, a PhD in culture, communication and media, and has joined the research team at the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse. In 2019, Diana was awarded an MBE in recognition of her work with Birth Companions
Anne Stephens
Anne Stephens was a member of the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP Holloway for 19 years until December 2013. She worked as a volunteer for Citizens’ Advice Bureau for 10 years. She has been a Magistrate in the Adult and Family courts since 2004. She is a member of the Steering Group of PECAN Moving On project which mentors young women leaving prison.
Julie Juliff
Julie retired from the NHS in 2018 after 38 years’ service as a nurse and manager. Before retirement, she was maternity commissioner for the North Central London Local Maternity system (LMS), which involved working with providers, women, voluntary organisations and other commissioners. Since January 2021, Julie has been working for the Royal Free Hospitals Maternity Service as an interim project lead. This role involves working with the senior midwives, doctors and the Maternity Voices Partnership to improve the quality and safety of maternity services at the Trust.
We are also delighted to have two members of our Lived Experience Team on our trustee board.
Our Patrons
Professor Lesley Page
Baroness Helena Kennedy
We are currently recruiting for a Treasurer to join our Trustee Board.
You can find more details here
