Our staff
Tamanna Ali, Inspiring Governance Manager
Tamanna graduated from City University with a BA (Honours) degree in Journalism and Sociology. During and after this period, she has been a media intern for several organisations working on campaigns affecting disadvantaged groups. As someone keen to engage in community activities, Tamanna has also volunteered as a community fundraiser and taught English. Other interests include actively engaging in the creative arts social media for various culturally diverse groups.
Tameka Anthrobus, Inspiring Governance – Project Coordinator
Tameka has worked in the Charity Sector since 2011, providing administrative and project support for campaigns with Comic Relief, Fairtrade Foundation and British Red Cross. Tameka joined the Taskforce in November 2016 after working for NCS The Challenge, a social integration youth charity.
Alister Bould, Delivery and Recruitment Manager – FE Governance
Prior to joining the Taskforce, Alister was Development Manager at Ahead Partnership, a social enterprise based in London office where he worked on a range of business led outreach programmes for school children in Westminster. Before this, Alister spent many years working as a solicitor in a large commercial law firm in Leeds and London. He has served as a school governor for nearly a decade and is currently Chair of Governors at St John of Jerusalem Primary School in Hackney.
Nick Chambers, Chief Executive
Prior to joining the Taskforce, Nick was Director of Education at Business in the Community. During this time he oversaw the production of a report on school governance with the University of Bath on behalf of the National Council for Education Excellence. The council, chaired by the Prime Minister considered how best to mobilise businesses and universities to work with schools and colleges and to promote links between schools to contribute to raising standards and achieving educational excellence.
Between 2000 and 2006 he was Director of Development at a leading independent school in London where he was responsible with the Governors for reviewing and articulating the school’s vision as it approached its 500th anniversary and developing a strategic plan to achieve this. Nick originally studied Environmental Management and then ran his own business as well as being involved with various charities. In 1992 he obtained a PGCE and taught in an 11-16 comprehensive school and an 11-18 grammar school. In 1997 he was appointed Development Director at the state school in Lancashire where he had been teaching in – the first appointment of its kind in the UK where his responsibilities included employer engagement.
Charlotte Coleman, Director of Education and Employers, Inspiring Governance programmes
Charlotte joined the Taskforce in November 2016, having previously worked for University of Reading as Strategic Project Manager which involved providing support with the strategic direction of the University, primarily in the Teaching and Learning arena (T&L) through a range of strategic projects and programmes.
Other roles have included being Senior Lecturer and Research Associate, Oxford Brookes University and a Technical Director working in the commercial sector.
Outside of work, Charlotte engages in volunteering activity which includes being an external Trustee at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David Student Union.
Catherine Camp, Project Coordinator – School Engagement
Catherine graduated from The University of Warwick in 2014 with a BSc in Biomedical Science. She has a passion for public speaking having competed in many borough wide school competitions. Catherine has taught children of all ages in Africa as well as in the UK. Since University she has worked within the Health and Housing industries. Prior to joining the charity, Catherine’s worked as a Science Teaching Assistant at a London Secondary school inspired her to help young people.
Victoria Constantinides, Communications Officer
Victoria joined the Education and Employers Taskforce in August 2016 as Communications Officer, having graduated from the University of York with a BA (Hons) degree in English Literature. Previously, Victoria spent a year and a half working as a tutor and volunteer at a local primary school and has long been engaged with the importance of learning at all levels. Also interested in international development, Victoria volunteered in Thailand in the summer of 2014, where she assisted in a clean water project as well as teaching English at the local school.
Menna El-Guindy, Assistant Schools Manager
Menna joined the Taskforce in January 2017 as an Assistant Schools Manager. Prior to this, she worked as an Account Manager for an integrated media planning, monitoring and analysis organisation. Menna graduated from the University of the Arts London with a degree in Journalism and went on to study International Politics. She has previously volunteered with The Girls’ Network as a school-based mentor.
Sophie Greaves, Employer Engagement Manager
Prior to joining the Taskforce, Sophie worked as a Schools Coordinator for the Challenge Network, a Youth and Community Charity promoting diversity to young people. Since graduating from De Montfort University, Leicester in 2008 with a Degree in English Literature and American Studies, Sophie spent two years teaching English in Thailand. Upon her return to the UK, she has worked as a mentor to teenagers involved in social action projects and for the travel company Flight Centre.
Monty Karmakharm, Schools Engagement Coordinator
Prior to joining Education and Employers in March 2016, Monty was an intern for Education Development Projects Trust. Monty completed a BA in Economics for Business from Leeds Beckett University, followed by an MSc in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies. Monty has volunteered in Honduras on a conservation project and is a holder of the gold Duke of Edinburgh award.
Dr Elnaz T. Kashefpakdel, Head of Research
Elnaz is a PhD graduate from the University of Bath working in the area of higher education policy evaluation. She joined the Education and Employers Taskforce in 2011 as a Research Assistant and was appointed as Research Analyst from December 2013. She works for the Research and Policy team and is mainly responsible for quantitative research and runs data analysis for different projects using statistical methods. She has been involved in several publications and presented her work at the Third Taskforce Research Conference in 2014 and other seminars. Elnaz has an MSc in Management and Finance from Queen Mary University of London and BSc in Engineering from the Islamic Azad University in Tehran. She received in-depth experience in statistical analysis in social sciences within both academic and corporate environments.
Katy Langham, Director of Education and Employers, Operations and Programmes
Katy joined the Taskforce in November 2016 having previously worked for VSO (an international development charity). During this time, she was the Head of Programme Delivery for ICS, a government-funded programme bringing together young people from the UK and developing countries to volunteer in some of the most challenging communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Between 2002 and 2011, Katy worked in corporate finance for EY, FTI Consulting and HSBC providing corporate finance advice to stakeholders across a range of business sectors based in the UK, US and Europe. In addition, Katy has spent time volunteering in India and Uganda and is a trustee of Brighter Futures Zambia.
Victoria Lawrence, Inspiring the Future – Relationship Manager
Prior to joining the Taskforce, Victoria worked for HSBC in their Financial Regulation department supporting clients and employees with International and European financial regulations compliance. Since graduating from University of East Anglia with a degree in Politics and Literature in 2007, Victoria has worked in both Investment Banking and taught English as a Foreign Language in Madrid, Spain.
Victoria has travelled extensively in South America and Ecuador, which has provided many volunteering opportunities including supporting a project to help get working children back into education.
Charlotte Lightman, Head of Schools
Charlotte joined the Taskforce in June 2012 as Projects Assistant. In 2013 she was promoted to the position of Schools Liaison Officer, responsible for liaison with schools nationally to assist school use of and engagement with Inspiring the Future. She acts as the first point of call for schools with queries about the service and assists schools in using Inspiring the Future to support their careers activities.
Prior to joining the Taskforce, Charlotte worked as a Campaigns Organiser for a Member of Parliament where she was responsible for local media and communications and coordinating the MP’s campaigns in the constituency. She has a degree in History and Politics from the University of Sheffield and attended Llanishen High School in Cardiff.
Robert McKenzie, Head of Finance and HR
Rob joined the Taskforce in January 2010 as Events & Office Administrator after working in the private and public sectors. His initial responsibilities were managing the day to day financial operations of the Taskforce, assisting with volunteer events in schools and providing general administrative support to the executive team.
In spring 2011 he was promoted to the position of Finance & Administration Manager, handling all Taskforce Human Resources matters in conjunction with his existing finance/administrative responsibilities.
Prior to working at the Taskforce, Rob was a Basic Skills teacher/mentor for ESOL students at Lambeth College and later ran a SME with his brother which provided educational opportunities for teenagers in East London.
Jordan Rehill, Research Assistant
Jordan graduated from the University of Manchester with a BA (Hons) degree in Modern History and Politics focussing on issues of youth homelessness. Prior to joining the Taskforce Jordan worked for the charity Redthread where he assisted research in conjunction with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime looking at youth crime and considered the impact of social issues such as employment and accommodation with youths vulnerable of entering the justice system.
As Research Assistant, Jordan provides on-going support to the research capability of the Organisation, particularly administrative and communication for a wide range of research activities as well as ensuring the effective management of research projects.
Adam Roberts, Office Administrator
Adam joined the Taskforce in October 2013 as their first apprentice to pursue a role offering a higher level apprenticeship. Prior to this Adam worked at Stone Lodge Group as an apprentice where he completed an NVQ Level 2 in Business Administration. Whilst working for Stone Lodge Group Adam was promoted to an Office Manager in early 2012 which involved monitoring in-house finance systems and supporting new apprentices in their job role.
Now working with the Taskforce, Adam works across the organisation providing support to Finance and HR, Inspiring the Future, Research Department and the Taskforce Director on a variety of projects and key tasks including digital technologies.
Alasdair Smith, Salesforce CRM Manager
Alasdair has been at the Taskforce since October 2012. His responsibilities include Salesforce administration, reporting and analysis for the Inspiring the Future school’s digital platform as well as supporting the Business Development and Schools team; helping to recruit and mobilise engagement amongst employers and the education professionals that Inspiring the Future can serve. He previously completed an internship at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and graduated with an MA in Modern and Contemporary British History from Queen Mary, University of London.
Jessica Wallis, Project Coordinator – School Engagement
Jessica joined the Taskforce in November 2016, after working for the Royal Collection Trust at Buckingham Palace. Jessica graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Portsmouth in July 2015. Her work experience is varied, from working for the National Citizen Service as a Community Facilitator to being a customer services assistant at John Lewis Oxford Street branch. Since 2015, Jessica has been a Brownie Leader for 2nd Enfield Brownies. She has previously volunteered in Tanzania with the International Citizen Service/ Restless Development.
Oliver Ratcliffe, Project Assistant – School Engagement
Since graduating from the University of Reading 2015 in BA English Literature and Politics, Oliver has been the President of Reading University Students’ Union and worked at the University of Reading Malaysia. Within these roles, he gained experience in working with young people as well as being a trustee of a charity.
Aisling Ledwith, Project Coordinator – School Engagement
Aisling graduated from Queens University Belfast with a Master’s degree in Human Rights Law in 2016. Before this, she studied English Literature at the University of York. Aisling has worked with a range of charities, including the Northern Ireland Council of Ethnic Minorities and York Cares. Prior to joining the Taskforce, she worked with the Titanic Belfast Experience as part of the Visitor Experience team.
Victoria York, Events Coordinator
Victoria joined the Taskforce in June 2017 as Events Coordinator. Previously, she worked as Copywriter & Social Media Coordinator for Giftware brand Sass & Belle. Prior to this, Victoria volunteered with Brighton Festival and Brighton Dome as well as contributed to other Brighton Dome projects including World Heritage Day and Umbrella Club. Victoria graduated from University of Sussex in 2013 with a BA in Drama Studies & English.
Regional Schools Team
Adrian Richfield
Kim Martin
Adebisi Sunmonu
Finlay Mills
Trisha Seecharan
Regional Inspiring Governance Managers
Michael Roy
Eileen Brocklehurst
Richard Ellam
Claire Leman
Part-time advisors
Tony Sanderson – Financial Advisor
Tony Sanderson is a Chartered Accountant and an experienced Finance Director. After an early career with a major accountancy firm, he worked in a number of SME businesses in both the UK and internationally. Tony now acts as a consultant to growing businesses and charities providing financial and operational advice and support. Tony has a long-standing interest in education and issues affecting young people. He joined the Charity in early 2015.
Colin Wills – Taywell Services Ltd
Colin retired from Shell in June 1999, aged 50, after 29 years with the company. In August 1999 he became the (part-time) accounts manager for Murcott (UK), a family-owned business based in East Peckham and Marden, and he is still engaged in that role. Since this first client, he has provided bookkeeping and payroll services to upwards of some 23 small, local businesses and charities. Colin currently has 13 clients.