Our team

Alex leads Local Trust’s Delivery Team and overseas delivery of our grant funding process and area support offer. Working with colleagues across the organisation, Alex works closely with area facing challenges in delivery of their local plans, to help ensure an effective range of support is available to assist partnerships to overcome barriers and achieve their ambitions.

Alex joined Local Trust in July 2024 and knows the Big Local programme well having supported its development in a previous role at the National Lottery Community Fund. Prior to joining Local Trust, Alex was Deputy CEO of NAVCA, the national body for local VCSE infrastructure organisations, and is a trustee of Black Country Together, a charity supporting local community and public sector collaboration.

Megan leads Local Trust’s Delivery Team and overseas delivery of our grant funding process and area support offer. She manages a team of Programme Managers and Senior Programme Coordinators and has overall responsibility for all of Local Trust’s grant-making functions.

Megan is a Clore social fellow with a background in grant making and strategy development roles with grant making bodies including the Portal Trust, John Lyon’s Charity and The Royal Society. She is also the co-convenor of ACF’s place-based funding network.

Megan has an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and a Masters degree in the History and Philosophy of Science. In her spare time she volunteers as an Independent Visitor, through which she is a mentor and advocate for young people in care.

Helen coordinates Local Trust’s core support offer to Big Local areas, primarily delivered through our senior programme coordinators and our network of area advisors, alongside external delivery partners. Helen also plays a strategic role in designing and improving programme delivery systems and overseeing budgets and performance data.

Helen is an experienced programme and grants manager who has worked across the charity and community development sectors. Before joining Local Trust, Helen worked in various UK-wide and international grant-making and compliance roles for BBC Children in Need, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, and The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award. She has a track record in leading programmes, managing complex grant portfolios, and building strong supportive relationships with those delivering work on the ground. She is passionate about empowering people to deliver lasting social impact in their communities.

Alongside her professional career, Helen has volunteered on a community farm and as a befriender and session facilitator for The Children’s Society, supporting unaccompanied young people newly arrived in the UK, where she was recognised with a national volunteering award. In her spare time Helen enjoys exploring London and the wider UK and is (slowly!) learning Spanish.

David has a key role in assessing proposals and plans from Big Local areas and in supporting delivery.

David has a background in grant making having previously held grant manager roles at Spirit of 2012, Lloyds Bank Foundation and Cloudesley, a placed-based funder in North London. Prior to this, whilst with Tearfund, he trained and supported faith groups across the UK to develop and run local community projects. He is a trustee of a children’s charity in East London and has previously been a member of a Big Local Partnership.

Rachel assists the programmes team with supporting Big Local areas. She joined Local Trust from Macmillan Cancer Support, where she worked as part of the supporter donations team. Prior to this, and after graduating with a degree in History and Geography, Rachel spent a few years working, traveling and volunteering abroad.

Ezra works in the Delivery team, coordinating support for a portfolio of Big Local areas in London.

Before joining Local Trust, Ezra worked as the Programme Officer for W12Together Big Local in Wormholt and White City.

Lucy works in the Delivery team, coordinating support for Big Local partnerships in London and the South East region.

Lucy has worked with and for communities for over 20 years and has a background in creative practice. She has created high impact projects that have local relevance, and is committed to collaborative practices that democratically involve a broad range of voices and stakeholders in decision making.

Lucy has expertise in scoping and imagining a wide range of collaborative creative activity, delivered in supportive, inspiring environments. She has been making visual art about the politics of incarceration and the performance of gendered bodies since 2005.

Maxine coordinates support for Big Local partnerships in the West Midlands region, as part of the Delivery team.

Maxine has many years’ experience of service delivery and project management within the third sector.

Before joining Local Trust, Maxine held various roles in community development, working for local charities with responsibility for managing and supporting organisational planning and delivery of funded projects. She is passionate about empowering communities and has led the delivery of a number of funded partnership contracts and initiatives designed to strengthen and enable communities to become resilient and bring about change.

Natasha coordinates support for Big Local partnerships in the Northeast region and parts of Yorkshire. She aims to support areas to have the resources, information, advice, and guidance to complete the implementation of each Big Local area plan.

Natasha is experienced in community engagement, and development, setting up several grassroots organisations and movements that include: York Timebank, Refugee Action York, Magnetic Arts, Good Organisation and Coterminous.

Natasha is passionate about systems change, and Asset Based Community Development and has worked at a strategic level in the transformation of health and wellbeing support across the Yorkshire region. Natasha is an experienced facilitator, developing models to support consensus within community conflict resolution, coproduction processes, and service transformation.

Oscar supports Local Trust and the delivery team in managing the CRM and grant management system and related processes. He also supports Big Local areas in funding and close out matters.

Before joining Local Trust in July 2023, Oscar has three years’ experience in grant management as an Executive Officer for the Hong Kong Government, administrating the countryside conservation funding in Hong Kong.

He graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong with a degree in Government and Public Administration, minor in Sociology. He is a certified Salesforce Administrator.

Tilly leads on parliamentary engagement and developing Local Trust’s policy programme. She is responsible for managing the APPG for ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods,and building its network of supporters and the case for community-led change.

Prior to joining Local Trust, Tilly worked in policy and research roles within UK and Australian universities.

Ruby leads on the strategic partnerships for the policy team to develop a strong legacy for the Big Local programme. Previously, Ruby led the Connect Fund for social investment infrastructure at the Barrow Cadbury Trust.

She has worked internationally across programme management and strategic communications within the social enterprise and innovation sector. Ruby holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from UCL’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.

Cameron works across the policy and communications team to promote the work of Big Local areas, from sharing their stories in the media to organising visits that connect communities with policymakers. 

Before joining Local Trust, he worked at the charity and think tank British Future, where he helped mark the 75th anniversary of the Empire Windrush, celebrating Britain’s diversity and deepening public understanding of race and migration. Earlier in his career, he was a teaching assistant in a special needs school, where he supported children through sport. 

Kyle leads Local Trust’s policy development on neighbourhood health, collaborating with health sector partners to deliver a more preventative and upstream model of health and care. This includes working with large census and population health datasets to strengthen the evidence base on community-led health.

Prior to joining Local Trust, Kyle completed an undergraduate degree in History and International Relations at the London School of Economics, while volunteering for the Refugee Council, where he provided clients with specialised welfare and immigration advice. Kyle previously gained experience in the international development sector, working on policy issues in large organisations like USAID as well as community-based alternatives like Voluntary Service Overseas.

Melissa delivers our marketing and communications strategies, multi-channel campaigns, and holds responsibility for the development of Local Trust’s brand, raising awareness of key areas of our work including the Big Local programme.

Melissa has a background in digital marketing, communications and editorial across the charitable and non-profit sectors. Prior to Local Trust, Melissa worked in marketing and communications for the New Zealand Law Society.

Tosin supports policy research, stakeholder engagement and strategic communications to amplify the impact of the Big Local programme.  She assists in drafting policy briefings, managing digital contents and coordinating events to influence public policy on community led change. Tosin is also responsible for ensuring effective communication and organised system within the team

Prior to Joining Local Trust, Tosin has over 3 years’ experience working across paid and volunteer roles in the social development sector. She has occupied various policy and program focused roles in organizations focused on gender inequality, education and community development. She has extensive volunteering experiences in various organizations like Global Shapers and Actionaid UK. Tosin has a first degree in law and masters in Public Policy from the University of Bristol.

Alex’s role includes people responsibilities such as overseeing hiring, training, colleague development and our benefits programme. Additionally, Alex works with the board of trustees leading governance, requirements and operational secretarial support, alongside the systems, resource and the Local Trust closure plan.

Prior to joining Local Trust, Alex has gained over 15 years’ experience working for charities and the non-profit sector working across health prevention and community grant making. Alex’s most recent role was leading Asda’s corporate charity, The Asda Foundation.

Outside of work, you’ll find Alex either in her garden growing veggies or planning her next travelling trip.

Catherine manages the Local Trust office and facilities, day to day HR needs and coordinates with trustees and senior management.

Before joining Local Trust, Catherine worked at the British Red Cross in Income Processing, specialising in Ukraine donations and has previously provided office and managing support across a range of industries, including student accommodation, property and retail.

Kamille supports the head of finance and resources to manage the day-to-day finances of Local Trust. This includes the Big Local Trust expendable endowment, the grants we distribute and the social investments we make. Kamille is responsible for developing robust management accounting systems and supporting Local Trust colleagues with understanding and managing their budgets.

Kamille is a certified accountant with over 13 years’ experience in the not-for-profit sector, with expertise in charity governance and financial management. Prior to joining Local Trust, Kamille was Finance Manager at the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART), where she was responsible for managing all aspects of finance, IT and HR. Before that Kamille was the Assistant Company Secretary at NCVO, where she was responsible for managing the charity’s governance and regulatory framework as well as supporting the Director of Planning and Resources with performance management, risk management and budgetary control.

Stefan aids in financial services, including conducting payment runs, producing the management accounts and approving payroll.

Stefan has worked in the not-for-profit sector for the past five years, previously working as a management accountant for a social housing charity. He has a Bsc in Accounting and Finance from Southampton University and has had experience in refugee voluntary work.

Mary provides support to the Finance team ensuring the routine financial administration tasks are managed efficiently and effectively on a day-to-day basis.

Mary has worked for other charities and for private schools in the past, covering a range of roles in the Finance Department. She is also an Alternative Therapy practitioner/teacher and has an interest in Alternative Medicine and Psychology.

Clair previously worked for the past ten years as a Finance Manager at Liberty Human Rights, a membership and advocacy organisation.  Prior to that she worked in the financial services sector as a Finance Analyst and also as a volunteer as a business mentor for the King’s Trust (formerly the Prince’s Trust).

Zoe joined Local Trust at its inception in 2012 and has supported Big Local areas to deliver, leading the funding team and implementing the move of Local Trust’s funding and CRM functions to Salesforce.

Previously, Zoe managed grant-making programmes with national funders such as Comic Relief and Lloyds TSB Foundation. Zoe also managed Local Involvement Networks (LINks) in London, which became Healthwatch. Prior to this she worked in public policy for the Australian Government.

Andrew O’Brien is Head of Secretariat at the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods (ICON). Before joining ICON, he was Director of Policy and Impact at Demos. Andrew has worked in Westminster and Whitehall on policy for over a decade and a half. Andrew has written extensively on neighbourhoods, social capital, economic and public service reform. Before joining Demos, Andrew worked in policy development in the VCSE sector including at Social Enterprise UK, Charity Finance Group and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.

Prior to joining ICON, Ross was Senior Research Analyst at the Centre for Progressive Policy, an economics think tank, and has previously worked in research at United Nations University-MERIT, and in policy roles in local government.

Before joining ICON, he was Head of Social Policy at the think tank Demos, where he led the Future Public Services Taskforce. At Demos he authored policy research on public services, economic and fiscal policy, and political governance.

He started his career as a fast stream civil servant, working across three government departments in Whitehall. He has also worked in the parliamentary office of a Labour MP.