Jane is a Chartered Accountant, qualifying with Price Waterhouse in London. She worked at Public Relations agency Burson-Marsteller as European Financial Controller for eight years before leaving to act for two years as Honorary Treasurer for the National Childbirth Trust. She then joined Palmer Capital Parters in Mayfair where she worked as FD until 2007 and since then has worked for several smaller organisations on a part-time basis. She has been a volunteer for Tax Help for Older people for 5 years and also volunteers for a music charity. Jane is from theMidlands and has lived in Fulham for 16 years.
Tom Hackett
Trustee since 2012
Until August 2012 when he retired, Tom was a Member of the Board of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Executive Director for the European Investment Bank (EIB) with a remit to develop cooperation between the two institutions in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.
Before joining EBRD in May 2010, Tom was Director General at EIB from July 2005 in charge of its lending in the EU, Turkey and the Western Balkans. He began with EIB in 1981 and in banking in 1968.
Tom, who was born, grew up and lives in Fulham, is also a trustee of Fulham Palace Trust, where he is on the Finance Committee, and of Voluntary Action Worthing. He has been teaching at UCL, London and is on the “Europa Nostra” panel identifying the Seven Most Endangered European Heritage Sites. He helped to organise a conference at Fulham Palace on Financing of Heritage Investment and to set up a retail bond platform for financing charities.
Alex Morley
Trustee since 2012
Alex is a solicitor with wide experience of corporate, commercial and charity law. He worked in the City for Allen & Overy for 13 years (including three years in Hong Kong) and subsequently Centrica plc and the London Metal Exchange. He moved into the charity sector, working as a solicitor with Macmillan Cancer Support and is currently Head of Legal Affairs at the Alzheimer’s Society where he handles a broad range of legal and governance matters. He is a resident of Hammersmith and has volunteered with a number of local community-based charities for many years.
Lee Smith, Chair of Trustees
Trustee since 2012
Lee has worked in the charitable sector for over 20 years, including Mind, the mental health charity, at national and local levels. Lee, who is also a psychoanalyst working in private practice, is director and co-owner of Kingsmith Care, a homecare company. Lee has been a trustee of the charity for four years.He lives in Fulham.
Rhys Owen
Trustee
Rhys is a chartered surveyor with 28 years experience in the construction industry. He has worked in private practice for the bulk of that time (23 years) with the remainder as a member of staff at BCH working as a Technical Officer for Care & Repair. His roles range widely, from Contract administration, to planning / design matters, to party wall surveyor and dilapidations.
Sidona Assefa
Trustee
Sidona is the Operations and Live-in Care Co-Ordinator. at Kingsmith Care and has lived locally for over 10 years. Before joining Kingsmith Care, she worked as a Policy Officer for National Survivor User Network (NSUN), ensuring policy is responsive and relevant to people who live with mental health issues. Sidona, a keen advocate for equality and inclusion, has previously volunteered at Toynbee Hall in research projects that create new ways to help those who find themselves in poverty such as a Participatory Action Research on the needs of older people and Poverty Proofing the school day. She then joined London Metropolitan University where she worked as a Research Assistant on a Cancer research project and as a Success Coach supporting students with their academic work.
Omid Miri
Trustee
Omid has been an elected ward councillor for Fulham Reach in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham since May 2022. In addition to his duties representing residents, advocating on their behalf, and engaging with local stakeholders and businesses, he is also Chair of the Planning and Development Control Committee in the local authority with the third-highest land values in the country. He also sits on the Social Inclusion and Community Safety Committee, which is tasked with scrutinising the Council's policy on crime and inclusion. In his day job he is a specialist caseworker in the office of Andy Slaughter MP, responsible primarily for immigration and asylum cases.
Nikos Souslous
Trustee
Nikos was born and grew up in Greece and has been living in Hammersmith & Fulham since 2013. He studied History at UCL and worked as a researcher and a teaching assistant over a number of years. Subsequently he moved to the charity sector, working with local community project The Smile Brigade and was a co-founder and director at Ready Tech Go. He started work as the Campaigns Organiser for the local Labour Party in 2022 and was also elected councillor for Fulham Reach in May of that year. He has volunteered for Bishop Creighton House/The Creighton Centre since 2020 and is also a trustee for Hammersmith United Charities, Dr Edward & Bishop Kings (DEBK) Fulham Charity and the Hammersmith Lyric Theatre.
Alex Hearn
Trustee
Alex has worked in the creative sector for 25 years. After doing illustrations for The Guardian newspaper, Alex gained experience working in advertising, branding, graphic design, web design and marketing. Alex is currently Creative Director for design consultancy The Big A.
Raika Hadipour
Trustee
Raika, an FCCA qualified accountant, has over 10 years of experience in Commercial Finance, Business Partnering, and FP&A across diverse industries. Mainly focusing her career streamlining processes, and enhancing profitability across various high growth industries.
Management Team
Rory Gillert
Chief Executive & Company Secretary since 2007
Rory has worked in the private and public sectors and in the third sector since 1985. He has worked in the fields of homelessness, mental health, substance misuse and criminal justice, holding senior positions at Open Door Housing Trust/St George CT, National Association for the Care & Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO), Look Ahead Housing Association, Alcohol Recovery Project, The Big Issue Foundation and Broadway Housing, amongst others.
He has held trustee positions at three charitable organisations and was a primary school governor for three years.
Born in Manchester, he went to Urmston Grammar School and studied English and Philosophy at Lancaster University.
Matthew Byrne
Care & Repair Manager since 1999
Matthew has worked for The Creighton Centre for 14 years, initially joining as Care & Repair Caseworker in 1999, progressing to Casework Manager and then to his current role as Care & Repair Manager. He is responsible for running the Care & Repair project and is also part of the BCH Management Team.
He has experience working in the private and local government sectors. Prior to joining The Creighton Centre he worked for Croudace Construction, working on-site within the management team on various commercial and housing schemes.
In 1996 he joined Rochford District Council’s Environment Dept to work as a grant officer, administering Renovation and Disabled Facilities Grants as well as becoming their energy efficiency specialist. He worked closely with the local Home Improvement Agency and from there decided he would like to pursue a career in that sector.
He has an honours degree in Construction Management from Southbank University.
Caecilia Isidore
Safer Homes & Community Centre Manager since 2008
Caecilia joined BCH in 2008 as the project coordinator for the children's home safety project, CARES. As a mother of 4 she has a passion for the safety and development of all children. Caecilia then took over the role of manager of Safer Homes and her aim is to bring safety to the home for all those who all too often remain hidden or sidelined. The practical help that this project provides not only keeps young children and those who are elderly or disabled safe within their homes but the contact that is provided helps the recipient grown in confidence and wellbeing and provides those who are elderly with the opportunity to continue living independently for as long as possible. In 2020 Caecilia also took on the management of the Community Centre. She is compassionate and committed to supporting the whole community and maximising its social functioning, and recognises the intrinsic value of each individual within it.
Caecilia has an honours degree in Applied Social Science from Coventry University.
Jessica Lawn
Older People's Services Manager since 2021
Jess joined The Creighton Centre 5 years ago, initially Co-ordinating the integrated care partnership, Keep Active, providing volunteer-led rehabilitation support for older people across West London. She has since stepped into the role of Older People’s Services Manager, which covers our wide-ranging befriending and rehabilitation projects. In addition, Jess is part of the Management team.
With over 10 years’ experience working within the third sector Jess has delivered and managed services focusing on empowering and enabling people to live more independent, healthy and full lives. Passionate about community involvement, Jess has also always been involved in volunteering herself e.g. As a mentor to teenagers living with disabilities, a care home befriender and she is currently involved with a range of Dementia focused befriending projects.
Jess has a Bachelor of Science degree in Geophysics from Durham University. When not working she is busy with her cheeky little toddlers, and when not covered in mess she enjoys music, nature and pigs (of course!).
