From Here to Diversity 2025 - Speakers

Sufina is Director of John Ellerman Foundation – an independent and endowed medium-sized grant making foundation supporting UK charities to advance wellbeing for people, society and the natural world through its grant making, investing and wider operations.
Sufina previously worked in corporate strategy and performance at the City of London Corporation. She has also held grant making, strategy and policy roles at the National Lottery Community Fund and City Bridge Foundation. She began her career in health and social care.

Sufina has an Executive MBA with a specialism in Strategic Leadership from Warwick Business School. She holds multiple Trustee roles and has an MBE for charitable services.

Katie is Research Lead at the National Housing Federation, the trade body for housing associations in England. Katie leads on the NHF’s EDI Data Tool, which enables housing associations to compare their workforces to the communities they serve, providing a starting point for conversations about representation and diversity. She led on the collection and analysis of EDI data across the housing association sector, culminating in the NHF’s report ‘How diverse is England’s housing association workforce in 2023?’. She is currently preparing to launch an updated tool and new data collection in Spring 2026.

Prior to the NHF, Katie held a variety of research and analysis roles within the health and social care sector. She has an MSc in Policy Research from Bristol University. Katie is also a Trustee for a Bristol-based specialist drugs and alcohol recovery charity, Hawkspring.

I’m Anna Gomez, a Senior Business Adviser at Acas, where I’ve been working since 2018. I have a law degree from the University of Greenwich, and I use my legal background to support employers and employees across a range of workplace issues. I deliver training on a wide variety of employment law topics, helping organisations stay informed and compliant. I’m also experienced in conducting individual mediations, supporting parties to resolve disputes through open, constructive conversations. In addition, I work closely with clients to support their Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) helping them create fairer, more inclusive workplaces.

Annette joined DSC in 2007 and has over 13 years’ experience of working in the charity sector. Annette has held several positions including, Customer Service, Training, Events and Development, and has overall responsibility for Training and Events and Customer Service.

Annette also leads on DSC EDI work and is a member of the civil society working group on tackling racism in the sector.

Louise Calvey has over 15 years of experience in the refugee and asylum sector. Before her current role at Asylum Matters, she served as the Head of Services and Safeguarding at Refugee Action, where she focused on improving safeguarding practices for vulnerable populations. She founded Safer Foundations, a consultancy aimed at enhancing safeguarding support for organizations working with refugees and asylum seekers.

Ama is a valiant cultural builder, who's specialism spans across people experience, workplace culture, diversity & inclusion, mental health and wellbeing and corporate responsibility.

With over 18 years of experience in creating and fostering a people-first workplace culture of inclusion and wellbeing, Ama is passionate about helping organisations and leaders become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

As a certified Mental Health First Aider and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, Ama also advocate for the wellbeing and empowerment of people, both within and outside the workplace

After graduating as a Structural Engineer Richard worked in the commercial sector for an international ship supply company. After this, he left to set up a number of youth-focused charities in South Wales before moving to South West London. He was drawn to the YMCA as it brought together the cause driven charitable focus with the need to be commercially astute: “I love the diversity of work, the focus on young people and community as well as the opportunity to build on the story of many great people who have gone before me, helping building an even stronger YMCA for the future.”

Since joining the YMCA over ten years ago, Richard has helped drive the merger work between YMCA East London, YMCA West London, YMCA Slough and YMCA London South West which ended up in the creation of YMCA St Paul’s Group. He also serves as a trustee of the Surbiton Education Health Trust.

“I love the fact we are part of a national and international family that spreads to over 100 people and that all over the world people are committed to make a difference in the community they work in. I would love us to be known to be a bold, pioneering organisation that is delivering work in new and exciting ways and to new young people and communities.”

Jeff has worked for over thirty years, leading voluntary and community sector organisations and multi-agency partnerships, working across health, education and social care. Jeff opened a ground breaking fully-accessible residential arts education centre in 2011 and was founder of a STEM free school which opened in 2015. Jeff was one of the five directors of the National Lottery Community Fund's £215m 'A Better Start’ programme, an action research initiative working to co-design and test innovative new services for pregnant women, families and early years children. Most recently, Jeff served as Director of Strategic Partnerships at a NHS Integrated Care System, where he led the establishment of a large and complex Integrated Care Partnership and the system-wide Integrated Care Strategy.

Jeff's work has always focused on equality and human rights, and he has led a number of disabled-led organisations. Jeff has lived with a disability since 2002 and is a fluent British Sign Language user.

Adam took over running FRBC from its founder Steve O'Connor in 2023, and is focused on developing the strategy to deliver future growth and sustainability of FRBC. He works closely with the operational team and Board of Trustees to ensure that charitable aims and community needs are delivered. He is also one of thee Welfare Officers at FRBC.

Adam was previously an international athlete representing Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics. He also help establish a rowing programme for children from deprived backgrounds in India, worked on the development of public services while at PA Consulting, and invested nationally into grassroots sport while at Sport England.

Judeline is passionate about Learning and Development and creating the best opportunities for organisations and individuals. Her key specialism is in Diversity Matters, supporting clients with policy and practice reviews through to the design and delivery of programmes. She also presents programmes on Effective Recruitment, Performance Management, Conflict Resolution, Working Well as a Team and Stress Management.

She leads and co-ordinates a network of Associates who are experts in their respective fields (lawyers, magistrates, social workers, counsellors, HR specialists) on training and consultancy projects in the UK and USA.

Judeline is also an Employment Tribunal Member, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development and a Fellow of the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning.

Jabeer has an international reputation for his evidence-based work tackling discrimination and disadvantage.

His studies have been used to inform government thinking, including interventions such as Sure Start, as well as the NSPCC’s Grove House Family Centre.

Jabeer provides leadership on the Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities (SFSC) parenting programme and is currently co-investigator on a £1.5 million NIHR-funded randomised control trial of the SFSC programme, being led by Professor Richard Watt at University College London.

Jabeer has a key role in the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, which has helped create better conversations between the Black and minority ethnic-led voluntary sector and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and Public Health England.

Jabeer also sits on a number of other boards and committees. He was awarded an OBE in the 2013 Queen’s New Year Honours List for his services to health equality.

Frances is a consultant, trainer and interim leader specialising in governance and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). With extensive experience in the not-for-profit sector, Frances has worked with charities, boards, and leadership teams to drive meaningful change, embed inclusive practices, and enhance organisational effectiveness.

Passionate about values-driven inclusive leadership, Frances provides expert guidance on board recruitment, governance, and strategic EDI implementation, helping organisations move beyond policies to create genuinely inclusive cultures. Her work is rooted in practical, actionable solutions that empower leaders to make lasting, impactful change.

Frances has worked with a wide range of charities, from grassroots organisations to national institutions, helping them build inclusive boards and effective leadership teams that truly reflect the communities they serve.

Paul Brollo is a Trainer, Facilitator and Coach who delivers Writing and Editing for Impact at DSC. He shares his personal experience of producing no-to-low-budget marketing based on the natural power of language to focus people’s attention.

Paul believes that the true differences between us are in the ways our minds function. What makes us different is our personalities and what makes us similar is our humanity. If we separate human similarities from individual differences, we might discover how to co-operate and co-exist.

Paul believes that everyone deserves an accurate and affordable Indication of their personality type according to Carl Jung’s type-theory of personality. He has produced The Personality Mandala Type Indicator, a new, more holistic interpretation of Carl’s theory, which integrates the functioning of the mind into a recognisable pattern of individual behaviour.