Governance

Grant is Chief Internal Auditor for a UK Digital Bank. He is a chartered accountant and has worked in financial services and for the Big 4 accountancy firms. He was born in Newham and lived in Forest Gate and Stratford for most of his life before moving south of the river for his wife’s work. He spends his free time doing activities with his three young children and cycling his more numerous bikes on the lanes of Kent.

Dimitrios is an Investment Analyst and Portfolio Manager within the Global Equity team in UBS Asset Management. He is responsible for the analysis and valuation of companies in the European Banks, Insurance and Diversified Financials sectors. As a Portfolio Manager, he leads on capital allocation and risk management in the Global Equity Long Short fund.

Jane is a criminal and healthcare regulatory barrister. She lives in Tower Hamlets and is committed to putting her personal and professional experience of mental health issues to good use as a trustee of MITHN. She relaxes by attending dance classes and the theatre and by socialising with friends.

Lisa was born and raised in Newham, in Manor Park. She has recently moved to Basildon in Essex but having lived all her life apart from the last three years in Newham she has a fondness for and attachment to Newham that will always be with her.
She works as an adjudicator at the Financial Ombudsman Service dealing primarily with disputes related to payment protection insurance (PPI). Prior to that her work experience was in the legal field as a Legal Executive dealing primarily with property based civil litigation.

Asif is Founder of Venture Capital firm Abercorn Capital and is Co-Founder of its Technology focussed division Abercorn TechInvest.
Previously, Asif was Advisor to the Board and Head of Private Equity (Asia) at Matrix Group, he was also Advisor to the Board at Cluttons LLP specialising in Corporate Real Estate Strategy and Property Derivatives; he was also part of the senior management team at Cluttons LLP Middle East. Prior to this Asif held senior positions at both Citibank NA and at Nations CRT (Bank of America). Asif completed his graduate training at Salomon Brothers in London.
Asif has completed his Certification in Global Mental Health from Harvard Medical School. This certification was modelled on the highly acclaimed Project 1 Billion Global Mental Health Action Plan which brought together Ministers of Health from the world’s post-conflict countries to endorse a science-based, culturally effective and sustainable Mental Health Action Plan and Book of Best Practices for post-conflict recovery. Asif’s certification specialises in Refugee Trauma.

James is a youth worker in a South London hospital supporting those who attend following incidents of serious violence. He has a particular interest in trauma and improving access to trauma-informed support services for marginalised communities and young people. He will contribute his insight from working in frontline services as well as his own experience of mental health provision. Prior to working with young people, James worked in financial services. Born in Croydon, James is now a proud resident of Tower Hamlets.

Elise is a People & Culture leader with a passion for fostering inclusive, values-driven workplaces where employees can thrive. She is the Director of People & Culture at Smart Works, a UK charity dedicated to helping women secure employment, where she leads on strategic HR initiatives to support staff wellbeing, engagement, and organisational culture.

Elise brings over a decade of experience in human resources, and as a MindTHNR Trustee, Elise is committed to supporting the organisation’s work in improving mental health and wellbeing across local communities. She is particularly passionate about ensuring workplace cultures prioritise psychological safety and that mental health services are accessible and reflective of the diverse needs of those they support.

Hema is a solicitor and trusted advisor with experience in the charity, healthcare, public and private sectors. She is purpose driven, passionate about making a real difference and in her career has safeguarded the most vulnerable children and adults. Keen to apply her personal and professional experience she is delighted to volunteer as a MIND THNR trustee and advance its charitable purpose.  Hema loves to spend time with her family and friends, making connections, practicing yoga and meditation and collaborating with and helping others. 

Dr. Joanna Abeyie MBE CC is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur, and thought leader with expertise in People and Culture, EDIA, Strategy and Organisational Design and governance, with an impressive speaking engagement portfolio and a proven track record in delivering with expertise in People, Culture and Data across private, public and charity sectors.

She is the MD of Multi-award-winning People, Data and Culture Consultancy Blue Moon & Partners, a Non-Executive Board Member, Trustee, Author, Secretary of the APPG for Creative Diversity, Commissioner for the Westminster Commission for Miscarriages of Justice, Amnesty International Campaigner, Civil Service Commissioner, Magistrate, Elected Member in the City of London, and currently a Grays Inn GDL David Karmel Scholar, where she is also on their City Links board.

Joanna has worked for over 20 years in EDIA, People, Culture, Data and Strategy, working across various industries internationally, including financial and professional services, the Legal sector, creative, Tech, charity and the public sector including policing, higher education and the Civil Service. This has included placing over 4000 executive, senior and early careers talent into roles across multiple industries using her award-winning inclusive, and unique recruitment processes, setting the agenda on ‘effective practices’ and ‘What Works’ in embedding equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility into people processes, company culture and industry-wide efforts in her role Co-sec, for Diversity APPG’, in two reports The Creative Majority, and Making the Creative Majority.

Joanna has also produced, written, and implemented the people and culture strategies for several financial services firms including annual inclusion audits, education and the launch of several talent incubators, the BBC, The City of London Police and the national governance, scrutiny and performance plan and London, Race Action Plan for the Met, and commissioned and led the Lenny Henry Centre’s independent review into the BBC’s financial commitment to EDIA, lead the first industry-wide Accessibility frame work across the broadcasting and streaming industry.

She is also chair of New Scotland Yard’s Counter-Terrorism Advisory Team.

She authorises two books, Pearson Professional, Inclusion Needs You, and How to Mitigate the Invisible Business Risk, and a Times Newspaper, Raconteur columnist on EDIA. She has delivered EDIA training to over 500 organisations and is part of the legal firm Weil Gotshal and Manges LLP working group to make Social Class a protected characteristic, which the Labour Government are now advocating for; Her commitment to social justice is evident through her advocacy as UN Woman Everyday Ally and is reflected in her TEDx Talk on Social Mobility.

Precious Sithole is the founder and Chief Executive of Social Practice – a not-for-profit accounting and consultancy social enterprise that is built on social justice principles.

Precious began her career working as an external auditor in Birmingham where she qualified as a chartered accountant. As part of the external audit team, she worked with a range of clients including charities, multi-academy trusts, housing associations and large corporations with group income over £500m. She later joined the firms Technical Financial Reporting team as an FRS 102 specialist. Subsequently, she went on to work as an accounting and strategic consultant in London, before forming Social Practice.

In addition to being a chartered accountant, Precious holds a Master’s degree in Charity Management and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She is passionate about inclusive governance and leads the Social Practice academy, which supports Black and Asian women aged between 18 and 30 into trusteeship. Through Social Practice, Precious also consultants on projects around lived experience trusteeship, helping charities to work towards better reflecting the communities they serve. Precious also serves as a Trustee on the Board of Trust For London, and is a member of the Trust’s Finance and Resources committee, Grants committee and Governance committee.

Global People Leader with 25 years of experience working in multi-size, multi sector organisations. Currently working in the Tech space. 

I have spearheaded global strategies at top-level to drive transformation, whilst enhancing employee engagement, performance and growth. I am always aspiring to create evolving people-led experiences which bring results. With a passion for all things people and business, my beliefs include Progress over perfection, Experimentation over stagnation, People over processes, Relationships over policies, Courage over fear, Trust over adversity and upmost Humanity over everything. Love travel & 🤭.