Before serving 13 years as a Labour MP, Tom taught science in secondary schools. Since 2010 he has worked with businesses large and small, government, charities, councils, social enterprises and others to harness the massive power that business wields.
Tom is a regular judge for the West London Responsible Business Awards and he co-wrote both a report on Business Schools and the Public Good and British Standard BS8950 on Social Value. Tom’s view is: “companies don’t have to choose between doing good and making money – they can and must do both, but fairly.”
Today Tom is Chair of the Fair Credit Charity and is an advisor to the Centre for Responsible Business at Birmingham University. He is also a successful author and playwright, with three books on responsible business, two published novels, and three performed plays. Tom is also a proud season ticket holder at Brentford FC.
Jill is currently working for Citizens Advice, is a board adviser to a company who delivers a financial wellness benefit for employees and is a trustee for a medical and welfare charity. Jill brings many years’ experience of supporting low income families with their finances. She has seen at first hand the negative affect on individuals who have no alternative but to take out high cost credit. The Board has the benefit of Jill’s experience and working knowledge of how families are affected by debt and the current cost of living crisis.
Having an alternative to high costs loans, which is not just affordable to the client but reinforced by values that the Board wish to maintain, is of great appeal to Jill and enables her to positively impact those whom the organisation wish to support.
Jill is delighted to serve on the board of the Fair Credit Charity and brings experience of having served as a long term non executive director for an organisation regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Prior to this Alan was Chief Executive Officer of Cuna Mutual Group [UK] with responsibility to provide insurance services to Credit Unions and their customers. Alan worked more than 30 years with Lloyds TSB. He held several senior roles including Marketing Director commercial banking at TSB and Head of Direct Banking at Lloyds TSB.
Alan believes Fair Credit Charity should campaign for better and affordable credit solutions that meet the borrowing needs of lower income families. This will be critical to improving the wellbeing of the many people who currently have no option but to turn to high-cost finance. Currently he devotes his professional time to mentoring university students preparing to start out on their marketing careers. Alan is an active long-distance runner and is a passionate Sunderland AFC fan!
…organisational design, employee engagement and establishing new operating functions.
Joanne is currently the Head of Strategy and Change at The Bank of England, responsible for oversight of the Bank’s strategic priorities and leading cross-Bank change programmes.
Fair Credit Charities mission to change the way we lend to lower income families is one which Joanne is passionate about, believing that we have to do better to educate our children on financial literacy giving them the best possible start, and to offer an alternative to high-cost finance when families are struggling, preventing a debt spiral which has a proven impact on mental health and well-being.
Joanne has three small boys, and feels no pressure to be a strong female role model. Outside of work she loves to travel, having visited over 50 countries and lived in 5. She is also a sports lover and has completed the London marathon and Olympic distance triathlon.
He has also built websites for clients such as YoungMinds and Girlguiding. His work has spanned not-for-profit and commercial organisations in a unique way and he is used to traversing the different challenges that each sector brings. Thanks to a grounding in marketing, he is a passionate advocate of data-driven approaches and has facilitated persona workshops and data deep dives with satisfying outcomes.
When he is not puzzling over digital problems, he lives in Bristol with his 9-year-old son – ‘The Boys’; loves photography, keeping fit, the outdoors, and Asian food and will try and fix anything. He is a keen advocate for neurodiversity and the social equality, the latter being his driver for joing the Fair Credit Charity.
Prior to his time at Stockport, he held a non-executive director role at another credit union. Today, as well as being a trustee of Fair Credit Charity, he is a trustee for an innovative national theatre company that specialises in working in marginalised and disadvantaged communities and is a trustee for a building society charitable foundation, which makes grants to local charities and community groups.
Jonathan works within the social enterprise sector, in an organisation that provides loans to organisations who will develop social capital.
He is also the chairman of a large community forum. This group engages with a wide range of stakeholders on a variety of topics and seeks to deliver great outcomes for the communities which it serves.
Jonathan is a strong advocate for communities working together to create new opportunities to improve life for the people they serve.
The objectives of Fair for You and Flexiwage are closely aligned with Lindsay’s passion for many years now to steer people away from the dangers of high-cost finance. He has spoken at many House of Commons/Lords events on this subject and has encouraged businesses to be proactive in their employee’s financial education and wellbeing and to provide them an easy way of saving for the unexpected household emergency. This is even more important in challenging economic times. He has also worked with DWP on some of these issues.
Lindsay was one of the original Trustees of the Fair Credit Charity, the charity which owns Fair For You CIC and is totally supportive and proactive in supporting both the Charity and the CIC in its aims and objectives. For many years he was CEO at the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals and was proclaimed Business Person of the Year by his local Chamber of Commerce in 2012 – subsequently receiving an award from the Institute of Directors.
He has completed three London Marathons.
Harold is extremely passionate about the mission of the Fair Credit Charity, having grown up in a single parent household that would have benefitted hugely from the type of help the FCC advocates. Harold hopes that his first-hand experience, coupled with his ideas & energy, will help bring the charity’s mission to a wider audience.
In his spare time, Harold can often be found at his local golf course, usually trying to fish his ball out of the water! Harold also loves reading, films, travelling, sports, keeping fit and spending time with friends. He is also responsible for his miniature dachshund Forest, which can often feel like a full time job in itself!
Before 2018, Simon was the Chief Executive of the UK’s fraud prevention service, CIFAS, where he substantially increased membership and revenue and successfully worked to increase the awareness of fraud within UK Government. During Simon’s tenure CIFAS for the first time prevented over £1bn of fraud loss in one year.
Simon’s early career was in the UK’s public sector where he held senior roles in defence and security as well as government communications and public affairs. He is a strong advocate for working collaboratively for the public good, and treating people equally and with dignity. A natural fit for Fair for You!
Simon is also Chair of the medical research charity Antibiotic Research UK.