Meet our trustees

• Catherine has over 32 years professional experience with the DuPont Company, beginning as an electrical engineer before moving into senior executive strategic leadership roles with global responsibility.
• She currently runs her own management consultancy business, predominantly working with senior executives in the petrochemical, mining and manufacturing industries across Middle East, Africa and Asia.
• She is a chartered electrical engineer with a postgraduate award in business administration and professional health and safety qualifications.

As chair of the board of trustees, partnering with the chief guide and CEO, I am passionately committed to providing inclusive and collaborative leadership so that Girlguiding is enabled to thrive today, tomorrow, together.

• Tracy is a Girlguiding qualified trainer and has held commissioner roles at all levels. Before taking up the role as chief guide, Tracy was chief commissioner for Anglia.
• She's a registered social worker and, for the past 20 years, has supported people impacted by domestic abuse. She’s worked in both the public and charity sector and is currently the national domestic abuse lead at Spurgeons children’s charity.

I am constantly inspired by both our amazing volunteers, who give their time and care to providing a welcoming space for girls to experience the fun and adventure guiding offers, and our young members that I see each week laughing with friends, stepping of their comfort zones to try new things and their confidence grow.

• Sally is an adventurer, and the first person to row the Atlantic Ocean twice from east to west.
• She is an accomplished professional speaker, presenter, and management trainer with experience across many sectors.
• Sally is also the co-founder and CEO of the Active Pregnancy Foundation which supports women to stay active throughout pregnancy and beyond.

• Elizabeth is a chartered accountant. She qualified and worked in the private sector before moving into central government working for the competition authorities and HM Treasury.
• She has been director of finance at the Leverhulme Trust since June 2022. For the previous 6 years she was director of finance and corporate services at the Charity for Civil Servants.
• She was a trustee at Victim Support from January 2015 to September 2019 where she was initially chair of the audit committee and then treasurer.
• She was awarded a CBE for public service in 2018.

I got a lot out of being a Guide and would like to ensure Girlguiding continues to empower girls today.

Mary joined PwC in 2016 as a financial services operations management consultant and subsequently became the fintech scale programme lead. In this role, she connected industry leaders and decision-makers in large organisations to innovative fintech start-ups, to create mutual business opportunities and accelerate commercial growth. She now leads and drives sales at a fintech start-up.

Female empowerment has been a key part of my personal and professional journey to date - from being a Brownie and Guide in north London to starting the women in finance society at my university, to launching my own female professional network. The Girlguiding values of sisterhood as well as teamworking and problem solving are why the role of a trustee stood out to me.

• Amrita was most recently the head of governance, risk and third party management at AXA Health.
• She’s held roles across the world in corporate governance, risk management, change and transformation, compliance, finance, operations and cyber security.
•  Amrita has a first class master’s degree in commerce and an advanced diploma in cyber security.

Girlguiding is a leading organisation which has been empowering the girl child for decades. I bring significant global corporate experience working for highly respected global brands, experiences such as growing up as a girl child under intense terrorism in the Indian state of Punjab and being the first woman in my family to enter the corporate world.

• During her time at university, Emma held multiple roles including vice president for welfare & community.
• In this role, she led the creation of the SU housing accreditation scheme, developed a wellbeing network, and secured hundreds of thousands of pounds in rent refunds for students during the pandemic.
• Emma is currently a service manager at Citizens Advice.

• Alison set up her own consultancy business, Alma Verde Advisors in September 2017.
• Alison has advised companies at board level on managing risks both as general counsel and lawyer. She was head of responsible investment at a private equity fund manager and developed its approach for responsible investment, achieving recognition via an award-winning governance framework for implementation.
• Currently, Alison is a non-executive member on the risk committee of Asper Investment Management, having previously sat on the finance and risk committee of Muscular Dystrophy UK.

I’m so thrilled to be carrying out my guiding promise to ‘use my time and talents wisely’ to help this fantastic organisation empower the next generation of girls.

• Jill started in the catering industry and progressed through to senior management in the private services sector before moving to the charitable sector. 
• She served as the senior executive responsible for multiple professional services, in the British Film Institute and most recently as director of corporate services for Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. 
• Having retired from full time employment Jill is now providing consultancy and training services through her own company, a leading governance consultant for the National Governors Association and is a non legal member of Employment Tribunals in London. 

• Hannah is a chemical engineer and has a masters and PhD from Imperial College London. Her PhD research focussed on fluid dynamics with applications in solar energy. She has a strong interest in sustainability.
• Hannah has previously worked as a process engineer in the Netherlands and has Chartered Chemical Engineer status.
• She currently works in quantitative finance and is passionate about STEM outreach, particularly to girls and young women. She mentors school-age students and regularly speaks at universities about STEM career paths.

Girlguiding is really unique in the way it provides girls and young women with a safe environment in which to be wholly themselves and try new things that they wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity or feel able to do, and I think it is so important to have this in today's society. 

• Deborah joined Oliver Wyman as a consultant in 2008. Since then she has been an engagement manger, principal and partner supporting cross-industry organisations with their digital initiatives.
• Currently Deborah is a partner and UK head of digital, where she played a pivotal role in the corporate Social Impact Programme to support pro bono or low-fee work on projects delivering social and client impact, which won the 2015 Lord Mayor’s ‘Future-Proofing Charities Award’.

Girlguiding provides young women with the opportunity and confidence to have new experiences and build skills vital for their future and also for broader society. I am very proud to be able to use my expertise in digital transformation to support Girlguiding to evolve and continue this important mission.

• Sue was the group health and safety manager for the Co-op Group, where she led the transformational change of the Co-op’s health and safety strategy for 70,000 employees, across the UK and Northern Ireland. She's now a Risk and Safety Consultant. 
• She's also the chair of governors for a local governing board at the Co-op Academy Trust.
• Sue was previously the group safety and compliance officer at Kingfisher plc.

I am proud to be returning to Girlguiding to support the new strategy, in particular to help us to be inclusive for all. We have an important role to play in helping girls to develop the skills and confidence they need for success.

• Supriya is a chartered accountant with over 15 years post qualification experience.
• She is currently the head of regulatory assurance at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and has held various roles within finance, regulatory and risk areas for over 11 years. She has been involved in the diversity and inclusion agenda at RBS, as the lead on gender. And mentored external mentees and female colleagues through her involvement in a race-related mentoring scheme
• Supriya has completed an advanced diploma in psychotherapeutic counselling.

As Girlguiding continues to grow and expand, I can support the board by sharing my experience in finance, strategy and risk management from many years of working in big, complex and regulated companies.

• Abbie was previously a trustee for the Scottish Youth Parliament and has experience in strategic and financial oversight of a charity. She has also been a member of a Scottish government delivery board.
• She is currently a final year mental health nursing student.
• She also works part time as a lifeguard, swimming teacher and equestrian coach.