Our people
Our people and trustees are committed to being collaborative, inclusive, compassionate and growth focused. Together with our incredible supporters, we are dedicated to ending homelessness one person at a time.
Strategic management team
Our strategic management team work with trustees to define and deliver our strategy and the services we provide.
Amanda joined as Chief Executive in 2018, bringing 22 years’ experience at a youth homelessness charity where she supported its growth from its grass roots beginning to operating across five counties.
Amanda has since developed Your Place's strategic plan, mission and values, and spearheaded the expansion of our service provision, with focuses on additional accommodation, rough sleeping, gender- and psychologically-informed approaches.
She is an experienced trustee, having served on the Board of several national, regional and local charities across the homelessness, health and housing sectors – including One Newham and Give, which is a current Board member of.
Amanda is passionate about making a difference and developing excellent services to achieve meaningful outcomes for service users, and her work has been award-winning in this respect.
John joined as Director of Frontline Services in 2018. He has significant sector experience, having worked in day centres, charities and housing associations across London and the South East, delivering high quality housing support and social care services.
John’s interest in criminal justice is reflected by his experience working for a crime reduction charity and having previously been a member of the Essex Probation Board. John is a mentor as part of Housing Diversity Network’s Mentoring Programme.
Lucy joined us in 2023. She has a background in charities, and has held roles at Diabetes UK, the Young Foundation, and the Arthritis Society of Canada. Most recently, she worked as Head of People & Volunteering at the Felix Project, where she helped lead the London-wide charity’s rapid expansion during the pandemic.
Lucy was previously a Trustee for an education charity in Toronto, and holds law degrees from the University of Cambridge and UCL.
Siva joined our team in 2018. Having worked in finance for over 20 years, and in several housing associations along the way, Siva has comprehensive experience and passion for his work.
Siva's previous role was with a primary care organisation caring for patients across London, where he acted as Finance Controller, and he has also worked for small charities providing housing and support for people experiencing homelessness and mental health problems.
Board of Trustees
Our board of trustees oversee the governance and strategic direction of the charity and support us to achieve our aims.
Simon Hall MBE
Chair of Trustees
Charles Abel Smith
Laura Curtis
Emer Delaney
Cate Kirkbride
Kevin Maxwell MBE
Graeme McLean
Joseph Ogundemuren
Tolu Ogunsakin
Anil Sharma
Rose Soffel
Simon Hall MBE
Chair of Trustees
Simon was educated at Ampleforth College and St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge. He qualified as a solicitor in 1979, and was Partner with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 1985-2014. He was head of Freshfields Finance Practice, sat on the Partnership Council and was head of their global corporate responsibility programmes.
Simon was and is a trustee of several charities, focused mainly on education and social inclusion, including St Mary's School, Career Academies UK, Mistley Maltings Trust, Brentwood Cathedral Choral Trust, Colchester and North East Essex Building Preservation Trust, and the fundraising board of Ampleforth College. Simon was awarded an MBE in 2006.
Charles Abel Smith
Charles has extensive international experience developing innovative funding and managing infrastructure-related investment across the public and private sectors. He has held and holds a number of directorships with organisations including ARUP, BNP Parabis and Kleinwort Benson. Charles has worked with the UK Government to develop investment opportunities within the energy efficiency markets, and is now Director of Energy Efficiency with the UK Green Investment Bank.
Charles was a Non-Executive Director of the North Essex Partnership NHS Trust for seven years, with particular focus on the development of the trust’s estate. He has an MA from Cambridge University.
Laura Curtis
Laura is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries with experience in a variety of actuarial roles within the insurance sector, focusing on enterprise risk management and financial assessments. She has also volunteered within her profession for a number of years in multiple positions.
Laura is passionate about social, health and environmental issues and using her professional experience for community benefit.
Emer Delaney
Emer qualified as a solicitor in 2010 and worked as a corporate M&A lawyer at the US law firm, White & Case LLP, in the city of London. Since 2017, Emer has been in-house legal counsel at Close Brothers Group plc, a FTSE 250 bank, and advises across a broad range of legal matters.
She has a BA in Politics and Philosophy from University College Dublin and an MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics.
Cate Kirkbride
Cate is an experienced brand and marketing leader in the charity and corporate sectors. She is passionate about storytelling and putting supporters at the heart of charity communications to inspire loyalty and action. Cate is Director of Communications and Engagement at the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and has recently held similar roles at the NCT Charity, Marie Curie UK and Shelter.
Homelessness is a cause very close to Cate’s heart, and she is delighted to be able to support the charity’s development in her role as Trustee.
Kevin Maxwell MBE
Kevin joined Your Place as a Next Generation Trustee completing the Board Trainee Programme with the Housing Diversity Network. He’s a member of the Belonging and People Committees.
Outside of Your Place, Kevin writes and advocates for social justice and equality. He’s passionate about Belonging and was awarded an MBE for services to diversity through literature for his book about prejudice and resilience, and works for a homelessness charity leading on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I).
Kevin is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He likes to run.
Graeme McLean
Graeme has wide-ranging financial services experience together with leadership skills. He is currently the Head of Transformation at the Financial Conduct Authority, and on joining our Board, has taken on the role of Chair of our Financial, Risk and Governance Committee.
Through his professional life and volunteering, he has appreciation for the challenge faced by the most vulnerable people in our community. He is hugely motivated to assist Your Place in its efforts to address homelessness in Newham, where the need is so great.
Joseph Ogundemuren
Joseph is a born and raised East Londoner. He has gained over 22 years’ experience in sectors ranging from retail, postal service, hospitality, private security and more recently social housing. Working for a G15 Housing Association, he brings knowledge of the responsibility for the management of building safety for residential buildings within diverse communities across Greater London. Through this work, he has gained an in-depth understanding of building safety compliance and resident engagement.
Joseph also has extensive experience in employment law through his trade union and political work in promoting fair working rights for wide ranging demographics.
Tolu Ogunsakin
Tolu joined as a Next Generation Trustee in 2023, bringing her experience at a learning consultancy where she supported its growth by working on learning programmes, operations, and business development with organisations and charities all across the UK.
Tolu is passionate about making a difference and developing excellent accessibility services for service users, in particular, those with mental health concerns, neurodivergence and the Deaf community/British Sign Language users.
Anil Sharma
Anil has over 20 years of experience building software solutions for global technology companies and investment banks, with expertise in algorithmic trading of financial products.
Anil is passionate about education and its contribution to social mobility. He is committed to helping charities through his knowledge of finance and technology.
Rose Soffel
Rose is an experienced People & Culture leader, specialising in organisational development and building high-performing teams. Spending over 10 years in the financial services and technology sectors, she has developed a keen expertise in fostering team growth, building inclusive cultures, and driving employee engagement. Now in a not-for-profit organisation, Rose applies her skills towards supporting the business goals in driving impactful societal change. Rose is honoured to contribute her skills to the charity, homelessness is a cause close to her heart.
