Our team

Our staff

Yeme Onoabhagbe

CEO

Yeme (she/they) is a values‑driven leader with a strong record advancing equity, wellbeing and organisational change across the education and charity sector. They have worked with organisations such as Stonewall and King’s College to address social and health inequalities and have served as CEO and trustee of multiple charities. Yeme brings expertise in mental health, anti-racism, social justice, change management, and inclusive supporter growth. They now work as a consultant supporting organisations across the UK to embed inclusive practice into strategy and culture, and to develop effective supporter growth strategies, alongside their role at Board Racial Diversity UK.

Rowan Hillier

Head of Programmes & Partnerships

Rowan has over 10 years’ experience in the charity sector, working at both board and senior leadership level. With expertise in partnerships and operations, Rowan is passionate about developing inclusive, collaborative organisations that deliver meaningful impact. She is currently a board member for the Brighton-based charity, Trust for Developing Communities.

Olivia Hylton

Head of Operations

Olivia is an operations leader who builds systems behind high-impact programmes.

Most recently, she scaled global education programmes at a major international newspaper, expanding media literacy and access to careers in media for students across continents.

Her work also includes a bespoke operating system for a mentoring non-profit and an award-winning community app used by Black women globally.

Rozena Nadeem

Rozena (she/her) is a member of the Board Racial Diversity UK (BRD) team. She was delighted to discover BRD in 2021, when becoming a School Governor and researching trustee diversity. She became a BRD member, then a volunteer, then transitioned to freelancing. Previously, Rozena has undertaken various governance-related roles, including trusteeship. Presently, she works in Higher Education, undertakes freelance engagement consultancy, and is an aspiring trustee.

Gemma Sykes

Head of Finance & Governance

Gemma has worked in voluntary sector governance for more than twenty years and has been a freelance governance consultant since 2017, supporting organisations in the voluntary and sports sectors improve their governance processes, practices, cultures and behaviours. This has included supporting boards to improve their effectiveness, including through more inclusive recruitment practice.

Governance

Our governance teams hold us to account and provide oversight and guidance. They help us make strategic decisions, inform our methods, and ultimately achieve our objectives.

Trustees

Dalton Leong

Lena Bheeroo

Bernice Rook

Henry Hughes

Inonge Siluka

Kamran Miah

Mandeep Rupra

Mike Clarke

Tim Brann

Advisory Group

Our Advisory Group supports the strategic direction and operational effectiveness of Board Racial Diversity UK by providing expertise and lived experience that complements the work of the organisation.

Elle Hurst

Senior Consultant, University Leadership Associates (ULA)

Elle Hurst is a Senior Consultant at University Leadership Associates, where she specialises in executive and Board search within Higher Education. She works directly with Chairs and Vice Chancellors on senior appointments, advising on role design, candidate engagement and inclusive selection processes.

Her work provides her with direct insight into how Board appointments are shaped in practice, and how search and recruitment approaches can either enable or limit diversity at governance level. She is particularly interested in embedding inclusion throughout the appointment process, rather than treating it as a separate consideration.

Elle brings strong networks across Higher Education and the wider education sector, alongside a commitment to using her role to support more diverse and representative Boards.

Kate Chester

Co-Founder, Leadership Facilitator and Coach, Amino Leadership

Kate Chester is Co-Founder of Animo Leadership, where she works with leaders and teams in small and medium-sized organisations to build courageous leadership, strengthen performance, and support sustainable wellbeing and resilience. She is an Executive Coach and Leadership Facilitator with over 20 years’ senior leadership experience in the voluntary and public sectors.

Kate works with individual leaders, leadership teams, and trustees, supporting them to navigate complexity, make confident decisions, and develop the mindsets and behaviours needed to lead in times of change. Kate is known for building authentic, trusting relationships that enable honest reflection and practical progress.

She has held Director-level roles in two national charities and senior leadership positions across housing associations, youth charities, and membership organisations. Her background includes leading high-performing teams, managing complex change programmes, and developing organisational strategy. Kate’s commitment to equity and social justice has led her to train as a white affinity facilitator, creating brave spaces for white leaders to explore systemic racism and deepen their commitment to equity in their work and organisations.

Omar Begg

Senior Executive Search Consultant, Prospectus

Omar is a Senior Executive Search Consultant and leads on high-profile board and executive appointments, as well as leadership advisory projects in the UK and globally.

He has partnered with prominent national and international governing bodies, professional sports organisations, federations, as well as foundations, charities, and NGOs.

Omar has a track record of broadening access to leadership opportunities for individuals from historically marginalised and underrepresented communities.

Through his focus on the intersection of strategic governance and community social impact, Omar helps organisations build dynamic, inclusive boards equipped to drive sustainable change and meaningful social returns.

Rasheed Giwa

Product Operations Director

Rasheed is a product operations leader with over a decade of experience helping organisations scale with clarity and purpose. He has worked across venture-backed B2B SaaS, global market research, and the non-profits, most recently leading complex programmes at the Ehlers Danlos Society and Croydon BME Forum.

He joins BRD UK’s Advisory Group because representation is something he cares about deeply. He’s consistently experienced being one of the very few POC in senior conversations, and seen what gets missed and assumed when you don’t have diverse viewpoints. He wants to change who gets a seat at the table and gets to shape decisions.

When he’s not thinking about systems and strategy, Rasheed is almost certainly in the kitchen, cooking for anyone who’ll sit still long enough to be fed.

Jade Green

HR Support, The Law Commission for England and Wales

With over 20 years’ experience in retail and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Jade works at The Law Commission for England and Wales in HR. Previously, Jade has held both HRBP and DE&I roles across retail brands leading cross-functional teams, implementing comprehensive training programmes, and establishing strategic partnerships to drive positive cultural change and enhance employee engagement.

Most recently, she was the Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for PepsiCo UK and Senior DE&I Manager for EMEA at a Fintech company spearheading initiatives that fostered a more inclusive organisational culture.

In 2022, Jade was shortlisted for the Hero of the Year Award by the European Diversity Awards for her great work in helping build an inclusive culture within a diverse environment through her work with Inclusion networks, partnership and commitment.

Jade has now been appointed by the Trustees as Chair of the Heartlands High School LGC starting from October 2025 after joining as a governor in September 2024.

Tayo Ologbenla

Director, Head of Digital Marketing & Engagement at Savills
Board Advisor for OnCueAI

Tayo Ologbenla is Director and Head of Digital Marketing & Client Engagement at Savills. He built and scaled a Digital & CRM Centre of Excellence from scratch into a 15-person team supporting 16 business divisions across 3 international regions.

His career spans agency roles at ZenithOptimedia and PHD on the global Unilever business, through senior client-side positions at NatWest Group and Sainsbury’s Bank, before joining Savills. Outside his day job, Tayo advises an AI start-up on positioning and go-to-market strategy, and was a finalist in the Black British Business Awards.

He is joining the BRD UK Advisory Group to bring commercially grounded marketing and communications thinking to the charity’s mission, helping translate good intentions into outcomes that genuinely move the needle on representation at senior and board level.

Penny Wilson

Inclusive Charity Governance Consultant

Penny is an inclusive charity governance consultant. She serves as Director of The Festival of Trusteeship for Eastside People, and helps funders and charity networks strengthen trustee support through training, guidance and research. She writes a regular column for Governance & Leadership magazine and sits on the Charity Commission’s Board Behaviours and Dynamics Working Group. She is a trustee of London Plus.

Her previous roles include CEO of Getting on Board which was a trustee development and diversity charity, CEO of Styleability, Head of Community Affairs at the University of Cambridge and Director of Partnerships at The Brilliant Club.

Mabinty Esho

Head of Culture and Inclusion at Comic Relief

Mabinty Esho is a Culture and Inclusion specialist, executive coach, and Head of Culture and Inclusion at Comic Relief. She works at the intersection of identity, impact and intention, helping organisations cultivate cultures where people are included and feel a genuine sense of belonging. Mabinty has led organisation-wide culture transformation and positioned inclusion as a board-level priority across the charity, corporate, healthcare and education sectors.

Known for her warm, direct style, she creates spaces that are honest, human and practical, equipping leaders to turn values into the everyday behaviours that make belonging real.

Malcolm John

Founder and Partnership Development Consultant

Malcolm has considerable experience as a trustee/Vice Chair/Chair over 20 years in nine charities working on a diverse range of social justice issues.

He was the Founder of the national campaign organisation, Action for Trustee Racial Diversity, now succeeded by Board Racial Diversity UK, aimed at addressing under-representation of individuals from Black and Asian backgrounds on trustee Boards. One of his key achievements was his production of the Guide, From Here to Diversity.

He’s currently a trustee of the Association of Chairs, the membership body for charity chairs in England and Wales, of the British American Drama Academy and of the Charles Dickens Museum. He’s also an Independent Panel Member of the Ministry of Justice Public Appointments Panel, a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute, Panel Chair of a new initiative, Charity Hall of Fame, and a steering group member of Clore Social Leadership Lighthouse programme.

Raveena Francis

Change Consultant

Raveena is a multi-talented change specialist with almost a decade experience making a different through community organising across higher education. Their career began in student activism, elected to represent racially minoritised students at Keele University on a platform of decolonising the institution. Their governance experience spans from being an elected member on student council and Race Equality Charter Self Assessment Team as a volunteer to EDI boards, and organisational steering groups.

They are known for their critical and relational approach to leadership and bring sharp framework thinking and anti-oppressive practice to their work. As a consultant, they focus on cultural programming, leadership development, and change management.

They are currently a Sessional Facilitator and Communications Lead with South East London Mind’s peer support service, Queer Minds; and an Associate Consultant with Make Diversity Count, and Board Racial Diversity UK.