Siân Edwards is our Executive Director responsible for all strategy and operations, including supporting our amazing Trustees.  She has over 20 years experience in international development, including supporting a wide range of organisations in the global majority, working on a range of issues from micro-finance, social policy & community development, to women's & disability rights, mental health and more. Outside of ACT, she is a Trustee for Every Youth and a Project Advisor for Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust.  She is also Treasurer for a small property management company.  

The strengths that she brings to ACT are in supporting innovation & organisational development, social finance, governance, leadership coaching and convening.   Keeping her happy and balanced at work are with family, the outdoors, exercise and the dog!

Jo is the finance executive for Andrews Charitable Trust, maintaining the charity accounts, monitoring cashflow and contributing to future budget planning.  Before coming to ACT Jo was a Business Manager for two small schools in Somerset responsible for finance, premises, HR and IT. 

Rio manages the Speaking Volumes book grants programme, which is run in partnership with Eden. Rio is an experienced Content and Media Producer with particular interest in film, podcasts and literary publishing campaigns. Currently, she is also the Head of Marketing and Publicity for SPCK Christian Book Publishing.

Nana is a Project Manager with over 13 years of experience across business development, marketing, and bid management. She has a strong track record of leading cross-functional teams and delivering complex projects that drive growth, operational efficiency, and brand visibility. Her work spans a range of industries, including the built environment, management consultancy and the non-profit sector.

With a creative and detail-oriented approach, Nana is also an experienced content creator, having produced blogs, newsletters, and digital campaigns for diverse audiences. Her entrepreneurial mindset and strategic thinking are matched by a deep passion for supporting meaningful causes.

She holds a BSc in International Business and an Executive MBA.

Outside of work, Nana enjoys travelling, attending the theatre, and creating joyful, lasting memories.

Steve is the great nephew of our Founder, Cecil Jackson Cole and our most recent addition to the board, joining to replace his mother, in 2024. 

Steve began a career as a teacher at Dulwich College. Alongside this, he has played international and premiership hockey, achieving 85 caps for Wales and playing in 2 commonwealth games, a World Cup and numerous European championships.

Simon is Chief Investment Officer at Resonance Limited, a UK social impact investment fund manager. At Resonance, for the past decade Simon has been responsible for developing, raising and managing a range of impact investment funds including impact property funds focusing on the issues of homelessness, learning disability and domestic abuse, and other impact investment funds backing regional social enterprises with growth capital and local communities developing their own assets.

Prior to joining Resonance, Simon spent 16 years at Rothschild & Co as a corporate finance advisor covering Europe and Asia. He has also had previous Trustee roles with Broadway, a pioneering London homelessness charity, and the Transformational Business Network, an intermediary supporting mission driven entrepreneurs in Africa and Asia.

Outside of work, Simon enjoys family, music, squash and running around on the Yorkshire moors.

Sailesh is a Chartered Accountant whose specialisation is long term financial strategic planning. He joined Andrews in April 2023 bringing his considerable breath of experience on all financial matters including charities and the wider not for profit sector. Sailesh is also a non executive director of Andrews and Partners Limited.

Previously Sailesh was a partner in HW Fisher LLP since the age of 31. A large element of his work was outside audit encompassing investigations and problem solving. Sailesh is regarded as a trusted advisor and confidential sounding board.

Sailesh is a graduate of LSE. He has been a governor at two schools as well as the treasurer of a Church and is still a long standing trustee of a cancer charity.

Outside work he keeps busy listening to an eclectic variety of music, travelling, creating and nurturing a wildlife corridor of over 500 trees and supporting West Ham United.

After completing a Business Studies degree, Ami started her career in Human Resources and Learning and Development at Rolls-Royce. For 10 years she worked for Sky Television starting in Human Resources and then moving into Operations Management and then Transformation and Training. She completed her MA in Human Resources during this time including Executive coaching & mentoring. Ami is now Head of Volunteering and Participation Operations at the National Trust.

Ami became a Trustee for ACT in 2014 and chairperson in 2021.

Alexandra has worked in book publishing for nearly 30 years and now runs her own business selling books in the UK and Europe for American publishers.  In her spare time, she loves travel, keeping bees, golf and yoga but is more than content to curl up at home with a good book.