Our Leadership

Helen is passionate about all the wonderful people and the work they do at YMCA St Paul’s Group in particular, giving hope to those in need. Her involvement with YMCA started at an early age, volunteering as a student at YMCA West London Nursery and at YMCA’s Pavilion of Hope EXPO 2000 in Hannover, Germany. After becoming a trustee of West London YMCA in 2016, Helen was involved in the merger with YMCA St Paul’s Group. She became a Group trustee in 2018 and chaired the Performance Committee for three years. In November 2022, she became Chair of the Group Trustee Board.

Helen’s professional career was initially focused within the private equity and real estate sectors and has included financing, company valuation and improvement, structuring and fundraising. For over 16 years, she worked at HSBC, Barclays and Blackstone. Until 2018, she was principal of The Blackstone Group, a leading global investment business. Moving to Sussex provided her the opportunity to retrain in health coaching, art therapy and study nutrition naturopathy. She is passionate to help people explore wellness, nutrition and self care.

She has served on several other local charity trustee boards and is a mentor and coach.

Graham is passionate about using his professional experiences to help YMCA St Paul’s Group deliver on its strategic vision and charitable mission through sustained, outstanding results.

Graham has over 30 years’ experience of working on issues relating to marginalised young people, families and communities which has enabled him to develop extensive knowledge of the client group YMCA St Paul’s Group serves. His career has been characterised by seeking to reduce social exclusion in some of the most deprived areas across London and the UK.

Formerly CEO of Action on Addiction, he is now the Director of Communitatis Ltd, which works with boards, senior executive teams and other systems leaders in health, social care and criminal justice environments, supporting them to develop systems, strategies and services for the benefit of the children, families and adults they work with.

Duncan is passionate about YMCA St Paul’s Group quite simply because of the impact the charity has on transforming people’s lives. He is also an Executive Committee member of the World Alliance of YMCAs and has previously been a Vice Chair of YMCA England and Wales.

In addition to his roles at the YMCA, Duncan is Chair of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts and a Trustee of Shaftesbury, chairing its Strategic Business Committee, as well as being a governor at King’s College School, Wimbledon chairing its Estates Committee and President of the John R Mott Foundation in Geneva. He has served as a Non-Executive director at the Hyde Housing Group housing association as well as a number of other commercial and not for profit organisations.

A former Managing Director at BT, Duncan brings a wide range of experience of running businesses, marketing, customer service, strategy and risk management both in the UK and internationally.

Ken is passionate about YMCA St Paul’s Group because of the difference the Charity makes to the lives of those who have nowhere to call home.

An experienced accountant, Ken previously has worked as a Finance Director at Family Mosaic, one of the G15 large Housing Associations. During this time, he held several chairing roles including the G15 Finance Directors Group. Ken has also worked for Transport for London as their Finance Director with responsibility for their Commercial and Housing Developments. Ken has recently joined Sovereign Housing Association as their Interim Chief Finance Officer.

Ken’s drive for strong financial performance combined with a commitment to the impact of the charity has helped ensure a robust but compassionate approach to all that the YMCA does. He is Chair of the Treasury Working Group.

Allan became a trustee of YMCA St Paul’s Group in 2023, prior to this he was a member of the Development and Assets Committee where he has enjoyed supporting the charity with his experience of property services, compliance and health and safety.

Allan is driven by the desire to deliver a fairer society for all, and he is passionate about the work undertaken at YMCA St Paul’s Group due to its transformational impact on people’s lives. His current professional role is delivering environmental, social and governance (ESG) services within real estate for CBRE’s corporate occupier clients. This includes supporting clients with decarbonisation towards net zero, improving business impact on local communities, and greater engagement and wellbeing.

Prior to this Allan spent over 10 years within the financial services industry and brings broad experience in strategy, operations, risk management and property services. He also chairs the Owner Occupier Forum of the Better Buildings Partnership.

John joined the Board of YMCA St Paul’s Group in September 2023 as a Trustee, having previously been an independent member of the Audit and Risk Committee.

After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, John worked in a variety of financial roles for multinational companies in the UK, Canada and Belgium. He then consulted on technology enabled business change and associated project and risk management, firstly with Deloitte Consulting and then with Ernst & Young. He joined Nationwide Building Society initially as a Head of Internal Audit, before being appointed a Head of Operational Risk Oversight. Since leaving Nationwide he provided independent programme assurance to the Board of the UK’s largest online mortgage broker.

With a deep knowledge of risk appraisal and project methods, John is pleased to be able to support St Paul’s Group as it continues in its mission to promote wellbeing to young people and communities, especially those who find themselves in need of safe and supportive accommodation.

John is also a Trustee for a charity which provides grants to translate promising developments in sight loss research into patient benefits.

David Dangana is passionate about supporting young people to achieve their full potential. With a background in education, he is keen to show young people that they can grow, develop and gain experiences that will help them navigate through life.

In his professional life, David has over 10 years of senior management experience in the UK and abroad in various roles, most recently as Chief Learning Officer at Capital City College Group, London  (CCCG) with responsibility for driving developments in teaching, learning & assessment, quality assurance & improvement and education technology and innovation. At CCCG he leads on regulatory review processes such as Ofsted and OfS, manages learner complaints and participating in, or chairing various task and finish/working groups. In his previous role as Head of Quality Improvement at Tower Hamlets College he was responsible for quality assurance and improvement, staff development and teacher training.

David is also a Trustee for a college which supports learners with learning difficulties and disabilities and a school abroad.

Chris is inspired to be a part of YMCA St Paul’s Group as he desires to help young people and see individuals reach their full potential. In addition to being a trustee for YMCA St Paul’s Group, Chris is also on both the England and Wales and West London Board.

A qualified accountant, Chris has enjoyed a successful executive career with British Gas and Centrica, undertaking a variety of roles including CEP BG Insurance, and prior to this Divisional Finance Director for British Gas Services, Centrica Business Services and the Automobile Association. Currently, Chris is the Senior Independent Director for StepChange, the largest UK debt charity, and Pension and Investment Trustee at Centrica PLC.

Chris is also a Licensed Lay Minister within the Church of England.

Richard brings a long career leading the People/ HR function in organisations in the commercial, education and not-for-profit sectors. These organisations have included Amnesty International, where he was also COO, and Clearchannel and most recently Crisis where he was Interim Director of People and Culture. As well as human resources, Richard has had a strong focus on organisational development and has held non exec roles with the University College of Osteopathy and as a Trustee for the John Muir Trust.

Richard has a long-standing link to YMCA, having been a committee member for West London YMCA (he lives in South Ealing). His children attended classes at South Ealing YMCA and his son has been a team leader at a YMCA camp in USA. He brings to the Board knowledge of leadership in the third sector, especially in the area of HR and People management as well as a commitment to the mission, vision and Christian faith ethos of the Charity.

Gileyd Romeo Eliav-Cruz is motivated by a passion to help create a better, stronger, more inclusive society for young people and communities. As someone with a young family, he sees the importance of creating safe, welcoming communities that help all young people grow up safe and secure. Romeo brings a solid track record of success across a wide range of Risk & Compliance (R&C) roles across the Financial Services industry, covering areas such as Governance, Regulatory Compliance, Conduct and Operational Risk.

Romeo holds an MBA (distinction) from Bayes Business School and a BSC (Hons) in Neuroscience from Leeds University. Romeo’s faith is a central aspect of his life and believes working in financial services has allowed him to find holiness in his profession, through driving international banks and investment firms to uphold high standards of employee conduct, treat customers & investors fairly and contribute positively to society.

Judith joins the YMCA as a trustee, driven by her commitment to building a fairer, safer world and her passion for supporting young people. She is excited to bring her experience and values to an organisation dedicated to empowering individuals and fostering an inclusive society.

Judith is the Executive Director of Services at Shelter UK the National Homelessness Charity, overseeing Community & National Services, Legal support, and Telephone and Online Advice for the national charity. She also serves as the executive representative on Shelter’s Safeguarding Panel, ensuring robust protections for those they support. With a background in the domestic abuse sector, Judith was formerly the Interim CEO at Solace, where she guided the organisation through a period of transformative change. She is deeply committed to advocating for vulnerable communities and dedicated to creating inclusive services that empower and uplift those on the margins.

Dan is excited about using his skills to support individuals in overcoming challenges and turning their lives around. He brings over 20 years of senior management and property experience, having held leadership roles at Topps Tiles Group PLC, including Commercial Managing Director and Property Director. He has property and legal qualifications with expertise in strategy, retail, DIY markets, operational efficiency, health and safety and driving sustainable business initiatives.

Dan enjoyed working in Paris with Euro Disney for two years and served as Chair of AC Malden FC, an amateur football club for 8 years. He has also worked with Crisis homeless charity, supporting efforts to address homelessness.

Dan is committed to using his property and senior management experience to contribute to the YMCA’s mission and looks forward to supporting the charity’s work in creating positive, lasting change for its communities. Dan is a member of the Development and Assets Committee.

After graduating as a Structural Engineer Richard worked in the commercial sector for an international ship supply company. After this, he left to set up a number of youth-focused charities in South Wales before moving to South West London. He was drawn to the YMCA as it brought together the cause driven charitable focus with the need to be commercially astute: “I love the diversity of work, the focus on young people and community as well as the opportunity to build on the story of many great people who have gone before me, helping building an even stronger YMCA for the future.”

Since joining the YMCA over ten years ago, Richard has helped drive the merger work between YMCA East London, YMCA West London, YMCA Slough and YMCA London South West which ended up in the creation of YMCA St Paul’s Group. He also serves as a trustee of the Surbiton Education Health Trust.

“I love the fact we are part of a national and international family that spreads to over 100 people and that all over the world people are committed to make a difference in the community they work in. I would love us to be known to be a bold, pioneering organisation that is delivering work in new and exciting ways and to new young people and communities.”

Fred is a qualified accountant with many years’ experience in retail, the civil service and has been a Finance Director of a number of housing associations. Throughout his career, he has had responsibility for finance, IT, business improvement and risk management. In addition to his role at the YMCA, he is also currently a board member for two housing associations (Notting Hill Genesis and Newlon).

Fred joined the YMCA as he was inspired by the work the Charity does in transforming young lives and the commitment of staff; especially as he was previously unaware of the mind, body and spirit dimension of YMCA’s work. He is also inspired by the work of the international YMCA family and the variety of ways in which needy communities are supported.

Looking forward, Fred is driven to implement our Strategic Plan and looks forward to being loving, hopeful, community-focused, people-centric and holistic in delivering the plan.

Jessica is an experienced senior manager within the charity sector.

She has risen through the ranks in her 20+ years career with the YMCA and has vast experience of managing multi-functional teams and project management.

Jessica is now overseeing the operational service delivery of YMCA St Paul’s Group, including supported housing as well as childcare, youth and health & wellbeing services.

She is passionate about delivering quality homeless and community services and creating YMCA centres where young people thrive and communities flourish.

Initally graduating in Business Studies, Julie developed her career in HR. She is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a Certified Advanced Clarity Coach and Facilitator, and a Certified Embodiment Coach. Her experience in senior leadership, consulting and coaching is across a wide range of sectors including facilities management.

Julie is responsibile for HR, Learning and Development, and the Chaplaincy Service.

Outside of work, Julie has volunteered with charities working with people living with disabilities, young people at risk and in overseas development.

Julie is excited by the YMCA’s mission to support young people and communities in need, and by its ethos of Mind, Body and Spirit which reflects her personal values and life journey.

Nilavra brings extensive asset and property management experience having spent time working in senior roles for the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, Royal Borough of Greenwich and Sutton Housing Partnership.

He is passionate about supporting communities and residents, committed to delivering high-quality safe, affordable, and energy-efficient housing with modern services tailored to people’s needs.