Trustees

Neil Hawkins – Chair

Neil Hawkins is a committed humanist with a strong belief in the values of kindness, tolerance, and freedom. Neil has spent 32 years in education, first as a teacher then as a middle and senior manager and then served for 16 years as Principal of Concord College, Shropshire; he now works part-time with a brief to facilitate high-quality education internationally. Neil is also Chair of Befrienders Worldwide, the foremost global network of suicide prevention and emotional support centres.He has long experience of leadership, change management, marketing, financial planning, the charitable sector and of governance.

Kate West – Vice Chair

Kate is the Chief Operating Officer of the Electoral Reform Society. She was previously Head of Operations at political think tank Demos, and is experienced in charity governance, financial, operational and HR management. Kate has worked for local and national government, including the Charity Commission, where she provided advice and legal assistance to charities and worked alongside the Board and Directors to ensure high standards of governance.

Kate has worked with and volunteered for several charities, including the homeless charity Crisis and as a trustee for Wikimedia UK. She is a committed humanist and enjoys running, weight training and music in her spare time.

Amy Walden – Vice Chair

Amy has worked for HM Prison and Probation Service for 20 years. During this time she has worked in a variety of settings including community probation teams, courts and prisons. She is a qualified probation officer and currently works as Head of Offender Management Delivery and Resettlement at her local prison.

She has a BA(Hons) Criminology from Southampton Solent University and a Diploma in Probation Studies from Portsmouth University.

In 2011, Amy identified the need for non-religious pastoral support for prisoners and initiated this provision. Since that time she has played an integral part in developing and expanding non-religious pastoral care. As a founding member of the Non-Religious Pastoral Support Network she held the positions of Chair and Vice Chair. She is also involved in the design and delivery of training for pastoral carers.

Roland Davis – Treasurer

Roland is a corporate finance professional with many years experience working with government on the procurement of new roads, schools and hospitals and as employee of Eurotunnel during its financing and construction. He has run his own small company, taught at the Open University and London Business School and served as a Parish Councillor and a trustee of his employer’s occupational pension scheme. He currently specialises in regulatory economics.

Roland is a passionate supporter of humanism as a movement, as a way of thinking and a way of living. His hobbies include writing, programming, gardening and weight training. He occasionally admits to playing not-very-edifying computer games.

John Adenitire

John is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Law, Queen Mary, University of London. He has written widely on freedom of conscience, with a particular focus on those categorised by courts as non-religious.

He also writes on animal rights, especially in constitutional law. At Queen Mary he is one of the co-directors of the Centre for Decentering the Human.

Tamar Ghosh

Tamar is Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, since November 2016. Prior to that she was at Nesta running the Longitude Prize, a £10m science prize looking for a rapid diagnostic test to fight antibiotic resistance. Before Nesta, Tamar founded and ran two social enterprises in global and national healthcare, which continue in her spare time. She was Director of the social action campaign “Give More” on behalf of one of the Pears Foundation and has also spent 15 years developing and delivering funding strategies for international NGOs, including ActionAid and VSO. She has an MBA from Imperial College, London and a Masters in Development Studies, following an undergraduate degree in Mathematics at Bristol University. She’s served on charity Boards and Committees for more than 20 years, and was Chair of Humanists UK for 7 years.  

Charley Jarrett

Charley is policy and public affairs manager for exam board and education charity AQA. He has previously worked for a democratic reform think tank, as a parliamentary researcher, and as a campaigns intern at Humanists UK. He has a BA politics first from Sussex and an MRes in quantitative political science from the London School of Economics.

He is a governor of a local primary school, a trustee of his old youth club, a volunteer admissions assessor for his alma mater United World Colleges GB and the Humanist representative Lambeth SACRE.

A lifelong Londoner, his interests include urbanism, languages, and improv. Charley believes humanism and Humanists UK have an invaluable role to play in pursuing rational, secular policymaking – to improve society, promote freedoms, and enrich people’s lives.

Andrew Russell

As well as being a board member of Humanists UK, Andrew serves on the board of Wikimedia UK. He is also the Head of Policy and Public Affairs for Into Film, the charity that supports young people into screen careers, inspires young filmmakers, and works with schools to use TV and film for teaching and learning.

Passionate about rational, respectful dialogue and debate, his work and volunteering efforts promote critical thinking, media and information literacy, and equal access to knowledge. A philosopher by academic background, he also served seven years on the board of The Philosophy Foundation, a charity that encourages the teaching and practice of philosophy across the UK.

Emma Shepherd

Emma has over two decades of experience in the third sector, with a specific interest in grassroots community action. She is currently the National Head of Wales for BBC Children in Need, and a non-executive director of the Pen-Y-Cymoedd Community Fund. 

Previously chair of Wales Humanists, Emma has been involved in humanist campaigns in Wales, particularly around education. Passionate about people and community, she regularly runs events to bring people of all backgrounds and beliefs together in her local area.

Simon Walker-Samuel

Simon is Professor of Biophysics at University College London, where he leads a research group applying physics to cancer research, including developing medical imaging and machine learning (AI) methods.

He has always held beliefs consistent with humanism, and is a school speaker and humanist SACRE representative for Croydon. In his spare time, Simon enjoys spending time with his family, running, playing music, and creating digital art.

Nicole Saunders

Nicole‘s varied career has included periods as a physics teacher, air defence aviator serving in the Royal Air Force, air safety specialist, and NHS senior leader of system strategy and long-term planning. Her values of compassion, curiosity, and gaining wisdom through rational thinking have informed her approach to her one life.

Nicole is committed to lifelong learning and holds degrees in physics, international studies, human factors, and aerospace systems togetherwith qualifications in teaching and business administration. She is a governor and Vice Chair of a local special school, and has at last fulfilled her childhood ambition of becoming a librarian by volunteering at her local community library, where she is also a trustee.

Kay Jones

Kay is a mentor, mediator, consultant, board chair, trustee, and non-executive director who coaches in strategic thinking, with a proven track record in business transformation and culture change. Following a successful career in higher education, where she held senior leadership roles across marketing, commercial services, careers education, work-based learning, and IT delivery. She has also recently launched her own coaching and consulting practice.

She currently serves as Chair of Eating Distress North East, a charity that has provided confidential counselling, support, and hope to individuals affected by eating distress across the North East of England since 1988.

A longstanding humanist, Kay is now training to become a humanist funeral celebrant, deepening her commitment to inclusive, meaningful ceremonies grounded in compassion and shared humanity.

Ginny Collins

Ginny is a long-time supporter of Humanists UK and its ceremonies work, and is proud to have been a pioneer of humanist marriages. As well as being a celebrant herself, Ginny has held senior roles within the organisation to develop and quality assure the celebrant network and its training programme.

She remains an ardent supporter of the campaign to legalise humanist weddings. Ginny now works as a project manager in the adult social care sector, delivering initiatives to combat workforce challenges. She is a board trustee of Healthwatch Kingston upon Thames, which helps people have their say about health and care services, and is active as a celebrant and a volunteer in her community.

Sharda Dean

Sharda is an economic adviser at the Competition and Markets Authority, the UK’s consumer watchdog. She works on market investigations, merger control, and digital markets regulation. She was a teacher of economics for eight years, including four as a head of department. Prior to that Sharda was a macroeconomist for various investment institutions and a specialist in economic and monetary unions, advising central banks on their preparations ahead of the Euro currency launch and co-authoring a book on the subject.

Sharda holds a BSc (Econ), an MSc (Econ), and an MSc in applied
development economics from the LSE, for which she received a distinction. In 2023 she was a finalist for the Dr Jonathan Nicholls Memorial Essay Prize and in 1996 she was joint winner of the David Thomas Financial Times essay prize.

In her spare time Sharda is proud to be an accredited Humanists UK wedding celebrant. She was born in Trinidad and was first introduced to humanism by her late mother.