Who we are 

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Our team

Legendary campaigner, Sheila McKechnie, believed in the importance of people being able to shape their world. This is the founding principle of SMK today. Since 2005, we have grown into a core team supported by a very active Board of Trustees and a team of Associates all bringing with them a wide and diverse range of skills and backgrounds.

Juliet Can

Lorna Massey

Operations and Systems Manager

Lorna joined SMK in October 2022 and focuses on the internal operations.

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Lorna began her career as a Town Planner in the Northeast and Edinburgh, working on housing policy, developing governance experience and project management qualifications. Lorna loves to travel and after a 2-year sabbatical, travelling and working her way around the world, Lorna moved into the travel industry where she managed large sales teams for a high-end tour operator for 7 years.

Lorna has always had a strong interest in project management and operations in her previous roles and was seeking a new challenge when she was offered the role of Operations Manager at SMK. Lorna is excited to learn more about campaigning, while supporting the team on their work on social change.

Juliet Can

Emma Boyd

Head of Marketing and Communications

Emma has worked in the charity sector over the past 20 years, in the arts, human rights and more recently women’s rights sectors.

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Emma began her career in visual arts management and later campaigning and communication projects that focused on prevention, behaviour change and awareness raising in the UK and globally, specifically projects on gender-based violence. More recently, Emma’s consultancy work has focused on the communications, fundraising and campaigning needs of small to medium charities particularly digital asset development and strategic communications.

Emma is a Clore Foundation fellow from the Women and Girls Leadership Programme and works as a communications mentor. Emma is also a Trustee with Oxfordshire based charity Reducing the Risk of Domestic Abuse.

Juliet Can

Megan Poyiadzis

Events and Programme Manager

Megan joined SMK in January 2015, whilst studying for a BSc in Community Development and Public Policy at Birkbeck University.

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Previously working in the NHS as a Diabetic Eye Screener, she wanted to pursue a career within the charity sector that aligned with her real passions – social justice and human rights. Megan has volunteered with children’s charities, facilitating half-term classes for primary school children, and helping to organise large-scale annual Christmas events for vulnerable children and families. At the end of 2019, Megan completed a part-time diploma in Events Management with Event Academy, the only UK events diploma endorsed by the Chartered Institute of Marketing. 

Juliet Can

Kathleen Christie

Head of Programmes

Kath is an award-winning campaigner with a solid track record in strategy development, high-level stakeholder relationship management, training and leading learning reviews. 

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Kath has more than two decades experience in the not-for-profit sector. At SMK, Kath heads up SMK’s training and consultancy programme supporting campaigners and social change across the UK. Before that she was course director for SMK’s Campaign Carousel programme providing oversight across 13 workshops. Kath convened the Police Bill Alliance – a civil society coalition of 350 organisations against the government’s policing bill (now the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Act 2022). As a freelance consultant she worked with diverse organisations including Mencap, the Criminal Justice Alliance, Amnesty International UK, and the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

Kath is an RSA Fellow and a critical friend of Playing Out, a social enterprise championing street play. She coordinated the TUC campaign against the then Trade Union Bill. The campaign won PR Week 2016 Award for Public Affairs.

Juliet Can

Sarah Thomas

Head of Power and Participation

Sarah has twenty years’ experience in the charity sector, working in leadership roles at a range of community and educational projects.

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Passionate about inclusive, participatory approaches to social change, Sarah’s work has focused on co-creating services for children and families and for people with disabilities. Her intention is always to foster reflective, collaborative relationships in pursuit of a kinder, more just and sustainable world. Prior to joining SMK, Sarah completed an MA in Power, Participation and Social Change.

Who are SMK Associates?

SMK is supported by an extensive network of Associates – themselves some of the UK’s leading campaigners, organisers and commentators. Our Associates support the delivery of our training and consultancy according to their specific skills and experience.

Sheila McKechnie

Our Board

SMK is very lucky to have such a highly skilled and dedicated Board of Trustees that bring with them a rich and diverse variety of perspectives and experiences. Most are campaigners and social change experts in their own right working across civil society.

Juliet Can

Pete Moorey (SMK Chair) 

Head of Campaigns and UK Advocacy at Christian Aid

Pete Moorey, recently joined Christian Aid and was previously Head of Digital Impact & Sustainability Campaigns at BT, responsible for BT’s Skills for Tomorrow campaign, which aims to help 10 million people to make the most of life in the digital world. Pete is acting interim Chair at SMK.

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Before joining BT, he was Director of Advocacy and Public Affairs at Which?, where he ran the consumer champion’s campaigns – securing changes to laws, regulation and consumer behaviour in the financial services, utilities, transport and retail markets. Pete was previously the Head of Public Affairs at the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Head of Campaigns & Communications at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. As a consultant, he has advised numerous organisations on their campaigns and comms strategies including Scope, Save the Children, the British Chambers of Commerce, the Royal College of Nursing and the Rail Ombudsman.

Juliet Can

Gillian Lazonby 

General Counsel, 350.0rg

Gillian has over 10 years’ experience working in the charity sector. 350.org is a global climate movement organisation. 

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Prior to this she worked with the human rights charity, Reprieve and international development charity, Tearfund in her capacity as in-house legal counsel. Gillian is a dual qualified solicitor in England, Wales and Scotland and is based in Edinburgh. 

Juliet Can

Alex Kent

Co-CEO of Restless Development

Restless Development, a global non-profit for youth-led change.  Restless Development runs youth-leadership programmes in 26 countries, as well advocating for, supporting and connecting young changemakers to strengthen youth civil society. 

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Alex has led the strategy development and transformation in recent years; shifting power and resources to the majority world, and developing a power shifting checklist.  She’s also been instrumental in the development of the Youth Collective and Youth Power initiatives. 

Alex is a feminist leader with over 20 years experience working on social justice issues and campaigns at WaterAid, Save the Children, Comic Relief and the Global Campaign for Education and led the 1GOAL: Education for All, campaign in South Africa during the 2010 World Cup. 

Alex is always on the lookout for new solutions and ways of addressing social injustices and weaving a web of changemakers.  Alex lives in north London with her wife and young twins. 

Juliet Can

Stuart Davis

Director at Stuart Davis Consulting 

Stuart runs a consultancy that specialises in advising charities with finance and operations, and is qualified Management Accountant (CIMA).

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Previously Stuart has been Finance Director at ClientEarth, Head of Finance at Elrha and held finance roles at other international NGOs such as VSO and Amnesty International. He has extensive prior experience in the private sector.

Juliet Can

Patrick Steen

Global Communications Director – Content, External Channels & Community 

With over a decade’s experience building powerful digital communities, Patrick has a passion for harnessing the voices of many to change the opinions and policies of companies, regulators and governments.

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At Which?, he built a digital innovation team that grew one of the largest supporter bases in the UK, and helped pioneer data-led engagement tools which influenced positive social change for UK consumers. Whether in mobilising half a million people to change the law on nuisance calls, or collecting evidence of the millions lost to bank scams, the consumer actions Patrick has led have resulted in high-profile media and tangible policy outcomes. In addition to advising The Law Society and FTSE 250 company Capita, Patrick most recently partnered with Purpose Union. At this social purpose agency, Patrick specialises in advising global clients on digital movement building. This includes leading the social media release of a global climate action song which engaged people in almost every country of the world.

Juliet Can

Zainab Ali Khan

Documentaries at Netflix

Zainab joined Netflix in 2019, working in the commissioning team for Original Documentaries. Zainab has held several roles across non-profits, The World Wide Web Foundation and The ONE Campaign.

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As Chief of Staff at the Web Foundation, Zainab worked closely with the CEO and co-founders Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Rosemary Leith to manage global campaigns including the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web.

At ONE, Zainab worked across media, advocacy and project management – coordinating national, regional and global projects including ONE’s involvement in the G7 and G20 summits. She also worked closely with the Youth Ambassador programme, managing their 2017 annual gathering in Brussels.

Zainab began her career at ITV News as a researcher for current affairs programmes ‘Tonight’ and ‘On Assignment’.

Juliet Can

Richard Lane 

External Affairs at StepChange

Richard leads the External Affairs department at StepChange, the UK’s largest debt charity, who help more than 600,000 people a year with their financial problems. His role oversees the charity’s policy, campaigning, marketing, communications and digital functions.

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Richard has worked across the charity sector in a number of roles, including leading the communications and campaigns teams at the national disability charity, Scope, and working on campaigns and public affairs at the LGBT charity Stonewall where he worked on the equal marriage campaign and the national Rainbow Laces campaign to tackle homophobia in sport. 

Prior to working in the charity sector Richard worked at the Fabian Society, a leading think tank on social justice issues, PoliticsHome supporting their US politics coverage, and spent time working on the 2008 presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. 

Juliet Can

Juliet Can 

Director, Stour Trust 

The Stour Trust is a social enterprise developing models of community led regeneration that seeks to democratise access to land, building and spaces. 

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Stour Trust also influences policies to deliver racial, social and economic justice for under-represented communities.

Juliet’s career has focused on three core tenets of social justice, arts and culture, and entrepreneurship.  She is passionate about supporting local people and communities as they shape their neighbourhoods.

She co-founded the Hackney Wick and Fish Island Community Development Trust and is a mentor at Footwork Trust. Juliet sits on the boards of ACME Studios, London Community Land Trust and Ethical Property Company.

Juliet Can

Emilija Rudzinskaite

Learning & Engagement at Earthwatch Europe

Emilija is a qualified primary school teacher and has worked in environmental education, leading teacher training programmes and advocating for climate education and pathways to green and STEM careers across the UK.

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Emilija moved to the UK to study Politics and International Relations, and connected deeply with the issues of systemic inequity and barriers to social mobility. She chose to train as a primary school teacher with Teach First, and completed her training during the COVID pandemic.

After seeing the effects of the Fridays for Future protests on pupil awareness of the climate crisis, she joined the Earthwatch Education team to address key barriers to consistent climate education by applying an intersectional lens. In her free time, Emilija also works on diversifying opportunities in engineering and motorsport through her work with Espire Education, and volunteers for the Women’s Equality Party Basingstoke Branch.

Juliet Can

Sami Gichki 

Co-chair of the #iWill movement

Sami co-chairs the #iWill Movement Assembly, Britain’s leading youth social action movement. 

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He is also a trustee for a number of charities including Young Roots, Intergenerational England, Manchester City of Sanctuary and Euro Youth Mental Health. He is also a governor for a secondary school. His spirit for campaigning lies in his lived experience of being an asylum seeker and often being excluded from the narrative of government policy.

Juliet Can

Tony Burton CBE

Community activist and campaigner 

Tony works free range on community, design and environmental projects and is a community activist and campaigner on many fronts.

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He founded Civic Voice and is active in his own civic society in south London and as Chair of Wandle Valley Forum. Tony chairs CPRE’s national Policy & Campaigns Committee and is a former Vice Chair of Friends of the Earth. He is a neighbourhood planning examiner and convenes Neighbourhood Planners.London as a volunteer. 

Tony chaired National Lottery Community Fund during the pandemic and is currently Chair of Power to Change (supporting community business) and TCV Chestnut Fund (providing grants to community groups looking after local green space). He is also a trustee of Nationwide Foundation, advised the National Infrastructure Commission on design and is Vice Chair of HS2’s Independent Design Panel.

Patrons

Our founding five patrons all knew Sheila personally and have each played an important ambassadorial role for the Foundation over the years. .

Juliet Can

Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP

Gordon Brown was a friend of Sheila McKechnie for over thirty years and became a patron of the Foundation at the time it was established in 2005. Gordon Brown hosted the Foundation’s reception for the Sheila McKechnie Awards 2007. He has emphasised the importance of campaigners contribution to democracy in Britain and continues to support the Foundation’s work to develop the next generation of campaigners.

“To fight for justice is not some abstract idea – it is far more important than that. It is a practical demand that real wrongs must be righted, that injustices be rectified, that abuses be removed and unfairness’s remedied. Let Sheila’s energy, Sheila’s unending courage and, Sheila’s lifetime dedication to justice, inspire us and drive us forward in the days and years ahead”.

Juliet Can

Jon Snow

Broadcaster and writer

Jon Snow is an English journalist and television presenter. He is best known as the longest-running presenter of Channel 4 News, which he has presented since 1989. Snow has held numerous honorary appointments, including Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008.

“We want to make it possible for another Sheila, another passionate informed campaigner, to break out and raise a voice from beyond organised politics on behalf of those denied rights and opportunities.”

Juliet Can

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin

Delyth has over 20 years experience as a campaigner and was the first Chief Executive of Breakthrough Cancer responsible for orchestrating the high level of awareness and momentum behind the issue of breast cancer in the UK. Sheila was a hugely important role model for Delyth throughout her career.

“It’s time we recognised the campaigners out there whose efforts help create a better future for their communities – the people who can be bothered, who write that letter and ask that question, who organise that petition and who could do even more with support, help and recognition. The Sheila McKechnie Foundation hopes to support, empower and name these campaigners and thank them for what they do for us all.”

Juliet Can

The Lord Rogers of Riverside CH (deceased) 

Richard Rogers was an award-winning architect and the 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate. As chair of the Architecture Foundation, he worked with Sheila McKechnie and others to ‘put architecture on the political map’ as a force for urban improvement and social change. He was awarded the Légion d’Honneur in 1986, knighted in 1991, and made a life peer in 1996.

Juliet Can

Alan Grant

Sheila’s partner and formerly champion of education at the Financial Services Authority.

“Sheila’s eye for an issue worth campaigning about may have been largely intuitive, but her campaigns were always based on careful research of the facts, identifying practical solutions, and absolute integrity.”

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