About Us

MATTHEW AYRES (CHAIR)

Matthew is Group Managing Director at The Bennie Group. He is the 4th generation of his family business a multi-industry group that specialises in Plant & Equipment, Construction & English Footwear.

As a family business he has been involved at Bennie since childhood, but joined full time in October 2018 as Operations Director where he set about creating and restructuring all the businesses central functions in Finance, IT, Facilities, Marketing & HR. He took over the Group MD role in July 2020.

Prior to joining Bennie, Matthew worked in various operational roles at a fast-growing B2B software start-up where he was responsible for digital integration and business development with high profile retail clients. Before this, he worked at the John Lewis Partnership as part of the team that established the central shared service operations for Waitrose & John Lewis as the group started bringing the two retail businesses together.

SUE ANNIS

Sue has more than 30 years of commercial, operational and retail experience, having worked for large corporate organisations such as Vodafone, Argos and Shell International Petroleum Company, where she is currently responsible for the brand, retail operating models, capability and enablement across the globe

In each of these roles Sue has taken a personal interest and lead role in corporate social responsibilities, which have included significant fundraising for worthy causes such as Cancer Research, The National Autistic Society, Teenage Cancer Trust, Anthony Nolan Trust, Children in Need, Comic Relief and Jeans for Genes.

EDMOND YEO

Edmond is a community leader and JP who is dedicated to many charitable and volunteering activities. He is the current Chair of the Chinese Information and Advice Centre (CIAC), a registered UK charity providing advocacy services and social enterprise for the Chinese community.

Edmond is also active in local politics and is a former elected councillor for the London Borough of Ealing. He was Chair of the Ealing North Conservative Association and has held various other officer positions previously.

As well as being a trustee of One Westminster, he is currently a trustee of the Children’s Hope Foundation, the North London Chinese Association (NLCA), and the Chinese in Britain Forum (CiBF). He is a director of London’s Hua Yu Chinese radio station.

PHAYZA FUDLALLA

Phayza has 20 years’ experience of working in community development in the UK and internationally. She is currently Engagement Manager with the BME Health Forum working with statutory and voluntary sector organisations to improve the health and wellbeing of BME communities.

Earlier Phayza worked for Paddington Development Trust as Health and Communities Manager. She was also Head of Community Programmes and co-deputy CEO for the Abbey Community Association & Centre, overseeing programmes to improve the health and wellbeing of people experiencing a wide range of conditions, tackling the health inequalities of ethnic minority communities and addressing the health impact of social isolation on vulnerable older people.

Previously, she worked with the Domestic Violence Intervention Project (DVIP) that supports women by providing advocacy, information and signposting. Before moving to the UK, Phayza worked with international organizations in Sudan including World Food Programme and Plan International as a researcher and Community Development Programmes Manager respectively.

MATTHEW HAZELL (TREASURER)

Following a degree in Classics at Jesus College, Cambridge, Matthew trained as an auditor in the City and then qualified as a chartered accountant. Since then he has worked for a number of well-known financial companies including Allianz and Legal and General. For the last ten years he has been Finance Manager at PIMCO Europe and is a Vice President of the company.

In his spare time he plays Elton John incessantly on the piano.

HALALEH TAHERI

Halaleh is the founder and Executive Director of the Middle Eastern Women & Society Organisation (MEWSo). She began the charity in 2010 after realising that huge numbers of displaced women in London need help in integrating with and navigating their way around the society of their new homeland.

It follows her own extraordinary story of fighting the Shah of Iran during the 1979 Revolution and fighting the Islamic extremists who subsequently took over. After moving to Iraq, she had to flee again 11 years later during the first Gulf War in 1992.

As an asylum seeker, she first moved to Sweden where she gained a degree in pedagogy (the science of teaching), qualified as a social worker, and began campaigning for the rights of women and children. In 2005 she moved to London and found her particular skills were needed here more than ever. She continues to campaign for the rights of women and for a more just society for everyone.

EVA FRITZ

Eva read business management at the University of Uppsala in Sweden, adding in some language studies including English and Russian. After university, she joined American Express Travel in the Finance department in Stockholm. In her 20-year career with Amex she worked in Sweden, UK and US, in Finance and project roles.

She left Amex and joined Mastercard in 2018, working initially as the Finance Business partner for UK, Ireland, Nordic and Baltic divisions. Eva moved into Account Management in 2021, looking after several large UK bank customers.

Eva is a Six Sigma Master Black belt and enjoys data driven improvement projects. In her spare time, Eva likes to read and go to the theatre. She tries to go to Sweden at least a couple of times a year, to see family and friends.

NAWAL LAKDAR

Nawal Lakhdar is currently Director of Apricot Wellbeing, a Community Interest Company, where she coaches people to better themselves and the world around them. Apricot Wellbeing specifically focuses on marginalised communities. In addition, she works part-time as a project community leader for The Pimlico Million, part of Quaker Social Action.

For the last 20 years Nawal has managed a number of mental health and wellbeing projects both in the UK and internationally for women, carers, older people, children under five, young people, homeless young adults, refugees and asylum seekers, and those living with long term conditions and complex needs. Working for housing associations such as One Housing, Carr-Gomme and Stopover, as well as charities including One Westminster and Carers Support Merton, she has developed strategic planning and senior project management skills and specialises in development and operational issues.

Nawal adores travelling and cookery and loves to discover new places and new cuisines.

Kim O'Donoghue

Kim is head of Product and Delivery at Vocalink, the Mastercard company which runs the UK’s critical payments infrastructure, processing the country’s direct debits, direct credits, real time payments, cheques, and cash withdrawals.

Before that, Kim spent 20 years in banking and payments consulting with PwC Consulting, IBM Business Consulting Services, and KPMG. The first part of her career was in the Civil Service, where she worked in Whitehall, culminating in the Cabinet Office European Secretariat.

Kim’s interests include running, travelling, reading and live music. She is also a qualified life coach.