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Kevin Grix
Trustee- Company Secretary
Kevin is the CEO and Chief Ombudsman at the Rail Ombudsman, the Furniture & Home Improvement Ombudsman and the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman.
Kevin is a non-practising barrister and was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 2008. He has a specialist knowledge in alternative dispute resolution and consumer law.
His current and previous appointments include Advisory Board Member at the Independent Football Ombudsman, Member of the Executive Board at the British & Irish Ombudsman Association and Founding Strategic Board Member at the Consumer Protection Alliance.
Jamie Lyons
Trustee- Vice Chair Staffing Committee
Jamie joined the Board of Citizens Advice Stevenage in 2022 as a Trustee.
Throughout his career, he has worked in various HR leadership roles across several sectors, including the automotive, technology, financial services, cosmetics and the not-for-profit sector.
Jamie has a wide range of experience partnering with executive and senior management teams to enable them to achieve their goals. His specialist areas of expertise include employee relations, change management and organisation development. He is an advocate of investing in people and enjoys helping people reach their full potential.
He is a Fellow of the CIPD and holds a masters degree in Human Resource Management.
In his spare time, Jamie enjoys cycling and walking.
James Hurley
Trustee- Vice Chair Finance Committee
I have lived in Hitchin for over 30 years and joined Citizens Advice Stevenage as a Trustee and Treasurer in 2022.
am a qualified accountant and worked for the County Council in a range of finance roles, and moved to Hertfordshire Constabulary where I was Chief Financial Officer and Director of Resources for 16 years.
More recently I have advised public sector employers on pension issues and been a member of national scheme advisory and local pensions boards.
Mathew Lawson
Trustee Vice Chair Development Committee
Mat has lived in Hitchin for ten years and joined the Board of Citizens Advice Stevenage in early 2023 as a Trustee.
Despite a Master's degree in history, he has pursued a career in health-related fields, and currently leads the professional standards team within a professional body for doctors.
Mat's particular interests are project and programme management, but he also has experience of building partnerships, establishing new services and building consensus on challenging issues.
As a new member of the Board, Mat is looking forward to supporting Citizens Advice Stevenage to deliver its invaluable work.
In his spare time, Mat is a keen guitarist and enjoys spending time with his family.
Trustee- Board Champion Consumer Duty
Tracey joined the board of Citizens Advice Stevenage as a trustee in 2023.
Her career has been a mixture of risk and compliance roles, and technical pensions roles. She is currently a senior technical governance manager at Legal & General, working in Pension Risk Transfer.
She has experience in risk management, has been responsible for overseeing conduct risk monitoring reviews and acts as a resource for the answering of technical pensions questions. She enjoys supporting and encouraging others in their careers, and is a mentor for individuals both inside and outside her organisation.
Tracey is a Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute, has a Master’s degree in Technical Communication and her doctorate is in Strategising Employee Pensions Engagement.
She is a volunteer with the early resolution service of the Pensions Ombudsman, and mentors new volunteers through their first few cases.
Outside of work, Tracey runs a writers’ group, plays piano and drums, spends a lot of time in the gym and has horses.
Paul Extance
Treasurer- Chair Finance Commitee
Paul qualified as a Chartered Accountant and has over 30 years’ experience as a Finance Director and Group Financial Controller. He has worked for quoted international companies in a wide range of industries, including engineering, security, contracting and technology businesses. As Group Financial Controller Paul developed the management information, budgeting, and strategic planning processes for two quoted international groups, and has managed restructuring and turnaround projects, acquisitions and acquisition integration. He currently works as a part-time Finance Director and business advisor for technology SMEs and start-ups in Hertfordshire and surrounding areas.
Sarah Neilson
Chair Board of Trustees
Sarah was elected to the Board of Citizens Advice Stevenage during 2023.
Most of her career has been spent in leadership roles in the Energy Sector, with more than thirty years commercial experience within Customer facing and Operational roles and regional and global Supply and Logistics. Sarah has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and has led diverse multi-cultural regional teams across Europe and Africa, and America. She has strong Service Excellence and Project Management Skills along with a strong bias for action. Sarah is keen to utilise her skillset to help and support others and is looking forward to working closely with the staff and volunteers at CA Stevenage.
In her spare time, Sarah chairs a Netball Club in Hertfordshire, having played the sport herself since school. Nowadays though, she prefers to coach and organise teams.
Trustee
Andrew has spent the majority of his career as a fund research analyst responsible for leading coverage across a wide range of asset classes. He joined EQ Investors, a UK sustainable wealth manager providing financial advice and investment management services. EQ Investors is a Certified B Corp, an internationally recognised standard for companies that believe in business as a force for good.
Prior to joining EQ, he worked at an investment consultant specialising in manager research, investment due diligence and asset allocation across multiple asset classes. Andrew graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and is a CFA charter holder.
Femi Oladiran
Trustee Board Champion EDI
Femi joined the board of Citizens Advice Stevenage in February 2024.
Recognised as a tireless advocate for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Femi possesses a natural talent for fostering relationships and gaining support from stakeholders. Driven by a profound passion for ensuring workplaces are inclusive for everyone irrespective of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or any protected characteristic, she served as a DEI Subject Matter Expert (SME) at her former organisation. She also held a role as a member of the executive committee of the Ethnicity Resource Group, Race Together Network.
She completed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategies for Business Impact programme at the Cambridge Judge Business School in 2022.
Femi has lived in Great Ashby, Stevenage, since 2009 and was formerly a trustee at the Great Ashby Community Church, where she and her family were members.
Tim Wade
Vice-Chair Board of Trustees
Tim joined the board in 2017, having lived in East Hertfordshire all his life. Joining our board to help us to shape the future strategy and extend the reach of our service. Tims background is specialising in business development and creating partnerships.
Tim has always volunteered supporting different groups, helping our local communities and their residents. He volunteers as a Community First Responder with the East of England Ambulance Service. In addition, he is a volunteer with the Age UK visiting scheme for people who find themselves isolated and lonely in later life.
In his spare time, he is busy looking after his teenage daughter and her Equestrian hobby.
Tony Egunjobi
Trustee- Chair Staffing Committee
Tony Egunjobi is a self-assured, strategy-focussed senior IT leader with experience of directing and managing business-led digital transformation, eCommerce programmes and extensive business improvement analysis for renowned global businesses.
He hold a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Master of Information Systems Engineering. He has worked in various technology leadership and management roles within financial services, automotive and local government establishments globally.
Tony is an alumnus of the prestigious Lagos Business School, a British Standards Institute Lead Auditor for Business Continuity Program, a TOGAF certified Enterprise Architect, Chartered IT Professional of the British Computer Society and holds a Six Sigma Green Belt certification for quality improvement. His key areas of expertise are in strategic planning and management, technology architecture strategy, risk management and governance, leadership, coordination and program management.
Tony is very interested in helping to improve business agility through application of technology. He advises businesses on how they can harness the power of information technology to create tangible value from the way we live, work and play. He is happily married with children. Tony enjoys playing lawn tennis & badminton, travelling and watching movies in his spare time.
Meet our Managers
Charlotte Blizzard- Welch
Our CEO since 2019. Charlotte has been with the Charity over two appointments since 2014 when she joined as a volunteer. Graduating from the university of Essex in 2013 with a first in Business Administration, she relocated to Stevenage and became a volunteer at Citizens Advice Stevenage and quickly worked her way to the senior leadership team, through a number of roles. In 2018 she took a step into the private sector as Head of Business Development for a Haulage Company returning in 2019 to the Charity she holds a real passion for.
Charlottes biggest achievements for the organisation have focused on governance and reducing controllable expenditure. She truly feels she has found her metier working in the third sector and making a positive contribution to our community.
Charlie Newman
Charlie joined us in 2015 and is now our Advice Quality and Operations Manager here at Citizens Advice Stevenage. Prior to this role, Charlie worked as a Caseworker for the Stevenage Homes Project and the Energy Best Deal Project, and has worked as an Advice Session Supervisor for about two years.
Charlie oversees the overall quality of advice that we give as an organisation, including carrying out monthly Advice Audit Assessments to ensure that we remain compliant. At Citizens Advice Stevenage, we pride ourselves on our extremely high standards of Quality of Advice and Customer Experience and Charlie aims to uphold this.
Melanie Bel Haj
Our funding and Projects Manager Melanie has been with Citizens Advice Stevenage over two appointments. Melanie originally joined us in 2015 as a Pension Wise Guider and also worked as an Advice Session Supervisor for around 3 years. After spending a couple of years as Advice Quality and Projects Officer for another local Citizens Advice, Melanie rejoined our team in 2021.
Melanie’s role is to generate income for the organisation, manage new and existing projects and lead on our research and campaigns work. Melanie is also responsible for ensuring that we communicate the right messages to the right people so that Stevenage residents get the help they need when they need it.
Olufunke Olurotimi-Adejumo
Olufunke joined us in 2018 as an administrator and is now our Office Manager and P.A to the CEO. She is a change management professional with years of experience spanning banking and the 3rd sector. An accomplished MBA holder with expertise in leadership, analysis and strategic management, she is passionate about coaching and developing high performing teams with a commitment to excellence at all times. Olufunke is a member and Foundation Chartered Manager of the Chartered Management Institute UK.
Her role is to nurture our greatest assets -the people and facilitate the smooth running of the organisation through ensuring effective administrative processes and procedures as well as providing support to the CEO and other members of the Senior Leadership team.