Who we are

our Founder

Malcolm John

Malcolm John is the founder of Action for Trustee Racial Diversity. He was previously the External Funding Manager for Harrow Council and before that he was for five years social policy adviser to National Grid Transco advising on community investment and corporate social responsibility. He is currently a trustee of the Association of Chairs and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He was previously Chair of the Young Harrow Foundation and Vice-Chair of Anti-Slavery International.

He has been a trustee of St Christopher’s Fellowship, a social housing landlord, Vice-Chair of Nacro, the leading national crime reduction charity, trustee of Novas Scarman Group and Chair of PATH National which supported black and minority ethnic people into middle and senior management positions. He was also a member of the BBC Children in Need London and South East Advisory Committee.

Volunteer Team

Our team of volunteers have been meeting since January 2019 and is currently comprised of:

Charlotte Wu

Charlotte is a freelance researcher and consultant working in the public/third sector. She joined ATRD UK as a volunteer as she believes there is a long way to go in terms of equality and representation in the UK and that increasing racial diversity among trustees in the charity sector will have great benefits for the sector, the people and communities it aims to support and society as a whole. Charlotte is currently based between London and Johannesburg and is currently carrying out research for Africa Check and Geekulcha. Previously she has worked for social impact consultancy Rocket Science UK and the Commonwealth Foundation.

Lieneke Eleveld

Lieneke has always been interested in people and cultures. She grew up in the Netherlands and worked in Ghana before coming to the UK in January 2019. Her work in community development has taught her a lot about inequalities and she is passionate to tackle these inequalities and help people to live a healthy and happy life where they reach their full potential. By volunteering for ATRD Lieneke hopes to help to increase the opportunities for people from Black and Asian backgrounds to be part of Trustee Boards.

Casey Farquharson

Casey has a real passion for education, technology and community and loves to give back. He would like to see a fair world for his four children where everyone can live and let live. He does not ask for change, instead he brings change. Malcolm has championed for more diversity at the top of organisations, in particular the trustee boards and Casey believes this initiative will help usher in a better and fairer world for all due to a better understanding of all the different cultures we are lucky to have in the UK. Casey knows IT; ATRD needs someone technical and Casey loves to help. Nothing in this world is altruistic! Casey gets great satisfaction from knowing he is helping create a better world for his children, and by implication for all children.

Elsy Gomez

A fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Elsy is an experienced pharmacist who has more than twenty years of experience working for the National Health Service (NHS) and the Private Health Sector. Elsy is passionate about advancing the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion agenda in the NHS and society in general. Educated at Master’s level, she is an altruistic, self-starter and innovative leader, who has undertaken several leadership courses and founded social and professional organisations to encourage “public speaking”, “leadership” and “racial and social justice”. In 2018, Elsy founded the UK Black Pharmacist Association and in 2019, she founded “Romford Speakers” an affiliated club of Toastmasters International In December 2020, Elsy was elected as the first President of the BAME network of the Pharmacist Defence Association.

Freya Block

Freya’s background is in graduate recruitment and student employability. She currently works for Kingston University where she is developing employability and professional development throughout the curriculum, to maximise the impact for all students on their graduate prospects. She has been a volunteer with ATRD since its inception and strongly believes in the importance of inclusive recruitment practices and targeted efforts to diversify talent pipeline, ensuring organisations are representative of the communities they serve.

Priya Satish

Priya volunteered for ATRD because she truly believes in Diversity and Inclusion. It’s her strong desire to see more and more people from diverse backgrounds represent at leadership level, hence she is trying my best through this project to spread the word and make a difference.

Ruth Steven

Ruth is an Employer Brand and Recruitment Marketing specialist, with a strong interest and expertise in communications relating to equality of opportunity and diversity and inclusion in the workplace. She has worked across a range of business sectors, advising on employer brand awareness and how to increase employee engagement. Volunteering with ATRD gives Ruth the opportunity to use her experience and skills to support a campaign which strongly reflects her own values and beliefs.