Vanessa Longman - a lady with a blonde bob wearing glasses

Vanessa Longman

Projects and Programmes Manager

With a background in education and information management, Vanessa joined the Cranfield Trust in 2006. She has experience both as a Chair and a trustee of charities, as well as running her own company.  

Vanessa liaises with charity clients and volunteers to ensure the smooth delivery of services, working with charities to discern and co-ordinate their consultancy requirements.

Emilia Ufir-Kaparaboina - a lady with long auburn hair wearing a black top

Emilia Ufir-Kaparaboina

Mentoring and Learning Manager 

Emilia’s background is in education and youth work. She worked for language schools, colleges and one of the National Citizen Service delivery partners. Emilia has a degree in literature & drama and you can often find her at the theatre. She joined the Cranfield Trust in 2022 as the Mentoring Programme Coordinator and her role is to liaise with volunteers (mentors) and charity clients who wish to benefit from our mentoring offer. 

Joanne Crebbin

Regional Manager (Yorkshire and Humber)

Jo has over 25 years’ experience in senior food industry roles working with family businesses through to multi nationals. With expertise in operations, strategy and change management. Jo holds an MBA from Durham University and also has her own consultancy working with food business clients. Jo joined the Trust as a volunteer in 2018.

Graham Russell - a man with short curly hair and a beard wearing a zip up blue jumper

Graham Russell

Regional Manager (North West)

Graham is creative and commercially savvy Senior Manager and Transformation consultant with 30 years of experience in delivering complex programmes, primarily focused on operational improvement, for both the public and the private sector.  Since 2018, as a volunteer for the Cranfield Trust, he has used these skills and experience to advise the senior management teams of local charities, and help them to manage their assets and deliver better outcomes for their clients.  As a direct result of one of those assignments he is now Chair of the Manchester based youth charity, N-Gage.  Graham joined the Cranfield Trust as a Regional Manager in February 2023 with responsibility for overseeing projects in the North West of England

Ian Williams - a man with short grey hair and a beard

Ian Williams

Regional Manager (South East & East of England)

In addition to his role with Cranfield Trust Ian works as an independent management consultant. He has worked on projects in the energy, health, education and not for profit sectors. Prior to this he worked for Santander Bank and for a project management consultancy. He has an MBA from Cranfield School of Management and is a trustee of a charity supporting adults with learning disabilities.

Nicky Everett - a lady with short auburn hair and glasses wearing a green top

Nicky Everett 

Regional Manager (London & South East)

Nicky started her volunteering journey as a Volunteer Consultant & Mentor with The Cranfield Trust in 2005, before becoming an Associate Regional Manager in 2022. FCIPD qualified with over 25 years Human Resources experience in the technology sector, Nicky is passionate about applying her talent and energy to help our charity clients better equip themselves for a positive future. When not working Nicky enjoys volunteering as a Co-opted Governor at a local primary school, family time, creative arts, and exploring West Sussex with a miniature schnauzer.

Photograph of 'Tomi Oni

'Tomi Oni

Regional Manager (London and South East)

‘Tomi started his volunteering journey as a volunteer consultant & mentor with Cranfield Trust in 2023, before becoming an Associate Regional Manager in February 2024 and Regional Manager in January 2025. As a certified psychodynamics-systemic group coach and psychologist with three decades of HR experience in various sectors and countries, Tomi is passionate about talent management and leadership development; he sees his purpose as ‘to nurture talent and grow leaders'.  Beyond his commitment to Cranfield Trust, he operates as an independent management consultant and holds a position as a Non-Executive Director (NED) for a healthcare charity.

Adam Wilkins -  a man with short hair and glasses wearing a checked shirt

Adam Wilkins

Regional Manager (Midlands)

Adam joined Cranfield Trust in 2022 following a 32 year career in investment management where he advised charities and not-for-profit organisations, as well as private individuals, to make the best use of their funds.  He has experience of leading teams in business, has held the positions of Chair and Treasurer at various charities and is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. Adam enjoys helping charities be the best they can be and seeing them thrive.  Outside of his work with Cranfield Trust, he enjoys going to the theatre and walking his dog.

Stephen Cahill - a man with short blonde hair wearing a black jumper

Stephen Cahill

Regional Manager (Scotland)

Stephen has been active with Cranfield Trust for well over a decade, first as a volunteer before becoming Regional Manager for Scotland. Stephen has extensive senior experience across the public, private and charity sectors. He specialises in helping organisations to achieve rapid results by focusing on, “ the things that really matter”.  He also helps to build the charity sector by writing ‘thought leadership’ articles.  Stephen has an MBA from Warwick Business School.

Photo of Nicola Russell-Brooks

Nicola Russell-Brooks

Regional Manager (Wales)

With over 35 years of experience working in and around the Third Sector, Nicola retired from full time work in 2017, leaving her role as CEO of a charity for older people and moving into the role of Vice Chair of the National Lottery Community Fund in Wales. Having joined Cranfield Trust as a Volunteer in 2024 Nicola is looking forward to using her skills, knowledge and experience to help charities in Wales develop resilience through the support of our volunteers and other resources.

Associate Regional Managers

Heather Beer

Heather Beer

Associate Regional Manager (South West)

Heather has over 30 years' experience working in the healthcare and VCSE sectors in a variety of senior roles. Originally trained as a nurse, she has a Master's in Public Health and is an experienced charity Trustee. A Cranfield Trust volunteer since 2020, she lives near Cheltenham and can often be found swimming at the local Lido or hiking on the Cotswold Hills.   

Sue Elder - a lady with mid length brown hair wearing a yellow top

Sue Elder

Associate Regional Manager

Sue first joined the Trust as a Project Manager in 2002, and “returned to the fold” in 2019 following a 10-year stint overseas as a Director of a large retail business in Italy.   With > 30 years’ experience in the commercial sector, Sue has worked with a range of leading UK and international retailers to deliver significant business improvements by aligning strategy, people, processes and systems.  Sue works as an independent Management Consultant and is passionate about the benefits of sharing business expertise from the commercial sector to help build successful charities.

Roger Watkins - a man with white hair wearing a checked shirt

Roger Watkins

Associate Regional Manager

With over twenty years’ experience of international assignments, Roger continues to act as a consultant to government and private sector projects, working on organisation and operations reviews, training and development in countries including Jordan, Afghanistan and Uganda. 

Photo of Gareth Williams

Gareth Williams 

Associate Regional Manager

Gareth joined Cranfield Trust as one of our London Regional Managers in 2022, having been a volunteer consultant with the Trust since 2016.   

Gareth worked in the commercial sector as a marketing professional in the UK and abroad, before joining a consultancy building customer-focused capability in many industry sectors. He is a trained coach (through Henley Business School), is a trustee on the boards of several charities and enjoys cycling and gardening in his spare time.

Photo of Chris Gatman, a female with short auburn hair.

Chris Gatman

Associate Peer to Peer Manager

Chris has over thirty years’ experience as a strategic consultant, coach and mentor with expertise gained from operating in world leading international business, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), third sector and post 16 education. 

She has experience at Board, Director and CEO level. Before coming to Cranfield Trust as Manager of the Peer to Peer Exchange, Chris was CEO of a national educational charity for seven years. Chris is a respected mentor and coach to leaders, founders, and senior managers.



Registered Charity No: 800072 | Scottish Charity No: SCO40299 | Company No: 2290789 | Telephone No: 01794 830338
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