Katherine Rake

Katherine is an experienced Chief Executive and Trustee who has worked across the charity and public sectors. From that direct leadership experience, she uses a range of tools and techniques to help create focus in organisations as they navigate through a complex and fast-changing environment.  

Katherine was the first CE of Healthwatch England, a statutory body with oversight of 150 organisations. Prior to that she was CE of think-tank The Family and Parenting Institute and of women’s rights campaign The Fawcett Society. Her Trustee roles include the Centre for Ageing Better, United Response and the London School of Economics. 

Areas of expertise:

• Strategy, with a focus on Board and senior team engagement;

• Partnerships across charities, trusts and foundations;

• Integrating equity, diversity and inclusion in ways of working.

Charlotte Ravenscroft

Charlotte is an experienced consultant with a wide portfolio of work with major charities and philanthropic foundations. She builds partnerships that create a momentum for change and brings to her work experience of UK government and policy making.  

Charlotte helped design the Association of Charitable Foundations’ Stronger Foundations initiative, and previously worked with the NCVO, the National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Education. She currently serves as a non-executive director at Charity Bank.

Areas of expertise:

• Strategy, with a focus on stakeholder engagement and evidence

• Partnership and coalition building

• Public policy and external affairs

Lakshmi Sundaram

Lakshmi’s expertise is in developing strategies and partnerships and nurturing movements, particularly in the areas of global health, gender equality and social justice. Her consultancy practice has grown from her leadership experience in the UK and globally.  

Lakshmi was the first Executive Director of Girls Not Brides, which she grew into a thriving partnership of 1,200 civil society organisations in 100 countries. She has been in leadership roles at openDemocracy in the UK, with AIDS programmes in Rwanda, as the head of the World Economic Forum’s global health portfolio, and at a public-private organisation.  

Areas of expertise:

• Strategy, with a focus on developing organisational assets and collaboration;

• Partnerships and social movements;

• Social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.

Andrea Menapace

Andrea is an experienced CE, chair, advisor and university lecturer and trainer.

He was the founder and executive director of the Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights (CILD) in Italy - which grew from an idea to a collaborative platform of more than 40 national human rights organisations - and founder and chair of Liberties, a network of 11 national civil liberties organisations based in Berlin.

He is also the co-director of the post-graduate diploma in Human Rights and NGOs Management at the University of Rome Tre, Italy.

Areas of expertise:

• Building collaborative partnerships and movements;

• Supporting civic engagement, leadership and narrative power, with a particular focus on migration, inclusion, diversity, equity and social justice.

David Kane

David is a data scientist and researcher, specialising in all aspects of data analysis and visualisation for charities and organisations with a social purpose. He brings deep experience in using publicly available data including from the Charity Commission, 360Giving and statutory funding sources. 

David has worked with NCVO, the Centre for the Acceleration of Social Technology (CAST) and the Greater London Authority to build data tools and open data working. He has worked with 360Giving and conducted analysis to help clients understand the sectors they operate in, and make smart data-driven decisions about their work. 

Areas of expertise:

• Analysis of philanthropic and grant funding;

• Mapping charities by area of focus, size and income mix;

• Data classification, analysis and visualisation.

Joe Ferns

Joe is an experienced not-for-profit sector leader, with experience in service improvement, research, policy development, campaign design and strategy. With a background in mental health, Joe has developed and used participatory and deliberative methods in a range of settings and ensures that inclusion is considered in the design . 

Joe combines his consultancy with establishing Baobab, a new type of foundation, operated and owned by its membership. Before becoming a consultant, Joe was UK Knowledge and Portfolio Director, National Lottery Community Fund and Executive and Director of Policy, Research and Development at The Samaritans.  

Areas of expertise:

• Strategy, business planning and programme management;

• Developing funder practice and creating focus on impact;

• Equity and diversity and supporting inclusion through participatory methods.

Katy Panter

Katy is our Relationship Executive, bringing experience providing and coordinating services within client-facing roles. With a background in audit and project management, she has a passion for process improvement and enhancing the quality of client delivery.

Katy has delivered professional audit and assurance services at Deloitte, working with a variety of publicly-listed groups. She has led a range of projects within her roles in the healthcare sector, and for an international media partnership.

Areas of expertise:

• Coordinating and managing projects;

• Building client relationships and partnerships.

Adrienne Fresko

Adrienne brings rich experience to Lucent as a non-executive director and advisor for public service and charity boards. Adrienne has served as chair, vice chair, and committee chair on a multitude of boards with particular expertise in health and higher education.

Her focus is on how Lucent delivers public service values and inclusion.

Sanchia Alasia

Sanchia is an expert advisor to senior teams as they develop bold, sector leading policies for human resource management. She has achieved national recognition for new approaches to mentoring and coaching.

Sanchia supports Lucent with larger, more complex clients and in developing its integrated approach to strategy, inclusion, equity and diversity.

Colette Dunn

Colette is a non-executive director, trustee, strategic adviser and professional coach with over 30 years’ experience in financial services. Colette has deep experience of strategic evaluations and designing and delivering growth strategies.

Colette offers support to Lucent in responding to the charity and philanthropy market and in delivering best value to clients.

Juliet Taylor

Juliet specialises in executive and non-executive leadership appointments within public policy, charities and socially responsible business. She delivers Board capability and effectiveness reviews, with a focus on diversity.

As a fellow business owner, her focus is on Lucent’s growth, resilience and ability to deliver high-quality support to clients.