With 15 years experience as an Organiser and now Chief Executive at Citizens UK, Matthew Bolton has pioneered Community Organising as a force for social change and democratic renewal. Matthew was the lead Organiser for the UK Living Wage campaign, which has now accredited over 8,000 Living Wage Employers and won over £3 billion for low-paid workers.

Matthew is the author of How to Resist, the foremost book on community organising in the UK with editions published internationally. He serves on the National Civic University Panel and is co-chair of a neighbourhood refugee sponsorship association.

He lives with his wife and children in South London and is a black-belt in Wu Shu Kwan Chinese Boxing and an Advanced PADI scuba diver. He loves Tottenham Hotspur (and is no stranger to defeat!).

Katherine joined the Living Wage Foundation in March 2016. She has a background in working with industry leaders and policymakers to achieve change. Before joining the Foundation she was Assistant Director at the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), a public body providing strategic leadership on employment and skills issues in the UK. She led on strategies to boost productivity, wages and social mobility and directed a variety of programmes to encourage employers to invest in their workforce and offer more opportunities to young people.

Previously Katherine was Head of Education and Skills at Policy Connect. She was responsible for the All-Party Skills Group, the National Skills Forum and the Skills Commission, bringing together senior business leaders, public bodies and cross-party MPs and peers on a range of issues including the gender skills gaps, careers advice and Apprenticeships.

Katherine started her career at the Institute for Citizenship and has always been passionate about social mobility and securing quality jobs for all.

Jawed has over 15 years’ experience in international development, the Community Interest Company (CIC) and the not-for-profit sector.

Throughout his career, Jawed has helped build capacity in grassroots community organisations.

After joining the Executive team of Citizens UK in September 2016 as Director of Finance and Operations, Jawed took charge of the organisation’s financial management, governance matters, communication and resource planning and allocation. Jawed has overall responsibility for designing, implementing and strengthening organisational policies, systems, processes and infrastructures to support the growth of the organisation.

Pete is Director at Citizens UK, and the lead for our strategic London as a Living Wage City initiative.

He has been working in London for the last 20 years, initially as a Community Development Worker for Oasis Charitable Trust and for the last ten years as a Community Organiser with Citizens UK.

Through his Organising he has helped pioneer Lewisham's first Community Land Trust and been the catalyst for Refugee Welcome groups across South London that have persuaded councils to take hundreds of refugees from Syria. Pete helped to found a mental health partnership with the NHS in South London called South London Listens, that is using community organising to tackle the social determinants of health.

As Lead Organiser for London Citizens Pete orchestrated the 2021 London Citizens Mayoral assembly which saw 5000+ Londoners join online and in person to the London Citizens Accountability Assembly.

Pete is Chair of Trustees for Oasis Community Partnerships. He attends his local Anglican church and can often be seen at a Citizens’ action with his wife and twin daughters.

With over a decade of experience in communications and public affairs, Lizzie joined Citizens UK in 2021 to oversee our external engagement.

She has previously worked at UK Youth, the National Lottery Community Fund and done stints as a researcher in the House of Lords and as a reporter in Cairo. With experience in the private sector and working on national, political, and fundraising projects, she is particularly interested in storytelling, integrated campaigning tactics and developing strong and supported teams.

One of nine siblings, Lizzie grew up in Manchester and can regularly be found over-feeding family and friends or falling down a TED-talk (or TikTok) hole.

Graham joined the Living Wage Foundation in October 2016 and oversees the accreditation team whilst taking responsibility for growing the network of Living Wage employers.

Having studied Business at university, Graham embarked on a career in charity management, spending 10 years at Attitude is Everything (AiE) campaigning for better access to live music for disabled audiences and artists.

He developed AiE from a tiny project to an independent charity with 12 staff and is interested in building charity intelligence in order to influence businesses to be socially responsible.

Graham is also a Trustee at Drake Music, an innovative charity that use technology to overcome barriers to music making.

Emmanuel Gotora is the Lead Organiser of The East London Communities Organisation (TELCO), the founding Chapter of Citizens UK.

Before joining the staff team at Citizens UK in 2008, Emmanuel was a TELCO Leader on the Living Wage campaign through the Wood Green New Testament Church of God. Emmanuel worked with cleaners, staff and students at the University of London to win the Living Wage for over 150 cleaning staff in 2010. In the lead up to the 2010 General Elections, Emmanuel worked with 10 Pentecostal churches across London Citizens to form the Black Clergy Caucus.

He played a key role in TELCO’s Olympic jobs campaign, placing 1,500 people into Living Wage jobs during London 2012, adding £1.5 million to the local economy.

Emmanuel and his family worship at Emmanuel Community Church in Walthamstow. He holds a Masters in Community Organising and is on the Management Committee of Money A+E, a social enterprise offering money advice to local people in Lambeth and Newham, and the African Caribbean Day Nursery in Haringey.

James is Assistant Director at Citizens UK and leads the South London Citizens team and the Together We Can team that oversees Citizens UK's work on migration and refugees.

James is a dual British and Iranian national and grew up in Thornton Heath, Croydon. He has a first class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University as well as an MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies and an MA in Community Organising from QMUL. James is chair of governors at a primary school in Brixton.

Carina has just taken on a new and exciting role in Wales and the South West. Previously she supervised North London Citizens, Tyne and Wear Citizens, Greater Manchester Citizens and our Parents and Communities Together project. Carina also led on our Growth project and was instrumental in the building of Preston and Liverpool Citizens.

Carina leads our work with the NHS and Public Sector, having previously worked with Leaders to change the law to prevent children and their families being detained in immigration detention centres.

Before joining Citizens UK, she worked as a youth worker and in the refugee sector in London and holds a BA ECON in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester.

Carina is a keen boxer and boxing coach, surfer and foster carer and recently become a mum.

Sebastien has been involved in Community Organising since 2005, when, as a teacher in Greenwich, he first got involved in the early days of South London Citizens.

Prior to training as a Teacher and becoming a Community Organiser, Sebastien studied for a PhD at Cardiff University, where he wrote a thesis focusing on critical pedagogy.

As a Community Organiser, Sebastien has worked across South London, East London, and is currently supporting alliances across North London and Brighton and Hove. He is also supporting Citizens UK’s work with schools and colleges, working closely with Organisers and Leaders across our national network.

Sebastien founded La Fontaine Academy and was its Headteacher between 2014-2020, establishing what quickly became a thriving community school focused on student leadership and on ensuring that parents, teachers, students, and neighbours work together to take responsibility for the wellbeing of their neighbourhood. He was also, until recently, the Executive Headteacher of an all-through Special School in North London.

Sebastien’s positive contributions to civil society were recognised in 2012, when he received a Community Champion Award from then London Mayor Boris Johnson. More recently, the Company of Educators – a Livery Company in the City of London – decided to give him their Inspirational Educator Award for his contribution to education in the UK.

In his spare time, Sebastien is a Trustee of a Multi-Academy Trust in South East London, a Senior Associate with the Innovation Unit, as well as a member of the OECD’s Innovative Citizen Participation Network. Most importantly, he is also the father to a wonderful toddler who keeps him on his toes and who makes his Community Organising work deeply meaningful.

As Assistant Director for Learning, Stefan leads organisational change to improve our impact, while also supervising our work in the North West and West Midlands.

In 2007, Stefan contributed to the London Citizens campaign for London’s first community land trust, which eventually became St Clement’s in Mile End. He joined the team full time in 2010, working with Citizens alliances to win a real Living Wage for thousands of workers in retail, Whitehall, and Heathrow Airport. From 2017-2020 he worked at the New Economics Foundation as Director for Organising, where he supported the creation of Guardians of the Arches, an alliance of small businesses who operate from the UK’s railway arches, which successfully negotiated £10 million in rent relief at the start of the covid pandemic. Stefan is a former President of Oxford University Student Union, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics. As a lifelong supporter of Crystal Palace FC, he can often be found on the terraces at Selhurst Park.

Martha Crawford joined the Living Wage Foundation in September 2017 to develop the Foundation’s new ‘Living Hours’ campaign. This new campaign interrogates what more Living Wage employers can do to tackle underemployment and insecurity of hours. Before joining the Living Wage Foundation, Martha worked at Citizens UK as a Campaign Manager and as a Business Development Manager for London South Bank University. Martha has an a MA in Community Organising from Queen Mary, University of London, and is a school governor for a federation of primary schools in Hackney.

Sara Bryson is Assistant Director, North at Citizens UK and Lead Organiser with Tyne & Wear Citizens.

Sara has previously worked with children, young people, and communities to ensure their views and experiences inform policy, practice, and research for over 25 years - both regionally and nationally within Sure Start Children’s Centres, Children’s Fund, The Children’s Society, and the Office for the Children’s Commissioner for England. As Head of Policy & Research at Children North East, she developed ‘Poverty Proofing the School Day,’ a nationally celebrated programme to remove barriers to learning for disadvantaged pupils.

In a voluntary capacity, Sara is currently Chair of Trustees at West End Women & Girls Centre. Sara also served as a Commissioner on IPPR's Commission on Economic Justice (2016-2018).

Sara was born and raised in the west end of Newcastle and studied at the London School of Economics (LSE). She is a 2016 (North East Specialist) Clore Social Leadership Fellow and a Fellow at the RSA. She lives in Newcastle with her two children and is passionate about social justice and tackling poverty and inequality.

Daniel Mackintosh is Assistant Director at Citizens UK, supervising organiser for Cambridge and Peterborough and supports CUK’s work on Climate Justice Organising.

Daniel was born in Durban, South Africa, where he was introduced to organising.

Daniel has built and rebuilt a number of new community organising alliances: Redbridge, rebuilding Waltham Forest Citizens, leading the creation of Leicester and Leicestershire Citizens and subsequently supporting our organising in Peterborough/Cambridge. In West London Citizens, since 2019, he has doubled the size of the alliance, and supported local organisers to secure organising victories in Hounslow and Ealing, while embedding the Living Wage campaign across 4 boroughs.

Daniel helped to build over 40 Refugee Welcome Groups across the UK in 2015 and 2016 to pressurise the government to resettle 20,000 Syrian Refugees by 2020, securing the first 1000 people by Christmas in 2015. He is currently building Citizens UK’s first climate justice organising effort, aiming to secure 100,000 upgraded and insulated homes and 60,000 green jobs in London by 2030. Daniel is now working to turn CUK’s Climate Justice organising into a UK-wide campaign.

Before joining CUK, Daniel studied law at the University of Cape Town and was law research clerk to Justice Sisi Khampepe, one of the former Chief Justices of the South African Constitutional Court.

Beyond work, Daniel has been with his wonderful British partner for 12 years and they have a very cute toddler. He is deeply committed to the Jewish tradition and has used community organising tools to build a new synagogue, Makor Hayim. He also spends his time building a men’s group – a safe feminist space for men to connect with one another – and tries to do yoga.

Josephine joined Parent Action (previously known as PACT, Parent and Communities Together) in May 2017. She is responsible for the strategic and operational running of Parent Action in Southwark.

Josephine brings extensive experience of community development and voluntary sector work, including five years as an Advice Worker with the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, and 15 years in the HIV+ sector providing support and advocacy to families affected. Before joining CUK, Josephine worked in partnership with schools at School-Home Support tackling issues and barriers to children’s learning. In recent years, Josephine has worked as a Mentor with Way4Ward, a project based in Brixton supporting young people in care, served as Governor at Corpus Christi Primary School in Brixton Hill, as well as chairing a Wisdom Board at Brink. Challenged by the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Josephine founded White Allies as an alternative way to tackle racism. She is currently serving as a trustee of the Maudsley Charity.

Josephine is a qualified Reflective Practice Supervisor, a wife and mother to three children.

Linda joined Citizens UK in March 2019. She is an experienced HR professional who moved from a successful career in the corporate sector, drawn to Citizen UK’s impactful work within communities. Linda is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and a Freeman of the Guild of HR Professionals.

Linda was a former Magistrate in South Essex where her interest grew in social justice and has been a long-time union member.

She is also an experienced Pension Trustee having been a Director of two schemes in the past. Linda is currently a Member Nominated Director of The Pensions Trust – Citizen UK’s Master Trust pension provider, and the Fawcett Society. (She's also a keen netballer too!)

John joined the Living Wage Foundation in November 2017 and oversees the Foundation’s media work. Before joining the Living Wage team John was Media and Communications Manager for The Equality Trust, where he was also Acting Director for six months, raising awareness of issues including low-pay and in-work poverty.

He has worked across the private, public and charitable sectors, and as a consultant for Linstock Communications won the Public Relations and Communications Association award for Crisis and Issues Management. Prior to this John worked in Parliament as an Education and Public Policy Researcher for the Liberal Democrats.

John has a degree in Politics from the University of Exeter.

Emily Hodgson joined Citizens UK in October 2022 as Head of Partnerships and Campaigns in the Living Wage Foundation. She is the Living Wage Foundation’s lead on the Making London a Living Wage City campaign and oversees the team’s work across Living Wage Places, Recognised Service Providers and Living Wage Funders.

Before joining the Living Wage Foundation, Emily ran the social enterprise arm of a PR agency and was the Head of Business Development and External Relations at the Social Mobility Foundation, running their Social Mobility Employer Index.

Gail joined the Living Wage Foundation in October 2022. She is responsible for driving forward new projects that maximise voluntary employer approaches to tackle in-work poverty and promote good work. Previously, Gail was Living Wage Scotland Manager at the Poverty Alliance, the franchise partner delivering Living Wage accreditation in Scotland. Gail spent five years as a Senior Policy and Development Officer at Carnegie UK, a UK charitable foundation, where she led the delivery of their ‘Fulfilling Work’ programme, focusing on policy and employer interventions required to make work better.

Paulina is a lead organiser at Citizens UK, she heads the Migrant & Refugee Organising Team that develops migrant & refugee leadership, and campaigns to make the UK a welcoming and fair place for all.

Paulina grew up in Mexico amidst stark inequalities and exclusive political spaces which laid the foundation for her commitment to service and radically inclusive politics. Paulina migrated to the UK almost a decade ago and has since organised and won dozens of local, regional and national campaigns for fair wages, new NHS services, affordable housing, gender violence, and more welcoming migration policies and practices. Before her current role, Paulina was based in South London, organising and supervising multiple local alliances and strategic partnerships. Her work included Citizen's multidisciplinary programmes with staff, students and parents at King's College London, organising parent groups across the UK with Ark Academies, and training hundreds of leaders and dozens of organisers for the mental health partnership with the NHS South London Listens.

Paulina holds an MA in Social Innovation and an MSc in Gender, Sexuality and Society and is on the board of Creating Ground, a CIC working with refugee and migrant women through arts and organising. When not organising, Paulina is likely to be lost behind a book on her 7th or 8th cup of coffee.

Froilan ‘Froi’ Legaspi is a Lead Organiser at Citizens UK, where he heads the North London Citizens staff team and leads another team focused on Migrant and Refugee Organising. Froi has trained over 500 people for campaign teams that have gone on to negotiate with the likes of Amazon, BT Sport, local councils, and NHS commissioners. These campaign teams have secured access to laptops during Covid-19, new work programmes for young people and migrants paid at a real Living Wage, and improved mental health services.

Froi has also led on partnerships with Nesta, the University of the Arts London, and congregational development work for the Church of England. Additionally, he serves as a non-executive director for the Migrant Democracy Project and advises on the Living Wage Foundation’s global initiatives.

Hannah Gretton is Lead Organiser in South London Citizens. She supports a team of phenomenal organisers in South East London and oversees the relationship with one of Citizens UK’s largest strategic partners, King’s College London. 

Hannah started organising with Citizens UK in 2016, firstly on our Safe Passage project and then later with our alliances in South London. She has overseen our pioneering projects with ARK Start and Coram Children’s Legal Centre, taught undergraduate and post-graduate modules in Community Organising at KCL and UCL, and has trained hundreds of leaders in community organising. She is most proud of leading the campaign to get Free School Meals and Pupil Premium expanded to children in migrant families, which benefitted up to 100,000 children and put tens of millions of pounds of Pupil Premium funding to schools across England.

Before organising with Citizens UK, Hannah worked in refugee rights organisations in Egypt and Jordan, where she learnt to speak Arabic. Hannah has a young son and lives in Lewisham, South East London.

Saeed is Lead Organiser for Citizens UK in the West Midlands. Mentioned in the Birmingham Post’s Power list of the top ten campaigners in the region, since 2012 he has built a powerful community organising alliance of civil society institutions, winning notable campaigns on youth mental health, community safety, the real living wage, refugee resettlement and ethnic minority entrepreneurship.

Before joining Citizens UK, Saeed spent 6 years in NHS Primary Care on community & public engagement. As a local resident with others, he led his community’s response to the Lozells riots of 2005 resulting in no incidents in the area during further riots in 2011. He consequently co-founded an award-winning social enterprise. Saeed holds a BA and an MSc from the University of Birmingham.

More information coming soon.