Meet our staff team
Bridget Young joined NACCOM as Director in July 2021. She has worked in housing and homelessness for over 15 years, most recently at the Nationwide Foundation. Her extensive funding, policy and influencing experience has played a key role in the Foundation’s Decent Affordable Homes Strategy, through leading a programme to improve the private rented sector so that it provides better and more affordable homes to people in need. This included co-founding the Renters’ Reform Coalition, which brings together 20 organisations representing renters to positively and proactively influence Government policy. Prior to the Nationwide Foundation, Bridget spent a decade working in the housing team at Crisis, collaborating with charities and local authorities across the UK to fund, establish and deliver housing services.
Hannah Gurnham joined NACCOM in June 2019, first as Communications Coordinator, before moving to External Affairs Manager. Hannah oversees the strategic planning and management of NACCOM’s policy, research, communications, campaigns, advocacy and public affairs work. Hannah has over a decade’s experience of PR and marketing within public and charity organisations, including the homelessness sector. She is based in the South of England.
Katie Fawcett lives West Yorkshire. Katie started her career in the asylum and refugee sector at the St Augustine’s Centre in Halifax, where she helped set up and lead a support centre specifically for asylum seekers and refugees. This led her to help set up several destitution projects including a local foodbank and night shelter. In 2014 Katie helped set up Happy Days, which offers housing and support to people who are homeless. She is now a Trustee for both St Augustine’s & Happy Days. Katie works four days per week, supporting NACCOM members in the North West inc. Northern Ireland, and North Wales, West Yorks, Humberside and the West Midlands.
Paul Catterall is a Network Development Coordinator for NACCOM, working five days per week to support new and existing members with capacity-building, partnership working and good practice. Before joining the NACCOM staff team, Paul was the CEO of Open Door North East, a charity providing accommodation and other services to asylum seekers and refugees across the Tees Valley. He also served on the NACCOM Steering committee and subsequent Board of Trustees for a number of years.
Angela Stapley is NACCOM’s Finance and Operations Manager providing vital administrative support to the NACCOM team and its members including financial administration, membership fees, assisting with events and database administration. Angela has worked at NACCOM since 2018 and works four days a week.
Tom MacPherson started his career with voluntary roles in Germany and Detention Action in London. He then moved to Ethiopia, where he led a needs assessment for the Danish Refugee Council in a refugee reception centre in the Gambella region, in addition to providing programme support to the country office in Addis Ababa. Back in Europe, Tom worked in Brussels on advocacy to advance the rights of undocumented migrants, before returning to the UK to support asylum seekers and refugees as a Casework Coordinator for the British Red Cross. Tom works five days a week, supporting NACCOM members in London, the South, South East and South West.
Leon Elliott is Policy and Research Coordinator at NACCOM. Leon is responsible for promoting the network’s policy positions with external partners, whilst keeping NACCOM members up to date with relevant policy developments. Leon also oversees NACCOM’s research outputs, and co-ordinates data gathering projects including the national annual members survey. Leon is based in the South-West of England and joined NACCOM in January 2022, having previously volunteered with asylum and refugee charities in Bristol.
Finn joined NACCOM in September 2022 and is responsible for our Community Research Programme, supporting researchers with lived experience of migration and destitution to research, analyse and present solutions to destitution in our communities. He has previously worked in Leeds and Bradford for NACCOM members BEACON, Abigail Housing and The Children’s Society. Finn is now based in London and works five days per week.
Board of Trustees
Caron Boulghassoul has over 20 years experience working with destitute asylum seekers and newly recognised refugees and was CEO at NAT for over 10 years. Caron has also extensive experience working on organisational development with refugee community organisations – through applying for charity and CIO registration, policy development, business planning, marketing and fundraising to support groups growth.
Jonny Darling is a Trustee of NACCOM and was elected to the board in September 2018. Jonny received his doctorate from the University of Durham in 2008 for his thesis on Cities of refuge: asylum and the politics of hospitality. Since then, he has lectured at universities in Scotland and Manchester and in 2018 returned to the North East as Assistant Professor in Human Geography at Durham University. His work on urban asylum has been widely recognised and in 2017, he received a University of Manchester ‘Making a Difference’ award for ‘outstanding impact on society through research’.
Washington is a founding member and Chairman of CAST – Communities and Sanctuary Seekers Together, a Charity based in Southend-On-Sea and an organisation which he helped set up in 2011 to support people seeking sanctuary and refugees with no recourse to public funding. In 2018 CAST was registered as a charity with the Charity Commission and in the same year 2018 he was nominated as a Global Goodwill Ambassador for his humanitarian work.
Phil became a NACCOM Trustee in September 2020 and he also works as Coordinator at Hope Projects. Hope Projects is a charity committed to fighting destitution; to overturning flawed refusals of asylum by providing housing, financial support and legal advice. Prior to working at Hope Projects, he held a number of posts at Refugee Action for 14 years, in community development and management including a short secondment as head of communications. Phil is also a trustee of All Saints Action Network, a Wolverhampton based social enterprise.
Shukry has been supporting people in her community, advising on health issues, benefits, homelessness and providing holistic support through art and wellbeing. Shukry also volunteers for four other charities: Crisis, Coventry Independent Advice Service, Coventry Cyrenians and Refugee Action. After studying International Studies in her home country and then restudying in the UK, Shukry achieved a BA in International Relations and Politics. Shukry is very passionate about human rights, mental health, ending homelessness and equality for all. Shukry currently works for Coventry UK City of Culture 2021.
Traic has worked in the 3rd sector in Scotland for 30 years and has a diverse background including youth and community development work; trauma informed therapeutic support and charity management. Shee currently work as Head of Charity for Govan Community Project (GCP) In Glasgow, who provide support to individuals and families in the asylum process offering both anti-destitution support such as asylum support advice and advocacy and food insecurity support, and community integration support. She has been with GCP for 2.5 years, taking on the new Head of Charity role which was developed to support GCP in its organisational growth and development. During her time so far in GCP the organisation has doubled its staffing capacity, expanded the types of support offered and become more involved in policy and campaigning work locally and nationally.
Olivier is a senior financial expert with 25 years’ experience in banking finance. He currently acts as freelance expert in Finance and Risk. His areas of expertise are bank restructuring, asset & liability management, and financial markets. He enjoys the human aspect of the business, managing people and leading senior level negotiations.
Olivier is a Belgian national, and obtained Master degrees in Business Administration from Solvay School of Economics and Management, and in Actuarial Sciences from Brussels University (ULB). His interest in the work of NACCOM stems from hisexperience being involved in refugee welcoming and support at a refugee camp in Brussels and helping voluntary sector teams in the Calais Jungle in 2016.
Olivier is a Belgian national, and obtained Master degrees in Business Administration from Solvay School of Economics and Management, and in Actuarial Sciences from Brussels University (ULB). His interest in the work of NACCOM stems from hisexperience being involved in refugee welcoming and support at a refugee camp in Brussels and helping voluntary sector teams in the Calais Jungle in 2016.