Two new Board members join Smallwood
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Ambreen Shah and Faeeza Vaid MBE to the Board of Smallwood Trust.
Dr Ambreen Shah recently worked at the Design Council as Director of Policy, Research and Communications – having previously spent 12 years at the Big Lottery Fund (now National Lottery Community Fund) where she was involved in the policy development of a range of multi-million pound grant funding programmes to the voluntary and community sector. These included a £45 million project for the women and girls sector and a £30 million programme aimed at improving financial confidence. As Deputy Director of England, Ambreen and her team were responsible for delivering £500m of grant funding in England.
Ambreen has a PhD for her work on South Asian Muslims: Adjustments to British Citizenship.
Ambreen says: “I am looking forward to using my experience in leading strategy development and grant funding projects to help Smallwood continue providing support and improving outcomes for even more women in the future.”
Faeeza Vaid MBE has over 10 years’ senior leadership experience in the voluntary and community sector, with a strong focus on gender equality and justice. Her extensive understanding of the lived experiences of Muslim women in the UK has brought about social change through her research, advocacy, campaigning and policy development in the UK.
In the 2019 Queen’s New Year’s Honours, Faeeza was awarded an MBE for Services to Women’s Rights.
Faeeza says: “It’s wonderful to have joined an organisation with a proven track-record of funding vital women’s programmes and I’m excited to play a part in shaping the work that Smallwood will do in the future.”
D’Arcy Myers, Chair of the Smallwood Trust, says: “We are delighted to welcome Ambreen and Faeeza to our Board. As well as possessing a wealth of experience from their leading roles in and around the voluntary and community sector, they will bring the knowledge and expertise that we want in order to strengthen our mission of enabling more women to be financially resilient.”
Ambreen and Faeeza join our other members of the Board: Chair – D’Arcy Myers, Vice-Chair – Maureen Margrie, Rachael Bailey and Catherine Hine.
