Our board of trustees is responsible for governing our charity, setting our strategic direction and monitoring our progress to ensure we are best supporting adults who want to learn to read.
Meet our board of Trustees
Amanda Tincknell – Chair of Trustees
Amanda Tincknell is the outgoing Chief Executive of Cranfield Trust, the leading provider of pro bono management support to the UK voluntary sector. Amanda has increased the Trust’s capacity and influence enormously over more than two decades as CEO and was awarded a CBE in 2015. Amanda is retiring from Cranfield Trust in October 2025 and is looking forward to becoming a Reading Coach as well as chairing Read Easy’s Board.
Paul Mugford
Having retired from a portfolio management career spanning the Civil Service, banking and the NHS, Paul maintains an active interest in voluntary work and was Team Leader of our Read Easy Bristol group for over three years and Read Easy UK’s Chair of Trustees for 4 years. He continues as a Reading Coach.
Harriet Ayles
Harriet is a Consultant at EY, where she helps clients to manage people strategy, large-scale L&D programmes, and organisational design. Prior to Consulting she worked for 10 years in Education Publishing, while also teaching English to pre-literate adults as a volunteer for the charity Kalayaan. Harriet holds a Master’s in Education and Technology from UCL and a CELTA Teaching qualification.
Chris Bale
Chris is a retired charity director and has worked in the non-profit sector for 35 years both nationally and internationally. He has experience as founder, chief executive, chair and trustee of a range of charities. He was awarded the MBE for services to charity in Hong Kong.
Giota Koulouri
Giota is an ACCA, MSc finance professional with more than 10 years of diverse and international experience in finance and business. Giota believes in continuous learning and equal opportunities.
Caroline O’Connor
Caroline has been a lawyer for over twenty years, working both in the UK and the US, leading legal teams at technology companies. She is currently Group General Counsel at Tractable where she heads up a team providing support on all legal matters. This is her first trustee role and she is very excited about bringing her commercial and legal expertise to support our objectives.
Liz Hopes – Volunteer Member Trustee
Liz brings a wealth of knowledge from 30 years’ experience gained from working with the NHS, private sector healthcare, and as an ex-big 4 accountant. She is an experienced project manager and facilitator, a trained business coach, a Myers Briggs Practitioner, and runs her own consultancy company. Liz is the Team Leader for our Merseyside Group.
Sara Erasmus – HR Specialist Trustee
Sara is a senior HR professional with over 20 years’ experience and holds an MSc in Strategic HR and OD. She runs her own consultancy, working with scale-ups and newly acquired Private Equity portfolio companies. She has lived and worked in South Africa and the UK and has worked with various companies, leading global teams.
Hayley James – Communications Trustee
Hayley is a chartered public relations practitioner with over twenty years’ experience in communications across the public, private and third sectors. As a communications consultant, Hayley specialises in strategic planning, organisational change, internal communications and projects. She is a qualified change management practitioner and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, where she’s previously held roles on the Board and chaired the Finance Committee.