Lisa brings a wealth of experience in sport, public and third-sector leadership to Gingerbread. With a proven track record in driving performance and transformation, Lisa most recently spearheaded the daily operations of Leicester City Football Club Women. She is also a member of the World Para Sports Unit Board at the International Paralympic Committee, shaping the future of para-sports on a global scale.

Lisa is deeply committed to empowering both organizations and individuals to unlock their full potential and she is excited to lead Gingerbread through a period of transformational change, ensuring the charity is well-equipped to thrive in the years ahead.

Sarah has over 15 years of working in policy and campaigns in the charity sector – mostly working on disability issues, but more recently as a freelancer working for a range of charities to support them to secure transformative policy and legislative changes for the people they represent. Key successes include playing a lead role in the passing of the Autism Act 2009 and changing the criteria for Blue Badge parking to better reflect the needs of autistic people while at the National Autistic Society, and leading the team to secure priority supermarket home delivery slots for blind and partially sighted people during the pandemic while at RNIB.

Sarah spent a significant proportion of her childhood in a single parent household and is passionate about ensuring that the voices of single parents and their families are at the heart of everything we do to campaign for change.

Having gone to my local grammar school in West Yorkshire, I graduated from Cambridge University with a history degree and somehow found my way onto a graduate scheme in financial services. 18 years later, I’m still with Lloyds Banking Group where I am the Organisation and Capabilities Director as part of the HR team. My job is all about how we equip Lloyds colleagues to have the skills and capabilities they need to do their roles and to progress their careers in whatever direction they want to take it.

I always say I used to have hobbies and interests before I had children. When I do have a free moment between work and family, I like nothing better than getting the cookbooks out and having a bash at a recipe that is always beyond my capabilities! I love to travel with my family, as well as making the most of living in central London with the theatres, galleries and concerts on my doorstep as well as sticking my head in a book for a few minutes whenever I can.

I also love nothing more than reading with my girls, Agata (4) and Ylva (8), seeing them open up to the magic of stories and starting what will hopefully be a lifelong love of reading is a real privilege. That sadly hasn’t yet translated into a shared love of homework but we will keep going! Cooking and then eating together whenever we can and talking about their day, their thoughts and their feelings are some of the most special times for me. Both of my girls love performing and creating things and I’m constantly amazed at their creativity and boundless energy.

As my daughters grow up, I want them to appreciate what they have but also be aware that families are not all the same and other children are being brought up in more challenging circumstances than their own.

I am fortunate enough to share life’s challenges with my wife Fiona but, were that not to be the case, I know that being able to draw on the support of a charity like Gingerbread would make a real difference.

I have the greatest of respect and admiration for anyone bringing up children by themselves. Being a parent is hard enough when doing it with someone else, but to do that on your own is a huge undertaking and at times must feel overwhelming. Connecting with other single parents is one of the most beneficial things Gingerbread does.

The stories told by single parent families about the difference Gingerbread has made to their lives are hugely compelling and the impact the charity has had over so many years is truly humbling. I am grateful of the opportunity to play my part in helping Gingerbread to thrive and continue to make a difference now and for many years to come.

My motivation for joining Gingerbread’s board derives from my personal experience of single parenting, both as a child raised by a single parent, and as a single parent myself. I was raised by a single working mum in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her resilience, hard work and sense of humour were key to shaping the person I am today. It is only as parent (and then single parent) that I came to recognise just how resilient, hard-working (and funny) she was, and how hard she had to battle to help her boys.

I loved education and never left. I was the first in my family to go to university and I stayed, doing and BA and a PhD. I then had the chance to study and then work in China and Japan for several years. I’ve worked in universities for most of my career, initially in teaching and research roles, and more recently in senior leadership. I’m a Senior Independent Director of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, and Vice Chair of Independent Higher Education, the UK representative body for independent providers of higher education, professional training and pathways.

I believe there’s no one defining challenge of being a single parent. Every one of us has a unique situation and unique skills. I became a single parent to three children (aged 2, 5 and 8) in 2011, whom I have had the privilege of raising single-handedly for over a decade. They are ‘big’ now, but there is no ‘completion date’ for being a single parent.

As a family we have always enjoyed talking – debating, discussing arguing about everything from politics to football to fashion. I like spending my free time with my feet up in front of the TV or with a book, and I’m a season ticket holder at Fulham FC.

This is my first Trustee role and I am pleased to have taken it with Gingerbread. Growing up there were many single parents within my family and some within my friend group. My partner was also raised in a single parent household. They all did an amazing job raising their children yet I can’t help but think that the support network Gingerbread provides might have been welcome. Now as an adult, some of my friends are single parents and I see the additional pressures they face.

I experienced domestic abuse in my twenties, which can obviously contribute to the creation of single parent households. The biggest challenge of my life was to extract myself from that situation and I can only imagine how much harder it would have been if I had had to take children with me.

I have a BA Hons in History and went on to do a Masters in Human Rights and International Development. It was at university that I discovered my love of campaigning which led me to a career in the charity sector. I started fundraising with the British Red Cross in 2014 and stayed in the third sector, predominantly in international development but most recently in the health sector for Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex and now at King’s College Hospital Charity.

When searching for a Trustee role, I wanted to find a cause I cared about which incorporated my passion for human rights and campaigning. I am excited to have the opportunity to play my part at Gingerbread in providing single parents with the support and resources they need.

It is upsetting that stigma still impacts single parents when 1 in 4 families in the UK are single parent households. Single parents face enough with financial worries and isolation, without the additional burden of people’s judgement.

My father left my mum when I was a baby. As a single parent my mum benefitted from the support and guidance of Gingerbread, where she met my lovely dad. The charity has always had a very special place in my heart. The chance to bring my professional knowledge and experience of governance and boards to a charity I love so much is just such a privilege.

I think stigma is the biggest challenge faced by single parents. Even in 2025, it is still very real and upsetting. On top of this, single parents face significant financial challenges, which have been exacerbated by COVID.

My first job was with the BBC, and I have worked in corporate communications ever since, including two charities, a PLC and the NHS, all at Director level. I went to university in my 30s and gained a post-graduate qualification in management. I am also a chartered practitioner of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

I am an experienced chair and Non-Executive Director. I was recently Chair of the Taylor Bennett Foundation, and have served on the boards of the largest primary school in Bristol, chaired the remuneration committee for the Senedd, been a trustee of Send a Cow, a NED for the HSE and I am currently Vice Chair of Manx Care.

I am a single mum to my 10-year-old daughter. We love cooking and have recently perfected our Sunday roast. We are Strictly Come Dancing mega fans and she is inheriting my love of the theatre; we have become real fans of The Globe Theatre in London.

I have always been interested in people, places and politics. I graduated with a Geography BA in 1998 before working in fundraising and marketing across a range of charities for 25 years.

I started out at Tommy’s, the pregnancy and baby charity, before moving to The Children’s Society, Crisis and ActionAid UK. I’m currently at The MS Society. I have also been a trustee for the youth homelessness charity, DePaul UK.

As a child, I loved long family meals, holidays, playing and watching football, and now that my children are teenagers, I have a little more free time to spend cooking, swimming, walking, watching TV and listening to podcasts (politics & history mostly). I’m also a perennially disappointed Spurs fan.

Single parents come from all walks of life so their challenges will be varied and personal. Financial insecurity, isolation, and lack of support will impact many in different ways but stigma, society’s expectations, and having to fit into a world that is built and designed for couples is a near universal experience.

JK Rowling has supported Gingerbread since 2000, when she became our first ambassador. She has challenged assumptions about one parent families, offering millions of people new ideas about who single parents are, and how they came to be parenting alone. She has also generated a sense of pride among single parents. This has helped us bring about a real change in public attitudes.

Read JK Rowling’s story of being a single parent.