Meet the team

Gilli Appleby

CEO

Gilli joined GRASAC as CEO in January 2023, having previously worked in local charities, the NHS and Australian health care systems. When she’s not at her desk she can be found whistling loudly – trying to convince her crazy Spaniel called Diesel to stop running off and to be obedient!

Amy Norton

Trustee

I joined GRASAC as a trustee board member in summer 2018 and have really enjoyed my first experience of charity governance in such an important sector. In my day job, I’m the Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the Office for Students, the Government’s independent regulator for higher education in England. Away from work and GRASAC, I’m a busy mum to two daughters (and a very small but noisy dog) and am a violinist in a concert orchestra.

Danielle Vincent

Trustee

I joined GRASAC in March 2022 (I think!) I am a senior associate solicitor in a London law firm specialising in representing sexual abuse survivors (both children and adults) in civil claims. I have a little sassy Pomeranian- who is head strong, defiant and likes to have the last word. They say dogs are like their owners!

Nicola (Nikki) Jones

Trustee

I was born in Gloucestershire and raised on a dairy farm. I studied and taught at universities in the UK and France, ending up with a PhD in social policy and administration. My career in international development included ten years with The Ford Foundation in Nigeria and the Philippines and ten years with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), where I was head of strategic planning for the Fund’s global work, and finally UNFPA country representative in Tanzania.

As a long-time feminist activist, I am fortunate that my work has promoted and provided funding opportunities for women’s voices and action in different cultural and religious environments, on issues such as sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, child marriage, and other practices harmful to women and girls.

I joined the Board of Trustees in late 2021.

One unlikely experience I had was being stranded on an abandoned coffee plantation in Angola during the civil war, with only giant avocados to eat. I still enjoy avocados.

Sam Puddy

Trustee / Treasurer 

My day job is as Credit Control Manager for Gloucestershire-based Creed Foodservice – a national foodservice provider to chefs and the catering industry.  I am a keen runner and gym-goer, with a definite weakness for chocolate ..hence the gym membership!

Amy Hale

Co-Chair of Trustees

Hello, I’m Amy Hale.  I joined GRASAC as a Trustee in the Autumn of 2022. My day job is in the Civil Service and I’ve worked in this sector for around 17 years. I love my day job and my involvement with GRASAC but I never envisaged I’d be doing either of these things when I was younger. My career plans were very much focused on horses when I was young as I spent a grand total of 7 years studying Equine Science at Hartpury College (now University) in Gloucestershire. I’ve yet to find a direct link between horses and what I do now but I guess there’s still time…!

Helen Williams

Trustee

Previously a detective both in the UK and British Virgin Islands, and often investigating cases of serious sexual abuse and violence, I have frequently provided a high level of support to victims of crimes and in particular sexual offence victims prior to court and following the conviction of the offender.  I am now aa lecturer in Professional Policing and Criminology at the University of Gloucestershire.

Cate Hemingway

CO-CHAIR OF Trustees

I joined GRASAC in August 2023 and am delighted to be a new Co-Chair. In my day job I work for the Charity Sector in Gloucestershire as Head of Sector Innovation, although I describe myself as a “has been” as I have been many things in my professional life from a probation officer, lecturer in law, criminology and forensic psychology to running a non-profit organisation supporting victims of sexual violence in South Africa. I am mum to four wonderful children, in my spare time I love music, sing in a choir and the joy of my life is my Golden Retriever TeddyBear – don’t tell my children!