Our president and trustees

President - Deidre Sanders MBE

Deidre Sanders MBE is the resident agony aunt on ITV’s daily This Morning programme and edited the daily Dear Deidre problem-page in The Sun from 1980 – 2020. Deidre trained in counselling and, with the help of her counselling team, answered every reader’s problem personally - more than six million over the years via letter, email, Facebook private messages and telephone advice lines.

Deidre is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a forum member of the Royal Society of Medicine. She helped found the Kids in the Middle coalition of 30 charities and 25 agony aunts, was a member of the Social Work Task Force and on the board of the National Family and Parenting Institute. Deidre is proud to become honorary president of Family Lives, is a patron of Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and was appointed an honorary council member of the NSPCC after serving on their National Commission of Inquiry Into the Prevention of Child Abuse.

Deidre previously worked at Nova magazine, The Sunday Times and Woman’s Own, where she was Consumer Journalist of the Year and awarded a Jubilee medal. She has been married for over 50 years and has two adult daughters and two grandchildren. Deidre was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours list 2023. 

Chair – Neena Rupani

Neena Rupani currently works in Regulatory Affairs for BT. With a background in Economics, Neena has over 20 years’ experience in the telecoms sector with roles in commercial management, pricing and regulation. Her responsibilities have included regulatory strategy, policy, compliance, governance and risk. As a parent, Neena feels strongly that having the right support available when you don’t know where to turn can make an enormous difference to families and a child’s future prospects.  

Treasurer - Warwick Jones

Group Finance Director with quoted company experience. Responsibilities have included finance, risk, compliance, internal audit and IT.  Key roles in strategic planning, corporate finance activity, restructuring, change management and investor relations.  Strong emphasis on good corporate governance, robust financial control and shareholder value. Finance Director at the Bank of England.  

Stuart Bayliss

Stuart has been a Trustee for 25 years, seeing the Organisation for Parents under Stress (OPUS) merge, grow and develop into Family Lives. During that time he has had a number of stints as Treasurer and Vice Chairman and filled in as Chair as a result of the indisposition of current Chairs. He has played a role in developing the trading arms of ParentlinePlus and Family Lives.

Previously he spent 10 years leading the youth involvement at regional and national level with the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Appeal and Trusts. He was also a founder Director/Trustee of the Youth Enterprise Scheme which evolved into the Prince’s Trust. Formerly a Director of insurance and investment management companies, he has been for the last 20 years a serial small time entrepreneur in the financial services marketplace, developing new distribution and administration systems for niche activities within the industry.  He is also a frequent contributor in the media and appears on news and financial programmes such as Money Box.

Kerri Summers

Kerri Summers is the founder and Head of Client Services at The Working Parent Company. The business was established in 1997 to provide support and advice for working parents. It delivers seminars and coaching programmes within organisations on parenting topics, wellbeing and mental health. After recently completing an MSc in Psychology she is working with Great Ormond Street Hospital to explore the research question of how to support parents when they have a child in critical care in hospital and also a well child.

Kerri is a Parent Gym coach facilitating six week parenting programmes in schools. She was previously a Governor at The Henrietta Barnett School and for several years mentored 6th form students through the Camden Education Business Partnership. She has two sons and as a parent strongly believes that all families should have access to advice and friendly support when they need it.

Sally Land

Sally Land is The Sun's resident Agony Aunt, where she combines her counselling training with her journalism experience.She has over 20 years experience working within the Features and Women's departments. During her career she has worked her way up from writer, to Head of Features at The Sun. While at the paper she ran several campaigns working with Women's Aid and Rape Crisis and collaborated with several other charities including the NSPCC, Christian Aid and Save The Children.

Sally travelled extensively including; covering women's rights in Afghanistan, the lives of female soldiers in Iraq and maternal mortality rates in Malawi. She went on to establish her own communications business which specialised in working with charities and not for profit social enterprises.Campaigning, raising awareness of issues and amplifying the messages of amazing people has always been the main driver behind Sally's work.

Sally now lives near Bath with her husband, three sons, dog and a cat.

Eluned Harries

Eluned Harries has been a highly effective Leader of Teaching and Learning with students and teachers across the City of Oxford, promoting a culture of continuous improvement leading to high quality outcomes and for all young people.  She played a crucial role in establishing and sustaining the Oxford Education Deanery at The University of Oxford which supported teachers in their engagement with research and professional development and has significant experience in working with new teachers, early career teachers and trainees. Eluned has researched and published in the field of teacher education with a specific focus on ensuring school improvement priorities are both evidence based and evaluated. She is a Youth Justice Panellist and is continually surprised and delighted at what young people and families can achieve with the right support at the right time.

Fola Davies

Fola has always been passionate about charities and families, having sponsored 5 children with Plan for over 30 years. She worked for many years in the city as a business analyst, and is currently the owner and founder of an online art gallery, and an avid investor in small start ups and B Corp companies .She is very enthusiastic about the arts and is keenly involved in various art communities.

She was previously a governor of a local SEN school in Hertfordshire, and has seen how providing  even basic assistance can impact families positively.The role of families in the community and society at large cannot be underestimated. She is also very much aware that minority and ethnic groups tend to not reach out for help, and would like to understand these communities in order to better serve them. 

Jack Ashman

Jack Ashman is an experienced leader of software companies with a track record of building teams, delivering great customer experiences, and scaling businesses. He has 15+ years of management and leadership experience.

Francesca Mott

Francesca has spent her career in the nonprofit sector with two decades of experience in the UK and internationally. Her varied roles have included working in early-years learning and adult education in the Caribbean and West Africa as well as leading business development teams for UK-based charities. Since 2016 she has been the CEO of a private grant-making foundation and leads on its work in Latin America, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. She holds an MA from King’s College London as well as a BA from the University of Cambridge.

Jon Newton

Jon is a registered Social Worker. He is currently a Service Director in Adult Social Care for Enfield Council. He has over 25 years experience, working in a variety of services in Adult Social Care across a number of London boroughs. Jon brings a wealth of safeguarding knowledge and understanding to the Board. Jon started his career working in residential homes for teenagers and hopes that during his time as a Family Lives trustee he can use his experience and background to good affect.

Rebecca Giannotta

Rebecca is a lawyer, with over 15 years' experience advising businesses in the consumer, luxury and technology sectors. In particular, she spent 8 years at the FTSE-listed global e-tailer, ASOS, and was General Counsel at MATCHES, a luxury fashion business. Rebecca enjoys using her experience to mentor junior lawyers and entrepreneurs. She has also given pro bono legal advice to designers, charities and users of the Citizens Advice Bureau. Whilst at ASOS, Rebecca helped establish a charity partnership with Help Refugees/Choose Love, through which she also travelled to Athens to visit and support their refugee projects.

Rebecca is a strong believer in the power of volunteering (both for the volunteer and the beneficiary) and has been involved in various projects over the years. Whilst at Bristol University, she set up a partnership with a local nursing home, allowing students to befriend the residents. In London, she has volunteered for KEEN London (which provides social activities for children and young people with additional needs and disabilities), Union Chapel Margins Project and a local Winter Shelter.

These days, Rebecca lives in North London, with her husband and two young sons. She recognises the multifaceted challenges that all families face at some stage, as well the encouraging, empowering and restorative impact that good support can bring.

Chris Hall

Chris is a Finance Director with over 20 years' experience of leading financial decisions in Retail and Manufacturing businesses like Sainsburys, Marks and Spencer and Pladis, the company that own McVitie’s Biscuits and other Heritage snacks brands.

As passionate for what happens around the family table as well as the boardroom table, he is proud to enable Family Lives to bring more of its gifts and spark to more families and homes by leveraging his financial training and awareness.

Father to a wonderful two year old girl, he’s learning every day what it takes to parent in connected and conscious ways, and moreover how important it is that families have access to trusted people and resources.