Gail Porter - Patron
A broadcaster and former model, Gail became patron of the Fair Credit Charity in 2024, motivated by her own experiences of bankruptcy, homelessness and other personal and financial challenges.
She says:
“Six million people are living without household essentials right now, and many of those won’t have access to charity support or local council grants – nor do many want to use them. A helping hand from an ethical, not for profit lender like Fair for You can help them make their house a home. The alternative is living in deep deprivation, which I have experienced, or being burned by high-cost credit, or the exploitative tactics of illegal lenders.
“The cost-of-living crisis has hit people hard, and I know that many people would be in serious hot water if they had to find a way to buy a new washing machine, fridge or other key appliance. I remember the horror of not being able to get a new washer when my young daughter was going to school – it wasn’t just the practical side of ensuring she wasn’t wearing dirty clothes, it was also the stress and the guilt I experienced, which put a huge pressure on my already dented self-esteem and mental health.”
Tom Levitt - Chair
Since Tom ceased being a Member of Parliament in 2010, he has, through his writing and consultancy, tried to give meaning to the phrase ‘using the tools of business to create public good’.
Before serving 13 years as a Labour MP, Tom taught science in secondary schools. Since 2010 he has worked with businesses large and small, government, charities, councils, social enterprises and others to harness the massive power that business wields.
Tom is a regular judge for the West London Responsible Business Awards and he co-wrote both a report on Business Schools and the Public Good and British Standard BS8950 on Social Value. Tom’s view is: “companies don’t have to choose between doing good and making money – they can and must do both, but fairly.”
Today Tom is Chair of the Fair Credit Charity and is an advisor to the Centre for Responsible Business at Birmingham University. He is also a successful author and playwright, with three books on responsible business, two published novels, and three performed plays. Tom is also a proud season ticket holder at Brentford FC.
Jonathan Moore - Vice Chair
Jonathan has spent 30 years working in financial services. Almost all of this time was within the building society sector where he held a range of roles, with the last one being at executive level. More recently, he continued his mutual sector career by being Chief Executive of Stockport Credit Union for three years, where he modernised it, prepared it for life in the digital age, and strengthened its resources, structures, and people.
Prior to his time at Stockport, he held a non-executive director role at another credit union. His current non-executive roles include a housing association, where he is Chair of the Governance and Remuneration board sub-committee. His trustee roles include being a trustee of Fair Credit Charity, where he chairs our Oversight & Risk board sub-committee, Board Chair at a counselling and family services organisation, and trustee for a building society charitable foundation.
Jonathan is also the chairman of a community forum. This group engages with a wide range of stakeholders on a variety of topics and seeks to deliver great outcomes for the communities which it serves. Building on this experience, in 2024 he was elected a councillor for the city in which he lives.
Jonathan is a strong advocate for communities working together to create new opportunities to improve life for the people they serve.
Jill Bonehill - Trustee
Jill started her career in the general insurance marketplace before specialising in employee benefits. She has also worked in the health, wellbeing and HR related industries in addition to many years as a volunteer in the third sector.
Jill is currently working for Citizens Advice, is a board adviser to a company who delivers a financial wellness benefit for employees and is a trustee for a medical and welfare charity. Jill brings many years’ experience of supporting low income families with their finances. She has seen at first hand the negative affect on individuals who have no alternative but to take out high cost credit. The Board has the benefit of Jill’s experience and working knowledge of how families are affected by debt and the current cost of living crisis.
Having an alternative to high costs loans, which is not just affordable to the client but reinforced by values that the Board wish to maintain, is of great appeal to Jill and enables her to positively impact those whom the organisation wish to support.
Jill is delighted to serve on the board of the Fair Credit Charity and brings experience of having served as a long term non executive director for an organisation regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Joanne Fleming - Trustee
Joanne is a chartered business psychologist with a blend of ‘big 4’ and in-house experience of leading transformational change over two decades. Her experience spans multiple sectors including financial services, pharmaceutical, utilities and central government, and covers both technology enabled and cultural change, having led and supported projects including Enterprise Resource Planning implementation…
…organisational design, employee engagement and establishing new operating functions.
Joanne is currently the Head of Strategy and Change at The Bank of England, responsible for oversight of the Bank’s strategic priorities and leading cross-Bank change programmes.
Fair Credit Charities mission to change the way we lend to lower income families is one which Joanne is passionate about, believing that we have to do better to educate our children on financial literacy giving them the best possible start, and to offer an alternative to high-cost finance when families are struggling, preventing a debt spiral which has a proven impact on mental health and well-being.
Joanne has three small boys, and feels no pressure to be a strong female role model. Outside of work she loves to travel, having visited over 50 countries and lived in 5. She is also a sports lover and has completed the London marathon and Olympic distance triathlon.
Robbie Maverick - Trustee
Robbie is a comprehensive project manager who has worked across a number of diverse projects and disciplines in his extensive 25-year career, including fundraising and marketing as well as more recently around digital and technology. In his time, amongst other things, he has delivered an innovative gaming website for Marie Curie, and worked in partnership with the NHS and their unique data challenges – not once but twice!
He has also built websites for clients such as YoungMinds and Girlguiding. His work has spanned not-for-profit and commercial organisations in a unique way and he is used to traversing the different challenges that each sector brings. Thanks to a grounding in marketing, he is a passionate advocate of data-driven approaches and has facilitated persona workshops and data deep dives with satisfying outcomes.
When he is not puzzling over digital problems, he lives in Bristol with his 9-year-old son – ‘The Boys’; loves photography, keeping fit, the outdoors, and Asian food and will try and fix anything. He is a keen advocate for neurodiversity and the social equality, the latter being his driver for joing the Fair Credit Charity.
Lindsay Melvin - Trustee
Lindsay is a Chartered Accountant who brings his experience in finance and management to the Fair for You CIC Board. He is also CEO of Flexiwage UK operations, Vice President of Equine at Feedback plc, and Board Advisor to the Payroll Centre.
The objectives of Fair for You and Flexiwage are closely aligned with Lindsay’s passion for many years now to steer people away from the dangers of high-cost finance. He has spoken at many House of Commons/Lords events on this subject and has encouraged businesses to be proactive in their employee’s financial education and wellbeing and to provide them an easy way of saving for the unexpected household emergency. This is even more important in challenging economic times. He has also worked with DWP on some of these issues.
Lindsay was one of the original Trustees of the Fair Credit Charity, the charity which owns Fair For You CIC and is totally supportive and proactive in supporting both the Charity and the CIC in its aims and objectives. For many years he was CEO at the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals and was proclaimed Business Person of the Year by his local Chamber of Commerce in 2012 – subsequently receiving an award from the Institute of Directors.
He has completed three London Marathons.
Harold Talbot-Tomlinson - Trustee
Harold is a Procurement & Supply professional and is currently a Senior Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. His expertise lies in public sector procurement, specifically defence. He began his career at the Ministry of Defence on their graduate scheme. Harold brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to the board.
Harold is extremely passionate about the mission of the Fair Credit Charity, having grown up in a single parent household that would have benefitted hugely from the type of help the FCC advocates. Harold hopes that his first-hand experience, coupled with his ideas and energy, will help bring the charity’s mission to a wider audience.
In his spare time, Harold can often be found at his local golf course, usually trying to fish his ball out of the water! Harold also loves reading, films, travelling, sports, keeping fit and spending time with friends. He is also responsible for his miniature dachshund Forest, which can often feel like a full time job in itself!
Simon Dukes - Chief Executive
Simon became Chief Executive of Fair for You as well as its charity owner, the Fair Credit Charity, in October 2021.
For the three years prior to this, he was CEO of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (now known as Community Pharmacy England). There, he was responsible for negotiating the annual £2.6bn contract on behalf of all high street pharmacies for the provision of NHS services. His time there coincided with the coronavirus pandemic, and the funding that Simon and his team secured from Government proved essential in keeping pharmacy doors open during the height of COVID-19.
Before 2018, Simon was the Chief Executive of the UK’s fraud prevention service, CIFAS, where he substantially increased membership and revenue and successfully worked to increase the awareness of fraud within UK Government. During Simon’s tenure CIFAS for the first time prevented over £1bn of fraud loss in one year.
Simon’s early career was in the UK’s public sector where he held senior roles in defence and security as well as government communications and public affairs. He is a strong advocate for working collaboratively for the public good, and treating people equally and with dignity. A natural fit for Fair for You!
Simon is also Chair of the medical research charity Antibiotic Research UK.