Who We Are

Department of Communications

Director of Communications – Julia Cream and Victoria Flint:

Marketing Manager – Ruth Lawrence: Ruth manages the FPI’s marketing and publishing. She is an information marketing specialist with particular market experience with parents and families; legal professionals; central and local government; health and education. Originally qualified as a lawyer, with an MA from Cambridge University, she was Head of Publishing and Multimedia at the Law Society for 10 years, before moving on to the Family and Parenting Institute via secondary education languages publishing with Nelson Thornes. She believes that digital information offers a truly revolutionary and democratic way forward for marketing information to families and those who work with them and is engaged in marketing a number of exciting new FPI projects.

Media and Information Manager – Michael Connellan: In his previous career as a journalist Michael was a shift reporter for Metro and the Independent on Sunday. He also freelanced for the Guardian, the Times, the Big Issue and other publications. Before joining FPI in March 2010, he was a communications consultant to a charity based in New Delhi.

Partnership and Campaigns Officer – Anna Barnes: Anna originally joined in November 2009 as a Grants Officer. In November 2010 she took on her current role of Partnership and Campaigns Officer. Before FPI, Anna worked in grants for BBC Children in Need, and care work with vulnerable adults.

Director of Finance and Operations – Virginia Grace: Virginia is Director of Finance and Operations. She has been working with FPI since June 2010, since her return from two years overseas working as Financial Secretary to the Government of St Helena. Before that she held the position of Finance and Corporate Services Director in several charities and housing associations in the UK. She is a chartered accountant and spent 5 and a half years with Coopers & Lybrand before joining the not for profit sector. She has also held a number of non-executive and technical advisory roles associated with the third sector.

Finance Manager – Beth Haile: Beth joined FPI as Finance Officer in May 2007. Prior to joining FPI she worked for Kings College London Student Union as a Finance Assistant and Middlesex University as a Junior Researcher. She has a BA Hons Accounting and Computing from London Metropolitan University and a Post-graduate Diploma in Charity Accounting and Financial Management from South Bank University.

Senior Administration Officer – Angela Miller: Angela joined the FPI as Senior Administration Officer in May 2011. Prior to the FPI Angela worked for the Institute of Healthcare Management as Office Manager and Membership & Events Administrator for four years where she was responsible for all membership administration, keeping the office running and liaising with staff at all levels within the NHS. She has also worked as a Course Administrator arranging GP placements for medical students within the Department of Primary Care & Population Sciences at UCL. Angela graduated from Nottingham Trent University with a BA(Hons) Business Studies in June 2005.

PA/Administrator - Llewellyn Mauricio: Llewellyn joined FPI as PA for Chief Executive, Dr Katherine Rake OBE and Director of Finance in March 2011. Prior to FPI, she worked as an Administrator for Platform2 at Christian Aid and BUNAC, an international development volunteering programme responsible for volunteer recruitment and organising national and local events. Llewellyn has also worked as a Business Support Assistant to the Head of Lincolnshire Children’s Services and has a BA Hons Management from University of Lincoln.

PA/Administrator – Swati Patel: Swati joined FPI in January 2008 as a Communications Administrator. From October 2010 following the restructure, her job title changed to PA/Administrator. Her main role at FPI has been organising events. She has also been responsible for publications, journals/membership and general administration. Prior to FPI, she worked for Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants where she was casework/policy administrator. This entailed providing administrative support to solicitors/caseworkers dealing with immigration cases. JCWI also ran seminars with other human rights organisations.

Director of Research and Policy - Peter Grigg: Peter joined FPI in May 2011. Previously, as Assistant Director for Enterprise UK, Peter led policy and public affairs activity, research and evaluation work. His work included representing the UK at the G20 young entrepreneur’s summit in Toronto, leading evaluation work across 104 countries as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, campaigning to ensure enterprise was recognised in 14-19 education reforms, and development of a peer-support scheme for young entrepreneurs that secured £1m investment from Virgin Media. Previously Peter worked in further education policy as Head of Strategy Development for the Learning and Skills Improvement Service and at the Learning and Skills Development Agency. After graduating in Social Policy and Government from the London School of Economics, he worked as a researcher for the political adviser, Philip Gould, advising senior political audiences through opinion polling and focus groups. Peter lives in London with his wife and their sleepless baby daughter.

Head of Research and Policy Programmes - Celia Hannon: Celia Hannon has led a number of research projects on young people, children and families, and published a range of reports in this field, including: In Loco Parentis (on the care system and family support), Anatomy of Youth (on the future of British young people and politics) and Seen and Heard (investigating how child-friendly public spaces and cities are in the UK). She worked for a number of years at the independent think tank Demos, ultimately leading the Family and Society Programme of research there. After leaving Demos in 2010 she undertook a Visiting Fellowship at the Foundation for Young Australians in Melbourne. She previously worked at Gingerbread on welfare reform and lone parents, and she has a degree from the University of Oxford.

Research and Policy Officer – Dr Yan-Shing Chang:Yan-Shing joined FPI in 2007 as research fellow from the University of Cambridge where she received her MPhil and PhD degrees. She has a background in early years and primary education. She has conducted research into a range of parenting issues including cross-cultural research comparing parental involvement in children’s learning among white English and Chinese ethnic families in England. She has also undertaken research projects on couple relationships support as well as older couples’ health and housing issues.

Research and Policy Officer - Andrew Carruthers: Andrew joined the Family and Parenting Institute in September 2009. Previously he has worked at Ofcom and the Independent Television Commission, focusing on media literacy, television advertising (including the Ofcom review of food advertising to children) and programme policy and compliance.

Associate Director of Business Development – Simon Wakeling: Simon joined FPI in April 2010 from the Prince’s Trust, where he was Heading of Funding Development, leading on national fundraising proposals and partnerships. While Managing Director at Personal Fundraising Partnership, he won the ‘best use of direct marketing - donor recruitment’ at the Professional Fundraising Awards for a campaign with Save the Children. Simon has also worked as a Community Fundraiser at Sight Savers International, as Manager of the Fair Trade Cafe in Bradford (a social enterprise), and worked for Social Services as an Instructor in a day centre for adults with a learning difficulty. He has an MA in Peace Studies and a BA in Theology.