Tiata Fahodzi

Trustees’ Profiles

Archie Graham Chair; Chair of Finance Sub-committee

A 36 year-old of Gambian / Sierra Leonean heritage, Archie has been a Londoner for the last 10 years. He is a Member of the Association of Accounting Technicians (MAAT) and currently works as Finance Manager for UnLtd (The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs), a grant making charitable trust supporting social entrepreneurs. His career got a kick start some 17 years ago with Pannell Kerr Forster Chattered Accountants - The Gambia, (PKF), starting off as Trainee Accountant / Auditor and leaving the firm 6 years later as Audit Senior. He has worked for varying organisations, mainly within the Not-For-Profit sector, including the London Fire Brigade Welfare Fund, The Camden Society and Westminster Association for Mental Health (Westminster Mind).

Janice Acquah

Janice was born and grew up in Ghana and served as Chair of Tiata Fahodzi from 2001 to 2006. She has worked extensively as an actor and TV presenter; her credits as an actor include an international tour of Soyinka’s The Beatification of the Area Boy, work with Mike Leigh and regular membership of the BBC Radio company. Janice is a primary school governor and recently co-ordinated a successful major fundraising campaign.

Olu Alake

Olu Alake is currently Head of Funding at the Equality and Human Rights Commission. He has held other senior management positions at the Commission for Racial Equality and Arts Council England. He is a Director of November Ventures Ltd, a diversity and cultural policy consultancy. He has worked extensively in the international arena, across Africa, Europe and South America. He holds an MSc in Race and Ethnic Studies (London), BSc in Economics and a postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies. Olu is also the President of 100 Black Men of London, a community development and mentoring organisation.

Jo Cottrell Chair of Fundraising Sub-committee

Jo is a freelance consultant, working with a wide range of cultural and not-for-profit organisations, meeting their fund-raising, marketing and wider business development needs. She has held a range of senior marketing and business development roles within the cultural sector, most recently as Director of Marketing and Development at Soho Theatre. Prior to that she worked on a number of capital, revenue and project fundraising campaigns for organisations including Hampstead Theatre, RSC, Trinity Laban, Central School of Ballet and Theatre Royal Plymouth.

Elizabeth Dennis

Elizabeth works as a Financial Services Compliance Consultant for Moore Stephens LLP. She read law at the University of London and completed her LLM in the United States on a Drapers’ Company scholarship at the College of William and Mary, Virginia. Elizabeth completed her Bar Vocational Course at City Law School, formerly the Inns of Court School of Law on a Kennedy Scholarship and was called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Honourable Society of Lincolns’ Inn in October 2009. Elizabeth has a history of involvement with a number of access to justice initiatives and free legal advice providers, including the Innocence Project, Toynbee Hall Legal Advice Clinic and Queen Mary Pro Bono Group. She is of dual heritage as the daughter of a Ghanaian father and British mother and frequently enjoys travelling to Ghana to visit family there.

Chris Wilson Chair of Good Governance Sub-committee

Chris works for BBC Audio and Music at Broadcasting House in London and has broad experience of BBC Radio both as a programme maker and a manager. He’s also worked as an adviser for BBC Public Policy, with Comic Relief and on secondment to The Reading Agency as Director of the BBC/Library Partnership. The Romantic Road, his recent series of short documentaries about contemporary Germany and its philosophical traditions on Radio 4 was described as “superb and totally magical…a sort of Le Grande Meaulnes for the lost magic of youth and the wonder of philosophy.” He is a school governor responsible for HR and serves on resources, appointments and stakeholder committees. Chris is also an employment mentor for the British Refugee Council. Brought up in Birmingham he lives in Sussex with his family.

Jenny Worton

Jenny is the Artistic Associate at the Almeida Theatre. She was previously the Literary Manager at the Tricycle Theatre, and worked in the Literary Departments for the Bush Theatre and the National Theatre. For Radio Four Jenny has written two short stories and an abridgement. For the Gate Theatre she wrote the text for I Am Falling, recently revived at Sadler’s Wells.