Our trustees
Our 10 trustees have a broad mix of skills which draw on their experiences in the voluntary and commercial sectors. Up to three of our trustees are appointed by, and are employees or officers of, Nationwide. The other seven are appointed by the board following a recruitment process which carefully matches recruits with any skills gaps.
Antonia Bance
Antonia has spent her career in charity campaigning and communications. Currently working as the TUC’s head of campaigns and communications, she was previously SafeLives’ director of policy and communications and has also worked for the housing charity Shelter, where she was head of campaigns.
Sara Bennison
Sara is leader of Nationwide’s Marketing and Engagement Community. Previously Sara has worked at Barclays Personal and Corporate Bank and had held senior roles at BT and for major advertising agencies in the UK and Asia. Sara is also a trustee of The Prince’s Countryside Fund.
Juliet Cockram Agnew
Juliet is the head of philanthropy at IG Advisors, through which she provides social impact strategy and management consultancy. Prior to joining IG, Juliet was a director of philanthropy services at UBS Wealth Management in the UK, and also director of the Ashmore Foundation, a corporate grant-making foundation.
Martin Coppack
Martin is an independent trustee. Martin created the Financial Conduct Authority’s model for engaging with consumer and special interest groups, as well as its consumer vulnerability and financial inclusion programmes. Martin is currently an independent commissioner for the Financial Inclusion Commission, and an adviser to the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute and Young Scot. He has previously worked for the Big Lottery Fund and been a board member of the Association of Charitable Foundations. Martin currently leads stakeholder engagement for the Banking Standards Board.
Clara Govier
Clara joined the People’s Postcode Lottery in 2010, leading the charities department. She currently manages 16 charitable trusts, each with its own individual board of trustees. She also develops long-term funding partnerships on behalf of People’s Postcode Lottery. Prior to People’s Postcode Lottery, Clara led communications for Scottish Wildlife Trust, Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden and Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
Sarah Mitchell (Vice Chair)
Sarah is director of Heart of the City, a charity which supports small and medium-sized firms across London to do business responsibly. Previously she was the chief executive of Carers’ Network, a charity in London that supports unpaid carers. She is also a trustee of both Camden Federation of Private Tenants and Novus Homeshare. Previously she was head of private renting and housing development at the homelessness charity Crisis.
Tony Prestedge
Tony is leader of the Relationships and Distribution Community at Nationwide Building Society and was previously executive director for Group Development. He previously held a number of senior executive roles at Barclays. Tony is a board member of Opportunity Now.
Ben Stimson (Chair)
Ben is retail director for Waitrose, with overall responsibility for leading the company’s portfolio of 350 branches and the business’s e-commerce offer. Since he joined the John Lewis Partnership in 2010, Ben has held a variety of senior roles, within both Waitrose and John Lewis. Before taking up his current role, Ben was partnership registrar at John Lewis; a board level position, responsible for ensuring that the values of the partnership are upheld throughout the organisation. Ben is also a board member of the Youth Sport Trust.
John Taylor
John is the managing director of the housing services division at Mears Plc and during his career has worked predominantly with the private sector to provide new housing solutions to accommodate people in housing need. He previously ran a housing consultancy and has worked with housing associations.
Ian Williams
Ian is the Director of Financial Controls and Operations at Nationwide Building Society. Ian is a qualified accountant, and previously worked for Friends Life, Aviva and PWC in senior roles including Financial Reporting Director and Financial Controller. Ian is the leader of a church in the Cotswolds, and the trustee of a children’s home in Kenya.