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.

Terrie Alafat

Terrie is currently chief executive of Chartered Institute of Housing. Prior to that, she worked at the Department of Communities and Local Government, where she became director of housing. Terrie is also a trustee at Crisis.

Saphié Ashtiany (Chair)

Saphié is the principal of a small consultancy specialising in equality law and working predominantly with institutional and charitable bodies. She is a visiting professorial fellow at Queen Mary University of London, researching aspects of equality law. Saphié holds other trusteeships, including at Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust and Equal Rights Trust.

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.

Clara Govier

Clara is joint managing director at People’s Postcode Lottery, having been appointed in May 2018. She currently oversees the charities, communications, events, finance, HR, and license and politics departments. Clara led communications for Scottish Wildlife Trust, Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden and Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.

Judith McNeill

Judith recently worked as director of philanthropy at The Mercers’ Company and before that she worked at Comic Relief for 12 years, where she held the role of grants director.

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 Nationwide Building Society’s deputy chief executive and was previously leader of the Relationships and Distribution Community and prior to that chief operating officer. He previously held a number of senior executive roles at Barclays. Tony is a board member of Opportunity Now.

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.