Iain.jpg

Iain Littlejohnn

Chair of Trustees

Iain is a management consultant, focusing on strategic organisation design, predominantly for large multi-national organisations in the private sector. He’s worked for 25 years in this field, the last 14 as an independent consultant.

Iain is very concerned about social injustice and is passionate about the power of education to help young people overcome barriers to social mobility. HE recently joined the Board of Causeway Education as their activities are very much focused on this issue. In addition, HE IS closely involved with secondary and further education as a longstanding Governor and then Trustee of the Vale Academy Trust in Oxfordshire and a member of the OxLEP Skills Advisory Panel, and with Higher Education as a Trustee of Higher Education Statistics Agency.


Michael Englard.jpg.png

Dr Michael Englard

Michael has a longstanding interest in Access and Widening Participation having experienced the sector as a pupil, undergraduate, and academic. After attending a summer school as a pupil, Michael went to complete a doctorate at the University of Cambridge where he has served as a Director of Studies and continues to teach. He is a Committee Member of the Stephen Spender Trust. He is particularly interested in working towards systemic and institutional change in the Widening Participation sector. Michael co-founded Causeway Education in 2013.


Natalie W.jpg

Natalie Whitty

Natalie is Group Head of External Communications at RSA Insurance Group, leading their corporate and product communications and media relations, social responsibility strategy and programmes, government relations and advocacy efforts. Prior to this she held senior communications, brand and strategy roles at the Post Office, Pearson and Teach First.


Christine Kinnear colour.JPG

Christine Kinnear

Christine is the Founder & CEO of With Insight Education C.I.C., a not-for-profit organisation that she set up to increase the number of black-heritage pupils progressing to top ranked universities as a gateway to a more prosperous future.

Since setting up the venture in 2018, her organisation has supported pupils to secure places at top universities including Cambridge, Bristol, Leeds, Kings College London and Southampton and is now increasingly working with companies who are keen to nurture a pipeline of black talent. 

Christine’s background is as a social marketing practitioner with 17 years’ experience of strategic marketing, programme management and driving organisational change in not-for-profit organisations.

Christine is Chair of Governors of a primary school and sits on several other educational and diversity boards including the AccessHE BAME forum.


Andreas Piepke

Andreas is COO for HSBC Private Banking Switzerland and EMEA, with a broad set of responsibilities ranging from day to day operational activities, financial management and strategic transformation. Andreas comes with more than 25years of experience in various roles in the financial services industry.

Given his upbringing and family background in East Germany, Andreas is a strong believer in equal opportunities but recognises that we cannot solely rely on families to help children guide through the choices and also practical steps required to make career and university decisions. Due to his own experiences, Andreas is a very good addition to the Causeway cause.


Nicky Kirshen

Nicky is Managing Director for Decoded, a global digital and data corporate education company. Decoded work with organisations to accelerate their digital transformation by upskilling talent to unlock their potential. They embed their learning programmes and apprenticeships to develop digital literacy and data skills across the whole organisation.

Having studied International Business at the University of Birmingham, Nicky started her career in digital advertising in the UK and Australia. She is particularly passionate about supporting young women to access careers in technology and contributes to government roundtables, mentors young people, writes about the skills industry and speaks at events such as London Tech Week. Nicky also supports North West London charity Food Bank Aid as a volunteer.


Penelope Peng

Penny is a trainee solicitor at Linklaters LLP, with a focus on corporate mergers and acquisitions within the renewable energy sector. Prior to law, she studied Political Science and Art History at New York University, where she also founded the university’s Women’s Leadership Network and coordinated the Network’s mentorship programme, pairing students with established professionals in their sector. Penny is particularly passionate about widening participation within professional services. At Linklaters, she is actively engaged with the firm’s diversity and inclusion initiatives,  being involved with the Making Links scheme as well as participating as a mentor through the East London Business Association.


Tireni Ajilore

Tireni is a passionate advocate for access and widening participation in education. As a former beneficiary of workshops aimed at improving access, he has since dedicated himself to volunteering for similar initiatives at various organisations. Tireni is particularly dedicated to helping underrepresented people pursue careers in finance. He also has keen interest in using data to improve educational outcomes. Tireni currently works as an Investor at BGF, focused on investments into small UK businesses.