Judging panel
Gill Arukpe, CEO, Social Interest Group
Tahmid Chowdhury, Senior Account Director, M&C Saatchi World Services
Simon Gillespie, CEO, British Heart Foundation
Mary Rose Gunn, CEO and Founder, The Fore
Dalton Leong, Independent Chair, Surrey VCSE Alliance
Greg Sage, Deputy Director of Corporate Affairs and ESG, Royal Mail Plc
Gill Arukpe, CEO, Social Interest Group
Gill Arukpe brings over 35 years of experience supporting society's most vulnerable people through innovative social care and housing solutions. Starting her career at Shelter before taking director roles at Novas Overtures and Turning Point, Gill founded Social Interest Group in 2014 to create sustainable futures for struggling charities through shared resources and expertise. Under her leadership, SIG has supported over 39,000 people in three years through mental health services, criminal justice support, and housing programmes.
Gill's business acumen, combined with deep compassion, has enabled her to grow services from an £11m turnover to £20m while maintaining a focus on individual outcomes. She has pioneered many firsts in the sector, including Ireland's first hostels for people with alcohol problems and England's first national housing advice call centre.
With decades of experience transforming lives through ethical business practices, Gill brings invaluable insight into how commercial organisations can create meaningful social change.
Tahmid Chowdhury, Senior Account Director, M&C Saatchi World Services
Tahmid Chowdhury is a Senior Account Director at M&C Saatchi World Services, a specialist communications agency focused on driving critical global and social change. In 2018, he co-founded Here for Good, a charity providing free immigration services to support European nationals and their families post-Brexit. In 2020, he was named on the Forbes Under 30 list for his work; and in 2022, the charity expanded its services to support Ukrainian refugees fleeing conflict. He sits on several charities' boards and has been a judge at the Charity Times Awards since 2020.
Simon Gillespie, CEO, British Heart Foundation
Simon retired as CEO of the British Heart Foundation at the end of 2019, at the end of a career that included 23 years in the Royal Navy, two senior roles in Government regulators, and also Chief Executive of the MS Society. He was awarded the OBE in 2019 for services to ‘patients and medical research’ and was UK CEO of the year in 2018 and 2019. In ‘retirement’, he is continuing a number of his trustee roles. He has recently become a Special Constable for Cheshire Police and a specialist advisor on non-communicable diseases for the World Health Organisation. Later this year, he will join the board of an NHS Trust in north west England.
Mary Rose Gunn, CEO and Founder, The Fore
Mary Rose Gunn is Chief Executive and founder of The Fore and has been a pioneer in the grant-making space since 2012. The Fore turbo-charges exceptional small charities transforming lives and society. They have distributed over £10m in grant funding and over 20,000 hours of skills support to more than 700 small charities and social enterprises. She previously ran The Bulldog Trust and its public programmes at Two Temple Place and worked within politics and the media. She is Acting Chair of INTBAU and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2018 she was named as one of the Pioneers Post’s 100 Women in Social Enterprise. From 2020 - 2022 she served as a Commissioner on the Law Family Commission on Civil Society.
Dalton Leong, Independent Chair, Surrey VCSE Alliance
Dalton has worked in the private sector and not-for-profit sector. Firstly, in banking and financial services; working with retail, corporate and high net worth clients. After becoming a founding trustee of Shooting Star Children’s Hospice in 1995, he later joined them as Chief Executive. He was also Chief Executive of The Children’s Trust and Managing Director of Global (Radio) Charities, leading the appeals, corporate social responsibility programme and grant-giving at Capital, Heart and Classic FM, amongst others. He is now a Non-Executive Director, with a focus on improving health and care outcomes for Surrey’s residents. He is a Trustee of the National Emergencies Trust and chairs their Fundraising and Communications Committee and Equity Scrutiny Group; and also a Chartered Companion of the Chartered Management Institute.
Greg Sage, Deputy Director of Corporate Affairs and ESG, Royal Mail Plc
Greg Sage is Deputy Director of Corporate Affairs and ESG at Royal Mail Plc where his responsibilities include leading on the company’s ESG strategy. Prior to joining Royal Mail in February 2022, he spent over six years as Corporate Affairs Director at Greene King, Greg also spent 13 years at Tesco Plc where he held a variety of corporate affairs roles, including most recently as UK Community Director, with responsibility for the UK's community and charity programmes. Starting his working life as a journalist on local newspapers, Greg has also worked in a variety of communications roles at Hearst Magazines, Express Newspapers, Sainsbury's and IPC media.
