Our trustees

The Booth Centre is governed by a board of trustees who are appointed for terms of five years.

 Elena Fowler - Chair

Elena worked for ten years as Chief Executive of the National Youth Advocacy Service, a socio-legal charity for children, young people and vulnerable adults. She has also been Head of Children and Family services, and Mental Health services in North Wales, and Drug services on Merseyside.

Elena is currently a member of the Hospital Managers panel for the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS foundation Trust. She is a Custody Suite visitor in North Wales, checking that people in police custody are receiving all their rights. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute.

​She is an active member of Amnesty International and for fun enjoys spending time with her grandchildren and walking with her recalcitrant rescue dog.  Elena joined the board in 2017.

Andrew Mullen - Vice Chair

Andrew is Deputy Director of Human Resources at the University of Manchester. He has worked in HR in Manchester for over 30 years and has expertise in all aspects of employment, including HR strategy, change and performance management, employee engagement, equality and diversity, and policy design.

​Andrew is a keen advocate of the role of education as a bulwark against social exclusion and serves as a Director and Chair of the Education and Leadership Multi-Academy Trust, which comprises three Manchester secondary schools. Andrew joined the board in 2013.

Saj Akbar

​Saj has worked in the recruitment and business coaching world for over 17 years and is the founder and Director of RACI Group, a business which specialises in niche/ business critical appointments through values based connections.

Saj has a long history of helping people realise a better future for themselves by combining her skills as an internationally accredited coach and knowledge of the recruitment industry.

The visions and values of the Booth Centre perfectly match her outlook on life and she champions that with the right support and tools, anyone can overcome their obstacles to build themselves a better future.

Saj also presents a business show on Rossendale radio and in her spare time enjoys weightlifting, MMA training and looking after her beloved dog Franki

David Briggs

After ten early working years in a wide mix of roles including professional theatre stage management, residential children’s social work and running a pub – David joined the civil service. This led to a career of 15 years in business development and a further 10 years working with universities. David has held various Director positions leading successful, multi-million pound projects, teams and partnerships. Now as an independent consultant and coach, he provides support to a broad group of senior executives and leaders.

In earlier times David has chaired various youth and community bodies. He is married to Sue, a teacher. They have one son working as a computer research scientist and two cats. He has lived all his life in the North West near Manchester and has a particular interest in history and the city. David has supported the Booth Centre through the Manchester Sleepout and other activities since being introduced in 2010. He joined the board of trustees in 2020.

Megan Hadfield

Megan studied French, Spanish and Russian at the University of Sheffield, where she spent time abroad in Spain and Russia. She started volunteering at the Booth Centre in 2019 and continues to support the Centre through fundraising. During the first lockdown, she and two other volunteers raised funds through an online art auction.

Megan recently completed an MA in Criminology and published a report from her research on the links between homelessness and modern slavery. 

​When she has a spare moment, Megan enjoys swimming, pilates, and travelling to new places.

Annie Kendall

Annie has worked for 25 years in the housing/homelessness sector, currently as a Head of Service at Yorkshire based Horton Housing. She has operational, strategic and financial responsibility for a number of accommodation and support services. She is a strong advocate for volunteering and have previously held positions as a Child & Youth Mentor and as a Befriender for older people.

She previously lived and worked in Manchester for over a decade and got to know about the fabulous work done by everyone involved with The Booth Centre. She also got actively involved by participating in events such as the Manchester Sleepout.
Annie joined the board in October 2022 and has recently joined the Strategy, Scrutiny & Risk Sub-Committee.
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In her free time Annie loves spending time with family and friends, walking in the Yorkshire hills (although she’ll always be a Lancashire lass at heart), and finding new places to explore in her campervan.

Joshua McGarey

Josh is a chartered accountant and for the last ten years has worked for various accountancy firms, primarily providing tax advice to companies and individuals.  He enjoys being able to make complex tax issues understandable.  He uses his accountancy background and his experience gained working with companies of all sizes to support the work of the Booth Centre.

Josh has been involved with the Booth Centre since December 2018.  He started off as a volunteer helping out in the kitchen, before being asked to join the board of trustees in August 2019.
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In his spare time, Josh enjoys playing guitar, hiking, and cooking (though not all at the same time!).

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Sarah Nurton

Sarah has over 15 years' experience working in the charity sector, in marketing communications and fundraising roles. 

She has knowledge of housing and homelessness issues, with previous roles at a social housing provider and as Acting Head of Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity which provided funding to organisations addressing homelessness across the city region.

​She now works in the field of social value with experience at Transport for Greater Manchester. Her current role as Social Impact Manager for Wienerberger, the world’s largest producer or bricks and clay pavers. Sarah joined the Board in August 2022 and Chairs the Fundraising Sub-Committee.

Dr. Patricia Gestoso

Dr Patricia Gestoso is an award-winning inclusion strategist, a technologist with over 20 years of experience in digital transformation with a focus on client service, artificial intelligence, and inclusive and ethical design of technology and workplaces, and a certified coach. She helps leaders and organisations to leverage diversity in their strategy so they can boost innovation and attract and retain talent.

Her efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the tech sector have been recognised with the UK 2020 Women in Tech Changemakers award and she has been featured among the most influential women in tech in the UK in 2022 and 2023. She has been involved with several NGOs that look into increasing gender equality in decision-making as well as digital literacy in the area of artificial intelligence.

Patricia is Spanish and has lived in 6 countries on 3 continents. She joined the board of trustees in 2023.