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Senior Staff & Board of Trustees

  • Mary-Ann Foxwell - Chief Executive

    Mary-Ann joined AUKEL as Chief Executive in April 2023 having previously worked for a variety of national and local charities, most recently as Chief Executive of Citizens Advice Wandsworth. Mary-Ann has a post-graduate certificate in Business Administration and benefitted from an 18-month Outstanding Leadership programme delivered by BAYES business school. She has a strong commitment to social justice and believes passionately in collaboration; understanding that everyone benefits when established charities (like AUKEL) work generously with partners across sectors. Mary-Ann has a track record of building teams where kindness is valued and everyone has a voice; she believes that happy teams provide good, responsive and kind services.  

  • Larissa Howells - Director of Services & Deputy Chief Executive

    Larissa has 20+ years' experience in the charity sector and has been at Age UK East London since 2016. She is proud to be part of the wonderfully diverse East London voluntary community and of the great partnership work she has been a part of. She volunteers as a Trustee for a number of other charities and helps out in the kitchen at her local homeless shelter.  She is driven by a commitment to ensuring that people are supported to enjoy healthy, connected and independent lives.

  • Modan Deb - Director of Finance & Operations

    Modan Deb joined AUKEL in January 2024. A finance professional with 30+ years of experience in charities, housing associations, and local authorities, he is a Chartered Certified Accountant (FCCA) and holds an MA in Public Sector Strategy. Modan has held senior roles at Centrepoint and the London Boroughs of Camden and Islington. He serves as trustee and treasurer of Kensington & Chelsea Social Council and supports a North London community group promoting education, culture, and wellbeing in the Asian community. He is passionate about equality, social justice, and affordable housing. 

  • Emily Anderson (She/Her) - Head of Fundraising & Communications

    Emily joined Age UK East London in January 2024. She has worked for national and local charities in fundraising and communications since 2015, in community fundraising, CSR, individual giving and gifts in wills. She is pasionate about supporting people to be independent and live the lives they want through excellent services. 

  • Andrew Evans (He/Him) - Head of Hospital & Home Services

    Andrew joined Age UK East London in November 2024 having worked in the charity sector for over 20 years. His experience is largely in the fields of sexual health, mental health, community, youth and HIV services developed at METRO Charity where he was in the senior leadership team for the last 10 years. He is an experienced collaborator, building authentic partnerships between the local NHS, voluntary sectors, and the community to drive change and influence future collaborations.    

  • Adam Pervoe - Head of Advice, Advocacy & Integration

    Adam started his career in Health and Social Care working in dementia services with Housing and Care 21 before moving into home care and reablement management with the same organisation. He has worked for Family Mosaic in Havering before moving into Enablement Services with Age UK Islington. He has 9 years of experience supporting older adults in a variety of settings across four London Boroughs. 

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  • Pina Ruscigno - Head of People

    Pina joined Age UK East London in October 2015. She has 13 years of experience in HR within the Charity Sector. She is an associated member of CIPD. Since November 2023 she is also supervising the Volunteer department. She is committed to build a workplace where anyone, from staff to volunteers, feel included, valued and supported.

Board of Trustees 

Imelda Redmond- Chair

Imelda Redmond joined Age UK East London as Chair of the Board of Trustees in February 2024. She has over 30 years experience of leading organisations in the charitable and not for profit sectors including Healthwatch England, children’s charities, Carers UK . She is passionate about ensuing that people are properly heard and represented in the design and delivery of services. She is a Non Executive member of North East London Integrated Care Board, Co Chair of the Health and Care Devolution Commission. She was awarded a CBE in the New Years Honours List for her services to reducing the impact of disadvantage.

Adrienne Policht

Adrienne Policht has worked in investment banking for 10 years, mainly focusing on risk management. Since moving to London 9 years ago, she has always resided in East London. Adrienne has volunteered for Age UK East London as a befriender and digital buddy. She is a trustee of several other charities and a school governor in Newham. 

Grzegorz Fraczek

Grzegorz Fraczek is a Chartered Accountant with 12 years of experience in financial services. He is passionate about supporting community initiatives and is committed to leveraging his financial expertise to help advance the strategic goals of Age UK East London, ensuring the charity’s ongoing success and impact. Grzegorz holds a Master’s degree in Finance and Accounting and Bachelor’s degree in International Relations.

Jayne Davis

Jayne relocated to London from Bath earlier in 2024 and now lives in Southwark with her husband. She has been in education for 30 years and has been a senior leader for over 15.  Jayne has extensive experience in educating and safeguarding children, young people, adults and vulnerable adults and has a passion for working to ensure that people of all ages can live without risk of harm or abuse. 

Jeni Deborah Mwebaze

Jeni brings over 20 years’ experience in healthcare. She has held senior leadership roles across various NHS organisations including in mental health services, community health service, Ambulance services (999 & 111), Primary care and Acute health services. Jeni is passionate about quality, safety and service user experience. She holds a MSc in Patient Safety from Imperial Collage London & is currently working as Director of Quality for Croydon Health Services.

Merlyn Holkar

Merlyn lives and works in East London. He works in policy at the Financial Conduct Authority on the Consumer Duty, a flagship initiative to drive high standards of consumer protection across the financial services industry. Merlyn previously worked in the charity sector at Money and Mental Health Policy Institute where he managed a community of over 5,000 people with lived experience of mental health problems who are at the heart of the charity's work. He is passionate about inclusive approaches to designing policy and services.

Paul Oliver

Paul Oliver joined the Age UK East London Board in January 2025. Paul has worked as Chief Financial Officer and Finance Director for several Health and Social Care providers. Paul spent most of his career in Telecoms as Director of Strategy with BT. Paul is committed to working in social care to improve the services delivered to vulnerable people. Paul is a qualified accountant and alumnus of Green Templeton College, Oxford

Randal Smith

Randal runs a consultancy and has long experience working in local government in a number of roles mainly as a strategist and commissioner. He knows the East End well having lived in Tower Hamlets for 36 years and working for Hackney Council for 5 years.  He is passionate about organisations running effectively and efficiently. Randal is involved in the voluntary sector in different roles. He holds a PhD in African history and an MBA.

Sohail Ahmed

Sohail is a technology leader with over 20 years’ experience driving digital transformation, governance, and innovation at global financial institutions including Citi, JP Morgan, and Barclays. He brings expertise in strategic planning, risk oversight, and digital modernisation to the Board. A long-time East London resident and carer for his elderly mother, he brings personal insight into the challenges older people face. Sohail is committed to helping Age UK East London strengthen its impact through effective governance, inclusion, and modernised services that support older people to live with dignity and connection.

Teresa Christina O'Connor

Teresa has been a trustee since August 2021. As a lawyer for over 30 years, she is experienced in Charity Governance, compliance and contentious issues. Teresa has been on many committees and management teams in support of community groups and public service organisations. She was previously Head of Litigation and Regulatory at Zurich Financial Services and she also sat on the management committee of Zurich Municipal. Teresa’s own parents were greatly supported by Age UK and she wanted to give back by providing her legal and governance skills to the organisation. From her induction day with the charity, Teresa has been struck by the quality and diversity of service provided by the charity. She was excited to attend the launch of the Marie Lloyd centre and enjoys working with the current Chair and the CEO on the Age UK National changes. 

Zara King

Zara is a strategy and business development leader, with 13 years experience working within the healthcare industry. Zara is passionate about improving lives and has also been a Governor in her local NHS Trust. Zara has a BSc in Economic History from LSE.