Meet the team

Sarah is RedSTART’s CEO. Previously, she undertook the role of the RedSTART Development Director, when she was responsible for developing our case for support and fundraising strategy. Sarah has over 20 years of experience leading client service teams in the finance sector.

Claire started working for RedSTART in 2019 as the Education Engagement Manager. She has a background in third-sector project management and start-up environments. Claire volunteers as a mentor for young people in her local community and feels deeply privileged to support and learn from them. She brings this experience to bear as we develop our volunteer networks at RedSTART.

Relationship management and engagement with a cross-section of stakeholders is Claire’s superpower – leveraging these connections to ensure RedSTART can Change the Game for all their schools and pupils excites her.

Now working as the Regional Manager for Suffolk, Claire can’t wait to help the amazing teachers and communities in her hub to Change the Game for some of the most under-served communities in the UK.

Gina is RedSTART’s Regional Manager for Bristol and the South West. She has created the Year 5 and Year 6 content of the financial education programme, and is responsible for updating resources. She also organises and leads the delivery within the Bristol area and training for all Year 5 and Year 6 resources, as well as being part of the team working on the RedSTART Bank app. She was previously a Primary School Teacher, with 10 years of experience.

Lucy joined RedSTART in September 2021, following four years of primary teaching in Croydon. Lucy initially used her education background to help create RedSTART’s engaging and interactive financial education resources. She now works closely with RedSTART’s partners in London, ensuring that corporate employees can share their passion for financial education by volunteering at workshops.

Katie is RedSTART’s Senior Education Consultant, supporting our programme development, distribution and impact assessment. She was previously Assistant Headteacher of a large primary school in Newham. She is an early years specialist.

Katie is passionate about equal opportunities and ensuring that every child should achieve their potential. Katie is committed to financial education for young people and became a RedSTART Trustee in 2016. She has been very involved in implementing the RedSTART programmes across her school and educational trust.

Helen joined us in December 2022. She did her schooling in Scotland and loved acting in the local pantomime! She worked for Abbey National there, who supported her relocation to London. There she was able to grow her career and spent 15 years working as a Financial Advisor and then as a Branch Director for Santander. She then wanted to take her skills and passion into the charity sector and took the opportunity to become CEO of a safeguarding charity called Warning Zone, which educated over 10,000 Year 6 children a year about personal and online safety through games and immersive experiences. She then moved to do some projects with secondary schools and young people aged 16-18.

She is passionate about working with young people and is bringing her knowledge of networking and education to her region in North London for RedSTART.

Lynn joined the RedSTART team in December 2022 as Regional Manager supporting schools in the North East.

Lynn has spent many years in corporate stakeholder engagement roles working with schools and volunteers in both the private and charitable sectors. She is also a serving Trustee of an Academy Trust and has previously held governor roles in several schools.

Steve started with RedSTART in September 2022 and is passionate about people understanding good money habits as early as possible to gain skills and confidence, enable opportunity and widen life choices.  He’s pleased to be part of the team rapidly scaling up RedSTART. Steve also Chairs the Investment Committee of a pension fund and was previously Head of Claims Strategy at Direct Line Group.

Originally from Edinburgh, John became an Associate Musician with Drake Music Scotland in 2009, planning and delivering a range of community-based projects with the aim of making music accessible for children and adults with special needs.

Between 2011-2017 John was involved with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in a number of roles and in 2015 established ‘Staged for Life’ – an accredited technical training and work experience programme for young people to learn skills in the areas of event management and technical production, which was subsequently expanded to include work with festivals in the Middle East and Africa.

John has recently returned to Scotland after five years in New Zealand, where he has been contracting as a project manager with various ministries within the New Zealand Government. He has a three-year-old daughter and is passionate about removing barriers for children to access high-quality educational opportunities.

Christina joined the Redstart team in March 2023 as Regional Manager supporting schools in South London.

As a born and raised South London native, Christina is passionate about working with children and young people across London to reach their full potential. After graduating with an Accounting and Finance degree, she spent multiple years working in local government to transform and improve children’s services and support the delivery of projects catered to young people. Christina has also spent multiple years as a private maths tutor working with children between the ages of 5 and 16. She is a big believer in financial literacy becoming a mandatory part of the syllabus for children across the UK.