Executive Leadership Team and Trustees

Trustee since July 2025. Chair of the Board of Trustees since December 2025.

Member of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee, Policy Committee, Nominations and Governance Committee, and the Remuneration Committee.

Emma was elected as a trustee in July 2025 and took over as Chair in December 2025.

Emma is an experienced Chair and Non-Executive Director with a strong track record in leading and transforming consumer-facing media businesses. She has served as CEO of Freesat and Beano Studios, and held senior leadership roles at the BBC. She brings deep strategic, audience and commercial expertise, alongside strong stakeholder management across regulated, public service and private sector organisations.

Emma is a Non-Executive Director of Which? and was previously Chair of World Book Day and Vice Chair of Ovarian Cancer Action.

Ifẹ Grillo joined the Board of Trustees in 2020 and became Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees at the start of 2024.

Ifẹ Grillo is an award-winning writer, creative technologist, campaigner and strategist. Once described by Google as a ‘relevance expert’, they have years of experience consulting organisations and brands on how to build their engagement. They crafted winning UX/UI strategies and collaborated with organisations like Google, the British Council, the BBC, and the Department for Education to enhance engagement, advance ESG goals, and foster a stronger culture.

Ifẹ’s writing has been published by Penguin and BBC, and they’re a former national poetry champion. Ifẹ’s performed worldwide, and teaches creative writing and performance in their spare time.

Ifẹ currently leads the University of Bristol’s new belonging programme, working with academics, students and community partners.

Trustee and Treasurer since March 2026.

Sajad joined the NSPCC as Honorary Treasurer in March 2026. He's a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA) with an MBA with Distinction and brings over 20 years’ senior financial leadership across the charity, professional services and private equity sectors.

He's held trustee and director roles with several charities, including the Advertising Association and a local Citizens Advice Bureau, helping to strengthen financial governance and guide organisations through the challenges of the COVID pandemic.

He currently serves as Finance Trustee for The Fursa Trust, supporting young people in Nairobi’s Deep-Sea slum, and is a mentor with Media for All, championing greater ethnic diversity in the UK media industry.

His commercial career includes senior CFO and COO roles at McCann Erickson London and TAG EMEA, leading finance teams across the UK and EMEA.

Passionate about social impact, Saj brings both rigour and a strong sense of purpose to his work in charity governance.

Trustee since 2026.

Member of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee.

Gillian qualified with a Bachelor of Accountancy degree from Glasgow University and became a Chartered Accountant with PWC in Glasgow.

Following her work as an International Internal Auditor for Thorn EMI she joined Polaroid, ultimately serving as group Finance Director from 2007 to 2013 for the Polaroid Eyewear division.

From May 2013 to November 2020 she was the joint Finance Director for Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL), the group which owns and operates 11 airports around Scotland and Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), owning 26 ports and harbours and 37 ferries. Both organisations are owned by Scottish Ministers.

Gillian then worked for AGS Airports Ltd (AGS) for four years until April 2025 as Chief Financial Officer. AGS owns and operates Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton Airports and has a turnover of circa £220 million. The highlights of this role were the building back of the business following COVID, a refinance of third party debt in 2024 and the successful sale of the business in January 2025.

Following her over 40 year career in business she is now a Non-Executive Director of the following organisations:

Non-Executive Director and member of the Transport Scotland Audit & Risk Committee.

Non-Executive Director and Trustee of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) based in Oban Scotland.

Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) based in Orkney, Scotland.

She was a member of the Children Panel in Scotland for four years to 2020.

She is pleased to become a member of the NSPCC board and is looking forward to working with the NSPCC team to support children and young people.

Eithne was appointed to the Board as trustee for Northern Ireland in October 2020.

Trustee since 2021.

Trustee for Wales.

Albert Heaney is the Chief Social Care Officer for Wales and has substantial experience leading children’s services and delivering excellent social work. Albert previously worked for the NSPCC, as well as working as a therapeutic social worker within a health setting in CAMHS.

Working in high level positions such as the President of the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) Cymru, Albert made significant contributions to national as the ADSS Cymru lead Children’s Policy Director and lead Policy Direction for Safeguarding and Prevention.

As a member of the England and Wales Family Justice Board, Albert has made a significant contribution to improving the family justice network in Wales. Now Albert is bringing his passion for bettering children’s services, sharing good practice, and commitment to promoting equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice to his role as an NSPCC Trustee for Wales.

Trustee since October 2018.

Andrew joined the City of Edinburgh Council as Chief Executive Officer in July 2015. He began his local government career with Falkirk District Council. His 35-year public sector career has since included a career in leisure where he became the Director of Leisure and Culture at Birmingham City Council and President of The Institute of Leisure Management and he has been CEO at four major local authorities in North Tyneside, Wiltshire, Cornwall and his dream job in Edinburgh.

He has delivered a £900m joint venture in waste management and has led transformation programmes in his last four authorities worth more that £200m. Andrew led the UKs first rural devolution deal in Cornwall worth £1.8bn and has now delivered the successful Edinburgh and South-East Scotland City Deal worth £1.2bn.

He is now leading a £147m Transformation Programme for the council and is at the heart of Edinburgh’s Launch of its City Vision initiative 2050.

Andrew is also a medal winning 400m runner and represented Great Britain and Scotland at international level.

Sheanna was appointed to the Board in October 2020.

She is a Trustee and Chair of the Policy Committee, dedicated to enhancing child protection across the UK. She focuses on partnerships and legislative changes to safeguard children, drawing on her own lived experience to ensure services are inclusive and evidence-based.

As Head of Brand Governance at The LEGO Group, Sheanna collaborates with senior executives to protect the brand's position as the world's most loved brand whilst creating space for innovation. Her strategic leadership, developed while working for the Boston Consulting Group, has been focused on defining growth strategies and managing key partnerships in the gaming sector.

Sheanna is also a passionate advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion. She co-founded the Yours In Scouting campaign to address abuse within The Scouts and she co-chairs The LEGO Group's Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage network in EMEA. In all her roles she strives to empower young voices and foster inclusivity.

Trustee since October 2024.

Ryan is a hybrid commercial and technology leader who has helped global organisations like Dyson leverage data and AI for significant operational impact. After cutting his teeth at the University of Oxford and Google, he has applied his expertise as Chief Data Officer, Chief Ecommerce Officer, and Chief Strategy Officer for major corporations. He is concerned about the widening gap between digital technology’s disruptive potential and the limited benefits many organisations are realising—not to mention its negative societal impacts. When not addressing these challenges, Ryan enjoys long-distance running and building Duplo architecture with his two young children.

Trustee since October 2024.

Kathleen has over 30 year's experience within the media and advertising industry. She is a qualified, accredited, and practicing psychotherapist and a registered member of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) and British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). She sees patients in both London and New York city, and is a regular board advisor and executive coach. She has authored two books on Psychological abuse and Narcissism and is a guest columnist for several consumer magazines in the mental health space. Katheen was made a Fellow of The Marketing Society in 2023, remains a member of UK’s WACL, NYC’s Influencers and is a regular mentor for Speakers for Schools.

Trustee since July 2021.

Emma began her volunteering career with us 25 years ago, working as a treasurer and later Chair of Bowden NSPCC fundraising group. She went on to become a regional forum member, central taskforce member for the North West and, more recently, took on the role as Divisional Vice President.

With a professional background in marketing and business, Emma has also acted as a voluntary business advisor to small arts organisations, as well as being a non-executive director to a successful music and literary festival. 

Trustee since November 2023.

Gaby’s early career was spent in marketing and public relations, where she was Managing Director of Freud Communications, one of the UK’s leading PR firms, and co-founder of Freud Inside, with advertising group The&Partnership.

After having children, she moved from a full-time role in communications into the education sector. She consulted for Treehouse School, a school for autistic children, and continues to sit on the Expert Advisory Committee for Ambitious About Autism. Most recently, she was a Director and Deputy Chair of Governors at Notting Hill Prep, an independent school in West London and Safeguarding Governor at their sister nursery school, the Acorn. During this time she worked closely with the Board of Trustees of the NHP Foundation, the charity arm of the school, supporting its bursary and local outreach programme.

Gaby has been a volunteer Childline counsellor for over six years, with additional roles as a mentor and a co-trainer for Childline workshops. Last year, she received her purple award for 700 hours of counselling.