Board Of Trustees

Emma is the Director of Responsible Business at Herbert Smith Freehills, leading across a range of responsible business aspects globally. She has led the firms responsible business strategy since 2013, and drives the firms current priorities; climate change, human rights and social impact. She is passionate about the role businesses can play in driving change that creates an impact, making a real difference to people and places. She is a trained coach and has recently completed her MBA with Cranfield Business School. Emma grew up in Bath. She is a keen cyclist looking for her next challenge. She joined the board in 2018.

David has worked in a variety of roles across London and the West Country in the NHS for nearly 30 years. This has included time as a commissioner of mental health, substance misuse and older peoples’ services, as a Strategy Director in a south London Primary Care Trust and leading London wide mental health programmes. Currently he is leading a team managing a range of NHS contracts on behalf of the BaNES, Swindon and Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Groups. He has a wide experience of leading partnership work across the NHS and local authorities in a number of areas as well as serving on the boards of three charities working with people experiencing homelessness and mental illness. This has included chairing a small mental health charity in East London for over 10 years. Outside of work he is a keen supporter of Bath Rugby, and enjoys attending rock concerts and the theatre and  reading – especially detective fiction!

Jules is the managing director of Futureproof Digital Media ltd, a digital publishing company (launched in 2012 with just £3,000) that owns and operates voucher code and airport parking comparison websites. His sites help people to save money on their online shopping and airport parking whist raising money for charity at no extra cost to the consumer. As every time consumers use one of his websites, he donates 20% of his net monthly profits to good causes via the sites month user poll and to date he has raised over £62,000 for many good causes. Jules has extensive experience in publishing/media and has worked for companies including Future Publishing, Attinger Jack Interactive and Intent Media over a 15-year period. Prior to working in media/publishing industry he has over 10 years’ experience on retail and wholesale in the textile industry. In his spare time, he enjoys cycling, travelling, spending time at Westonbirt Arboretum and visiting National Trust properties.

After studying for his degree at Leeds University, Ahran joined KPMG where he starting his career as a finance professional. Ahran has over a decade of experience in finance roles and is currently Head of Accounting at MAPRE ASISTENCIA. Ahran joined the board in late 2018 where he has been a valuable member of the Audit and Finance Group Committee as well as leading the Board’s work on Diversity. Outside of work, Ahran enjoys playing golf and enjoying the outdoors and countryside around Bath with his family.

Clive is a lawyer and partner in the firm Burges Salmon and lives in Bath. He has a background in relation to trusts and trusteeship through his work. Until recently he was a Director of the Brandon Trust, a learning disability charity and held that position for 6 years. In his spare time he enjoys watching rugby, cooking and walking in the hills around Bath. Clive’s wife is Norwegian and they enjoy visiting Norway to see family.

Tim’s activities in the alternative residential sectors span over 20 years. Involved in driving new development and investment pipelines and leadership projects, he is passionate in ensuring the best possible living experience is created for residents, by delivering high quality, great value and innovative homes. He has been personally involved in c.30,500 student & BTR bed spaces in four countries since 2000 and is a regular contributor to industry and conference events in the UK and mainland Europe.

Ken is an Operations Manager in the hospitality sector with 30 years experience leading multi site ventures ensuring that maximum productivity and profitability is achieved. He is also a fellow member of the British Institute of Innkeeping, a qualified mentor with the Chartered Management Institute and a keen sailor who loves spending quality time with family and friends.

Jeremy is Head of National Partnerships at Homeless Link, the membership body for organisations working directly with people who become homeless in England. Prior to joining Homeless Link in 2022, Jeremy was Commissioning Manager at Bristol City Council where he had oversight of a range of supported housing and homelessness prevention services. He has also worked in various service delivery and contract management roles within the homelessness sector in Bristol. Outside of work, Jeremy enjoys spending time with family & friends, volunteering in his local community, and discovering good food and coffee.

After studying criminology in the UK and the USA, Naji has worked as a senior executive in many sectors in both the UK and abroad; including local government, the NHS, policing, construction, and regeneration. Naji has extensive experience leading strategy, operational delivery, organisational planning, leadership and public affairs.

Naji currently works in policing oversight with Police and Crime Commissioners. In his spare time he loves watching non-league football, keeps fit by running and hiking, plays several instruments and is a keen traveller and foodie.

Julia is a business psychologist who consults with a range of organisations about all the ‘people’ aspects of their companies. She started her career as academic but then moved into consulting and has worked across the public and private sectors, at home and abroad for more than 30 years. She runs her own company from her home office, but travels frequently, although of course, less so now in our post-covid world.

She has volunteered consistently alongside her working career, has spent time preparing meals for Julian House service users in the past,  and more recently ran Bath Hospital Radio for several years. She discovered an unexpected passion for broadcasting and developing programmes during her time as chair of trustees at the radio. In her downtime she enjoys theatre and music, playing tennis, walking her dog and travelling.

Sonya Butters is a Partner at Deloitte, where she specialises in controls, risk and governance. In her 26 years at Deloitte, Sonya has gained extensive external audit and advisory experience working with prominent UK and US listed companies, as well as privately owned and private-equity backed enterprises.   Sonya leads Deloitte’s Controls Advisory team and the firm’s response to the UK Corporate Governance reform debate with respect to internal controls. She focusses on the consumer and travel sectors and has been pivotal in developing efficient control frameworks for global consumer groups, large UK retailers, and organizations undergoing restructuring.

Outside work, Sonya lives in Bath with her family, two dogs and cat, and loves to run, spin and join classes at a local gym.  She also serves as Chair of Governors at Beechen Cliff School.

Dr Marek Koperski, MB BS (Lon), MRCGP, MSc (Guys&Thomas’), DTM&H (Lon). is a retired GP from a London teaching practice linked to UCLH and with special interests in working with homeless people and their carers, and those with serious mental health issues. Improving quality of care and efficiency through organisational reform. Honorary Senior Lecturer UCL, Primary Care and Population Studies. Research interests: diabetes, advanced primary care nursing, patient education. Chair Professional Executive Committee of Camden Primary Care Trust. Fulbright Fellow, visiting Professor, primary care department UCSF, San Francisco, California. Health care systems.

Dr Marek Koperski has worked mostly in communities suffering deprivation both in London and overseas and aimed to provide these communities with services as good as those offered to the better off. Now retired, he wants to continue contributing by offering help to Julian House. He loves travel, cycling, DIY and Spain.