Our People
We have a team of friendly staff dotted across the UK, led by our Senior Management Team and Senior Leadership Group.
We are also grateful for the support of our President, Dr Hilary Jones MBE.
Our Board of Trustees and Non-Executive Directors bring expertise and strategic direction. Meeting four times a year, they oversee finances and compliance with charitable legislation and regulation. You can hear a bit more from a few of them in the video on this page and read their biographies below.
Senior Management Team
Catherine Woodhead, Chief Executive
Catherine has worked in the charity sector since 2000, with her strategic and operational roles spanning large to small charities, from Save the Children for the Lord Mayor's Appeal to Muscular Dystrophy UK.
Catherine joined Living Streets in August 2024, excited about the prospects ahead for the charity. As a former team member of The Prince's Foundation for Building Communities spanning seven years and projects from London to New Orleans, coupled with her lifelong passion for walking, she is keen to put pedestrians firmly at the heart of the UK's plans for healthier, cleaner, safer and happier communities.
Tanya Braun, Director of External Affairs and Fundraising
Tanya joined Living Streets in 2015 with a background in journalism and PR. Throughout her time at Living Streets, she has increased the charity’s profile significantly, won industry awards and established the charity’s dynamic brand.
Appointed Director in October 2022, Tanya now has overall responsibility for our policy, campaigns, public affairs, communications and marketing activity.
When not working, Tanya can be found embarking on her own double buggy test with her young twins and son.
Katharine Cottee, Finance Director
Katharine is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, having started her career with PwC. With over 20 years’ experience across the charity and commercial sectors, she has more recently held roles at Via and Bliss.
Katharine is experienced in providing high level strategic guidance, while remaining hands on with systems, controls and team development.
Having grown up with a father who was a wheelchair user, Katharine has long understood the importance of accessible, people-centred environments. She joined Living Streets in March 2026 inspired by our vision for healthier, fairer and more connected communities, and passionate about ensuring that every pound is used powerfully to champion everyday walking across the UK.
Sally Fixter, Director of Delivery and Development
Sally joined Living Streets in 2012 and has overall responsibility for generating commercial, statutory and charitable income and delivering impactful products and projects. Having appeared as Strider on many occasions, she has seen first-hand how streets made for walking/wheeling energise people and bring communities together.
Sally has over 20 years’ experience of development and programme management in the public and charity sectors, including at Arts Council England, and achieved a Distinction in the Chartered Institute of Fundraising International Advanced Diploma in 2022.
Senior Leadership Group
James Alty, Head of Commercial
James joined Living Streets in 2019 and currently heads up Living Streets Services - our trading subsidiary - leading on strategy, business development and operational excellence.
James and his team are responsible for the products and services we offer to promote walking and wheeling, including WOW, Walk to School Week and Little Feet.
James enjoys collaborating with the commercial team and colleagues across Living Streets to deliver successful campaigns. He is keen to continue growing Living Streets Services to maximise the unrestricted revenue it can produce to support our charitable activities and mission.
Ruth Billingham, Head of Campaigns and Public Affairs
Ruth has over 20 years' experience in the third sector, mainly working in communications, marketing and campaigns roles.
Ruth oversees the organisation’s campaign strategy, influencing work and is responsible for supporters, donors and local groups. She is passionate about ensuring those most affected by poor streets are involved in our campaigns work. Ruth works remotely from Cardiff, so also oversees our strategic development in Wales.
Russell Cave, Head of Delivery
Russell joined Living Streets in 2010 and has a strong background in active travel, health promotion and product development.
Russell oversees Living Streets activity across the North of England which includes working with stakeholders and partners, developing the organisation’s profile and presence and delivering work with communities, schools, workplaces, supporters, and wider audiences.
Russell plays a lead role in developing income generating opportunities across the region to ensure the long-term sustainability for Living Streets.
Julia Crear, Head of Delivery and Technical Services
Julia has been working to make walking and wheeling easier and more accessible for 20 years, since joining Living Streets in 2005.
Julia provides a breadth of technical experience, including the original development of Living Streets community and school engagement methodology.
She and her team work in England, Scotland and Wales engaging with local government, private, sector, communities, schools and workplaces on their priorities for walking and improving the built environment.
Antony Hedges, Head of Digital and Data
Antony brings over 15 years of experience in strategic leadership and digital transformation. He oversees the management of the organisation's digital and data systems, ensuring alignment with Living Streets' mission to create vibrant, walkable communities. Antony plays a key role in shaping and executing our digital strategy, providing consultancy and support across departments, and fostering an environment where digital innovation drives operational effectiveness.
Throughout his career, Antony has led large-scale digital projects, developed advanced data platforms for real-time analytics, and championed the use of technology to improve customer and organisational outcomes. His leadership is defined by authenticity and collaboration, creating a culture where creativity thrives and individuals are empowered to excel.
Kathryn Shaw, Head of Communications and Marketing
Kath joined Living Streets in 2015 with a background in communications, regeneration and active travel.
During her time here, Kath has increased our media presence, painted a zebra crossing green, put walking on the map with a series of events at COP26, and won PR team of the year at the Charity Times Awards.
Kath leads on the charity's communications and marketing activity, including press, social and brand.
President
Dr Hilary Jones MBE, President
Dr Hilary is one of the most recognised and trusted medical broadcasters, with a career spanning almost 50 years in medicine and more than three decades on national television. A practising GP, author and health commentator, he has become a familiar face to millions through his long-standing role as ITV’s resident health expert, helping people understand complex health issues with clarity, compassion and credibility.
Passionate about public health education and prevention, Dr Hilary has dedicated much of his career to empowering individuals and communities to take positive action for their health and wellbeing. He is a strong advocate for lifesaving skills, health awareness and early intervention.
John Dales, Chair of Trustees
John is a transport planner, traffic engineer and urban designer with over 40 years’ experience working to enable people to travel more sustainably and to create safer, more inclusive and better-designed streets, public spaces and urban places.
From 2011-2018, John was a trustee of Living Streets, going on to become Chair in April 2026. He is also currently a trustee of Transport for All and was previously Chair of the Transport Planning Society and a contributor to Manual for Streets 2. He is an experienced trainer of other transport practitioners, a member of several design review panels, a regular conference speaker and chair, and author of the monthly ‘Street Talk’ column in Local Transport Today.
John was Director at Urban Initiatives before founding Urban Movement in 2011, where his projects have seen streets physically transformed to become more attractive places to spend time and easier for people to move in them under their own power.
Andy Cottrell, Treasurer
Andy is a Chartered Accountant, with Finance Director experience across the charity, public and education sectors at the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, Fight for Sight, GamCare and the City Academy, Hackney.
Andy has held previous Trustee and Treasurer roles at YoungMinds, the Domestic Intervention Project and for Freightliner’s City Farm.
Andy has been an active participant in his Living Streets local group in London and is a keen walker, runner, and cyclist. Andy is passionate about ensuring that pavements and public space are safe and accessible to all.
Sarah Berry, Trustee
Sarah is a campaigner and advocate for people-friendly cities, with more than a decade of experience in campaigning for a range of issues including economic fairness, social justice, environmental sustainability, and civilian protection. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she turned her focus to active travel and urbanism, becoming a prominent voice for walking, cycling, and low-traffic neighbourhoods.
Since then, Sarah’s writing and advocacy have been featured in Coach, Highways, and Camcycle magazines. She was awarded the Active Travel Academy Media Award for her blog Diary of a New Cyclist, and highly commended for Living Streets’ Charles Maher Award. Her green “road open” signs have become a recognisable symbol of low-traffic neighbourhoods across the UK and internationally.
Rezina Chowdhury, Trustee
Rezina believes streets should work for the people who live on them, and that better places begin with listening. Associate Director, Communications and Engagement at Project Centre, she brings a 25-year-plus career in social and market research, including roles at NatCen, Ipsos MORI and Public Health England, to putting people's lived experience first.
As a Lambeth councillor from 2014 to 2026, including four years as Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Sustainable Lambeth and Clean Air, she saw what that looks like: creating healthy neighbourhoods, School Streets at 50 schools, 12,000 trees planted, and pollution breaches on Brixton Road falling from 883 in 2015 to zero in 2024. She received the Women in Green Business Politician of the Year award in 2025.
Based in Streatham Hill, Rezina is delighted to join Living Streets as a trustee and help make walking the natural choice for everyone, in every community.
Paul de Cordova, Trustee
With over 30 years’ experience as a solicitor, mainly in private practice with top UK and US law firms, and as in-house legal counsel at Balfour Beatty, Paul’s career has been shaped by involvement in the built environment. Now, practising part-time with agile law firms and he provides commercial consultancy to select clients maintaining active engagement with businesses in energy, transport, and infrastructure.
As a law firm partner, Paul’s work has covered a broad range of corporate and commercial matters both in the UK and internationally, often requiring innovative solutions to complex legal and regulatory challenges, to understand and mitigate legal and reputational risks and help them to achieve their commercial objectives. He has participated in business development strategy for his law firms including targeted client engagement campaigns.
Paul is active in his local community, having participated as a committee member of Sandbanks Community Group residents’ association and as Chair of the Sandbanks Neighbourhood Forum in Poole, Dorset.
Dr Jo Maher, Trustee
Dr Jo Maher is an NHS GP, public health advocate and educator with a long-standing interest in the links between walking, health and community wellbeing.
She is Senior Partner at her practice in North Sheffield and works across leading organisations in the city with the Move More campaign to embed walking and other physical activity as part of a whole-systems approach to improving health and wellbeing.
Jo has held national and regional leadership roles promoting active travel, physical activity and health equity- as a Physical Activity Clinical Champion and previously as Lead Health Advocate to the South Yorkshire Healthy Lives Commissioner, Ed Clancy.
She has spoken on local and national media about the joy her passion for everyday walking has brought, both for herself, family, friends, colleagues and to patients in practice. She brings to Living Streets a strong focus on place-based partnerships and the power of walking to reduce health inequalities.
Daisy Narayanan MBE, Trustee
Daisy is Director of Public Realm at The Crown Estate where she leads the delivery of sustainable, inclusive public spaces that strengthen place identity and long‑term value. She was formerly Head of Placemaking and Mobility at the City of Edinburgh Council where she led on delivering a city-wide, integrated approach to transport and placemaking.
Daisy trained as an architect and urban designer, before focusing on sustainable transport and climate action over the last decade. Daisy serves on the Board of Architecture and Design Scotland, is a member of the NLA High Streets Expert Panel and the Mayor of London’s Infrastructure Advisory Panel. She has contributed nationally through Scotland’s Climate Assembly and the National Transport Awards. She has recently been awarded an MBE for services to Inclusive Urban Planning and elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Drawing on her previous experience working in India, Singapore, England and Scotland, Daisy believes passionately in the importance of creating inclusive places for people: places that reflect and complement the communities that live in them.
Dr Amit Patel, Trustee
Dr Amit Patel is a best-selling author, diversity, equity and inclusion consultant, motivational speaker, disability rights campaigner and charity Trustee. He is registered severely sight impaired (blind) having lost his sight overnight in 2013.
Amit studied medicine at Cambridge University and qualified as a doctor, specialising in emergency medicine. During medical school, Amit was diagnosed with keratoconus, a condition which changes the shape of your corneas, but which is usually easily treated with a corneal transplant. However, Amit was one of the rare individuals for whom the transplants rejected and despite travelling to the US for ground-breaking surgery, Amit lost his sight completely.
Since then, Amit has been on a journey to learn to live with his sight loss, from learning how to make a cup of tea again to walking using a white cane. After getting to grips with the basics himself, Amit set out to help others who were new to sight loss through volunteering. Today, Amit remains an active campaigner for accessibility, diversity and inclusion, speaking out against the issues that disabled people face daily.
Dr Catherine Purcell, Trustee
Catherine is a researcher, educator and public health leader with a long-standing commitment to creating healthier and more inclusive communities. She is a member of the Board of Public Health Wales, where she serves as a Non-Executive Director, contributing to strategic leadership on population health and wellbeing.
Catherine is a senior member of staff within the School of Healthcare Sciences at Cardiff University and has led research, evaluation and knowledge exchange projects across public health and community wellbeing. Her active travel research has focused particularly on pedestrian safety, road crossing behaviour and how the built environment can enable people of all ages and abilities to walk safely and confidently.
She has worked extensively to improve accessibility and promote walking as part of everyday life. Catherine is particularly interested in reducing health inequalities and ensuring that streets and public spaces support independence, social connection and wellbeing.
Adam Tranter, Trustee
Adam Tranter is the co-host of the Streets Ahead podcast and CEO of communications agency Fusion Media. He was formerly the West Midlands Cycling & Walking Commissioner under Mayor Andy Street.
Adam’s career is rooted in finding practical and political ways to enable more people to choose active travel. As Cycling & Walking Commissioner for the West Midlands, he secured over £35 million in funding, ensured that 25% of the West Midlands’ City Region Sustainable Transport Funding involved active travel improvements, guided the Combined Authority to one of the highest national capability ratings, and worked across political boundaries to turn ambition into delivery.
Folkert Veenstra, Trustee
Originally from the Netherlands, Folkert now lives in Tower Hamlets and lived for a long time in Wales. Experience includes the role of Town Councillor in Welshpool (Welsh Liberal Democrats), and trustee and director of the disabled people’s organisation Accessibility Powys.
As a wheelchair user, Folkert is passionate about pedestrian access, so disabled people can leave their homes for their daily needs, something he regularly campaigns on.
Professor Ian Walker, Trustee
Ian Walker is a professor of environmental psychology at Swansea University in Wales, where he studies the influences on people's transport behaviours, their energy and water consumption, and their interactions with the built environment. Ian has particularly specialised in research on active transport since the early 2000s.
A common theme across Ian's work is the importance of environments that enable healthy and sustainable behaviours, and how asking people to behave differently in unsupportive environments is unlikely to succeed.
Ian has extensive experience advising government, businesses and the third sector on matters of psychology and behaviour change.
Living Streets Services
Niels Busink, Chair of Living Streets Services
A former C-level executive with 25 years’ experience across operational, advisory and investment roles. Niels brings a blend of perspectives: as operator, strategic advisor to growth companies, investor and Board member, with a focus on founder-led and purpose driven businesses. His operational experience includes strategy development, financial analysis and reporting, building teams and supporting management and business owners through strategic transitions.
As a former Director of an FCA regulated business, Niels is very familiar with the governance, compliance and risk management aspects of a board role. He believes that the way we engage with our urban and natural environments can foster human connection, resilience and overall wellbeing. With a passion for exploring new places on foot, through to walking his children to school.
Ben Brewer, Non-Executive Director
Ben is an award-winning Product Design Director with over 15 years’ experience spanning UX, interface, and service design in both leadership and hands-on roles. He has scaled and coached design teams at organisations including Moonpig, Deliveroo, and Sainsbury’s, building inclusive, high-performing cultures and creating experiences loved by millions of customers.
Alongside his role at Living Streets Services, he helps guide strategy, vision, and design thinking in his day job, with a focus on solving complex customer and business challenges. Passionate about the positive impact design can bring to communities, Ben is excited to bring his expertise to support Living Streets’ mission for safer, healthier, people-first streets
Kirsty McCaskill-Baxter, Non-executive director
Kirsty is a communications and external affairs expert with over 20 years' experience. An astute and proactive leader, she has led communications teams within national and regional government since 2010 with a particular focus on the sport and transport sector. Kirsty has spearheaded a number of national campaigns from British Cycling’s women’s strategy to the development of Greater Manchester’s walking and cycling strategy, now known as the Bee Network. She has worked alongside National Active Travel Commissioner, Chris Boardman, since 2012.
Kirsty is Head of Communications and External Affairs at Active Travel England. In July 2025 her team led on a joint statement with England’s Mayors and the Transport Secretary, which includes a commitment to deliver 3,500 miles of high-quality active travel routes, a national network for active travel and a focus on a more active school run.
Kirsty enjoys walking and cycling for everyday journeys and has five primary school aged children who share her passion for getting out on foot and by bike as much as possible.
Sarah Taylor, Non-Executive Director
Sarah Taylor is a keen walker and hiker and believes streets across the UK should be safe, attractive and enjoyable. She joined Living Streets Services as a non executive Director in 2022.
She wants to help ensure we thrive as a well-governed, sustainable and effective organisation. Sarah brings experience of Chairing a board of trustees, and sits on a range of advisory and steering groups, bringing expertise in evidence, evaluation and research.
Sarah has worked as an evaluator in parenting and children’s charities. She is currently Deputy Director of Research for the Children’s Commissioner for England. Originally from Glasgow, she holds social science degrees from the London School of Economics and a DPhil from the University of Oxford.
Max Sullivan, Non-Executive Director
Max has practical experience in creating healthier, more sustainable communities through walking and cycling, along with commercial experience in communications. Max is an elected councillor and Cabinet Member for Streets in Westminster Council, where he initiated England's largest trial of 'side road zebras', which has seen a doubling of drivers yielding to pedestrians.
For more than a decade he has worked at one of the UK's most successful creative communications agencies, creating campaigns for a wide range of national and international clients.
