Trainers
Our trainers come from a variety of backgrounds and are specialists in their fields.
We are currently searching for more trainers to deliver our Professional Development Programme events. It’s an opportunity to influence the development of the CDFI sector, as well as a chance to earn a bit of income.
If your expertise could be used to help the sector and you are interested in becoming a trainer for the CDFA then contact Professional Development Manager, Corinne Thompson, for more information.
Our trainers
Andrew Baker
Andrew spent over 30 years working for Rolls-Royce plc, during which time he gained an engineering degree and subsequently an MBA. In 2002 he started to work as seconded Project Manager setting up Derbyloans and left Rolls-Royce the following year to become Chief Exec of the CDFI that he had launched. He remained Chief Exec until 2007 and started the expansion that has seen the organisation spread across the Midlands and change its name to MCF.
Since 2007 he has run a consultancy for community finance providers and social enterprises and has clients across the East and West Midlands. In addition to writing and delivering training for CDFA, he is a board member of Leicester Moneyline.
Andrew believes that proper financial planning is key to CDFI sustainability and the development of financial planning tools is an ongoing interest.
Mike Bygrave
Mike Bygrave is Chief Executive of Coventry and Warwickshire Reinvestment Trust. He began his career in finance at a large mutual building society, and then had a spell with a major regional newspaper, before qualifying as a financial accountant while working as a manager at a large multinational insurance company. He then spent ten years running his own business while also working as a lecturer teaching AAT and ACCA accounts, and qualified as an NVQ assessor. He went full circle back to retail finance in the late 1990s when he set up a credit union in North Warwickshire. During this period he became an accredited OCN moderator and assessor and was heavily involved in delivering and writing national training within the credit union movement. He became Chief Executive of CWRT in 2005. His commitment and experience both as a trainer and a practitioner have given him the opportunity to gain and share an in-depth knowledge of both the theory and the practice of working within this challenging sector.
Leah Cameron
Leah was brought into Scotcash as General Manager in December 2006, tasked with opening up the operation and working towards achievement of business plan which is drafted out over the next 20 years. She has a financial services career spanning two decades working with various banks and building societies, all in a management capacity. She joined the sector because she felt that her experience could be put to better use by assisting the people who need financial guidance the most. The sector has no shortages of challenges and the cdfa’s PDP training programme aims to overcome some of these challenges by making available affordable training which will help to develop dedicated staff, instilling in them an improved knowledge and skills base which will in turn make the sector a stronger and more successful business environment in which to work.
John Hall
John has been at the vanguard of community finance for nearly ten years. Experience includes: Chief Executive of a social enterprise (Street NE Ltd) specialising in micro finance for the financially excluded and a Board member of CDFA. Prior to this, he ran his own micro enterprise for seven years. He has experience within all sectors, not for profit, private and public, with specific skills in effective communication; PR/marketing; finance/budgeting; sales; business planning; monitoring/impact; product development; governance; and grant/fund applications. As well as delivering CDFA training, he is also an approved assessor for our Change Matters programme.
Meg Heath
Meg Heath began her career working in management consultancy and then went onto work in market development roles for international companies with responsibilities in USA, Africa and UK. She spent five years working for herself as a consultant before joining BEF in 2005. At BEF she has streamlined the internal procedures of the organisation, designing and building their client database and is actively involved in the marketing of the organisation. In 2007 she established a loan circle programme which runs in Bradford and Keighley in partnership with BizFizz (New Economic Foundation). She has spoken at the European Microfinance conference and sits on the board of two social enterprises and a charity. Meg has delivered marketing programs for the cdfa.
Olivia Hepburn
Olivia Hepburn is a highly self-motivated professional development training and business strategist based in London UK. She has worked and trained in both the public and private sector, completed various outreach projects with community groups in East, South London and internationally. Olivia learnt about the CDI sector as a beneficiary of the Prowess development program working with one London business support unit back in 2001, she later worked for the organisation assisting to set up a private loan fund in the South London. Olivia recently completed the Peer Led Train the Trainer Award with CDFA. Olivia’s mission is to help others develop and help themselves through education and training, drawing out their full and adventurous potential from within.
Martha Lawton
Martha is a specialist financial inclusion and financial capability practitioner and the founder of Lawton Training and Consultancy. Her clients include registered social landlords, local government and charities of all sizes. Prior to this she was a Senior Project Worker at Toynbee Hall and before that an adviser at multi-award winning independent financial planners Baigrie Davies-LifeSearch. Martha holds a BSc in Biochemistry with Japanese from the University of Manchester as well as professional qualifications in financial planning and in teaching adults from the Chartered Insurance Institute and City and Guilds respectively.
Peter Newnham
Peter Newnham has worked in the community development finance sector since 2006 when he joined the cdfa as Head of Regions North. Peter’s first career was as a civil servant, during which time (amongst other things) he worked as a staff trainer for two years. Following his civil service career Peter ran his own regeneration consultancy for nine years, and has returned to consultancy work since leaving the cdfa in 2008. He now works primarily in the CDF sector, where he undertakes Change Matters technical assessments as well as doing specific other consultancy work both for CDFA and for individual CDFIs.
Matt Smith
Matt Smith has worked at Key Fund Yorkshire for 8 years, developing in this period from Grants and Loans Officer to Fund Manager. Matt now plays a pivotal role in the generation and completion of deals, development of new products and securing new contracts whilst still maintaining close client relationships. He has provided expert opinions and advice in many of the major regional and national voluntary and community events/conferences, and is also a member of the Department for Communities and Local Government’s expert reference group for community share issues. Through taking part in the professional development programme, Matt hopes to pass on his experience of working in the sector and particularly his knowledge of social enterprises.
