Dr Edge Watchorn Chair Expand Dr Edge Watchorn Edge is Managing Director of Parliament’s Participation Team. She was previously Head of Education and in 2015 delivered Parliament’s first ever dedicated Education Centre with themed learning spaces and award-winning immersive, interactive technology. More recently, as a Director for the House of Commons she led a people development programme for 2,500 staff focusing on organisational behaviours, management capability and leadership development. Edge’s passion for democracy education grew out of her academic study where she explored the introduction of citizenship education to the National Curriculum in England and Wales. She pursued this interest from a range of angles through roles at the General Teaching Council and the Citizenship Foundation. She serves as a Magistrate on the North Essex bench and is a Fellow of the RSA and Westminster Abbey Institute. Edge has been a Trustee since 2011 and Chair since 2019.
Cécile Durand-Agbo Treasurer Expand Cécile Durand-Agbo, Treasurer Cécile is an experienced financial professional and an ACCA chartered accountant. After graduating from HEC Paris, France leading business school, in 2002 Cécile joined the corporate investment branch of Société Générale in London, where she worked for the UK Leveraged Finance team. In 2007 Cécile moved to the European Leveraged Finance team at Fitch Ratings, where she was promoted to Senior Director. She was responsible for assessing the credit risks of leveraged issuers, publishing research on the market and representing Fitch at public and private events. During that period, she also became a director for Chatsworth Court Freehold Company, the Freehold Company of a building block of some 200 flats. In 2014 Cécile decided to make a career change and in 2017 she became an ACCA chartered accountant. Cécile is now pursuing a career as a non-executive director. She joined the Board in 2017.
Laura Hamm Joint Vice Chair Expand Laura Hamm Laura is the Founder of Fabled - a digital platform for kids to create and share their own stories. She spent six years working as Senior Policy Advisor in HM Treasury, No.10 Downing Street, and the Cabinet Office across a range of domestic and international policy areas. Prior to this Laura worked for President Mary Robinson’s human rights programme at the Aspen Institute in Washington DC on health issues in sub-Saharan Africa. Laura began her career in parliamentary lobbying at Weber Shandwick Public Affairs. She has been a Trustee at the Citizenship Foundation since 2010.
Finn Judge Trustee Expand Finn Judge Finn has been involved in lots of charity fundraising, including raising regular income for St John Ambulance on a door to door basis, promoting first aid tuition in schools and keeping alumni relations ‘warm’ for his university, the University of York. He was also elected as a sabbatical officer and charity trustee for the York Students’ Union and represented over 200 student groups. During his role as a sabbatical officer, he represented over 200 student groups and also founded ‘Activities Access Grants’ for low-income students and led on grant disbursement for clubs and societies. Finn also studied English Literature and Government and Politics at A-Level and received a 1st class honours in BA politics with international relations at the University of York. As well as becoming our first young Trustee, Finn will be starting employment with UCL as a trainee fundraiser so will aim to offer strategic guidance to Young Citizens about expanding our fundraising and donations.
James Cathcart Trustee Expand James Cathcart James is the Founder/Director of Young Voices Heard, an initiative established in 2017 to enable greater youth participation in decision-making and democracy. Prior to this he was the Chief Executive of the British Youth Council 2008-2016, which also manages the UK Youth Parliament, working in partnership with national and local government across the UK. His interest in empowering young people as active citizens has developed from a career spanning youth work, juvenile justice and social work (qualified Social Worker/Probation Officer). This progressed to training, management and international development, working for several national charities including the National Children’s Bureau and the Prince’s Trust. He is strong advocate of youth volunteering and mentoring, and currently volunteers for the #iwill youth social action campaign and the Royal Commonwealth Society. He is an Ambassador of the British Citizens Awards. Born in Northern Ireland, educated at Durham/Southampton universities, but now living in Kent, James likes music, flying, travelling and tweeting @JamesCatChats. He joined the Board in 2018.
John Cooper QC Trustee Expand John Cooper QC Professor John Cooper QC is one of the country’s leading Silks, regularly appearing in high-profile cases before the courts. He is also an experienced broadcaster and writer. Having written a column for The Times for 10 years, had his plays produced on stage and television and authored a number of legal textbooks, Professor Cooper now writes for a number of National publications, on current affairs, the law and other areas of interest, including his regular column in the popular Dogs Today magazine about his passion for dogs and animal welfare, having been the Chair of an animal welfare charity for 16 years. Proudly educated at a Comprehensive School in Wolverhampton, John is determined to promote the interests of State School education and equal opportunity for everyone. He has been assisting us for over 10 years with the organisation of our Mock Trials Competition and as a Special Advisor to Lord Bach on the Access to Justice Commission was determined to ensure that the consequent Report recommended better public legal education in schools. Professor Cooper has advised the Shadow Attorney General and the Home Affairs Select Committee on legal issues and formerly worked as a lawyer at Clifford Chance. He joined the Board in 2017.
Victoria Speed Trustee Expand Victoria Speed Victoria is a qualified employment lawyer working in the Pro Bono Centre at BBP Law School since 2006, for the last 8 years as Director of Pro Bono & Corporate Social Responsibility. She has managed the growth of the Pro Bono Centre in this time and oversees a number of projects aimed at improving access to justice, including clinics and phone lines, and improving understanding of legal issues, through a student volunteering project, Streetlaw. Victoria previously worked as a solicitor at Simmons & Simmons and at Russell-Cooke Solicitors and this background in practice has been most useful when building pro bono projects reliant on volunteer professionals. Victoria has been on the National Pro Bono Week Committee and the Attorney General’s Pro Bono Committee for a number of years. In the course of her career Victoria has often worked alongside Young Citizens and feels strongly that the charity’s mission and values closely match her own
Matt Lambert Trustee Expand Matt Lambert Matt is Business Development Director of leading digital marketing agency, TMW. With 10 years’ experience in marketing – working for some of the biggest names in the business including M&C Saatchi and the Engine Group – Matt has risen through agency ranks at a remarkable pace, being promoted to the management board at M&C Saatchi as Head of Business Development at just 28. In that time, Matt has secured over £25m of new client revenue and has been involved in a number of high-profile behaviour change campaigns, including Public Health England’s Change4Life programme and Start Today, the sustainable living initiative run by Business in the Community. Matt joined the board in 2018. His interest in citizenship education was sparked when he took part in the Bar Mock Trials Competition at school and he is looking forward to giving something back to the charity which inspired him and the young people it serves.
Jacquie Ayre Trustee Expand Jacquie Ayre Jacquie has more than 30 years’ experience as a secondary school teacher and Faculty lead for Citizenship and PSHE in the North West of England. She has taught an extensive range of subjects including Citizenship and PSHE, Geography, History, RE and Sociology. In addition, within school Jacquie worked as a Professional Mentor in charge of teacher training, which involved liaising with North West universities and supporting their PGCE courses. This experience was extended further whilst on Secondment at Edge Hill University where she supported the PGCE course and acted as an MTL Tutor (Masters in Teaching and Learning). Jacquie has gained significant experience of delivering Citizenship education across a large secondary school. She has worked with many North West charities as well as Young Citizens, running drop down days, social action projects and mock elections. Jacquie has recently taken on a role with the Liverpool World Centre working on projects around the Sustainable Development Goals.