Our people

We believe that every person matters and people are at the heart of all we do at the Centre.

Our clients

Our clients guide everything we do. We’re here to help children, families and young people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, or clients who have urgent or acute needs that cannot be met elsewhere.

We value every person; this is central to our Benedictine ethos and our values. We seek to develop trusting relationships over time with our clients. We rely on them to help us improve and develop our services so we include our clients wherever possible in our work.

Our staff and volunteers

Our staff and volunteers are diverse in their backgrounds, and their skills and experience. Many have lived experience of the challenges our clients face.

We are proud of our warm welcome and our team's commitment to supporting disadvantaged people to escape cycle of poverty and homelessness.

A passionate team

"Every day at Cardinal Hume Centre brings unique challenges and opportunities to develop my professional knowledge and skill set. Working to help others realize their potential and find their place in our community, is more than a job - it is a passion shared by everyone in the Centre."

- Jeanita Snowden, Employment Specialist

Meet our senior management, trustees and patrons

Senior Management Team
Trustees
Company Members
Patrons of the Centre

Senior Management Team

George O’Neill

Chief Executive

Before joining the Cardinal Hume Centre as its Chief Executive in 2018, George worked as Director and Community leader for L’Arche London, part of an international charity providing housing and support to people with learning disabilities. He helped stabilise its finances, develop its focus and led a significant capital fundraising campaign. Prior to that George worked in communications. He held senior advisory and leadership roles in the homelessness sector, higher education and Government, where as a Senior Civil Servant he was a Government press advisor and led Whitehall media staff. He is passionate about leading collaborative, and values-led teams.

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Edward Emond

Head of Advice

Ed is responsible for the delivery of our range of advice services, supporting the teams to continue to deliver and grow our high quality advice and support for families and young people across Westminster. He joined the centre in 2023 having worked for a variety of charities in the youth and mental health sector. Ed has a strong interest in developing services through empowering people with lived experience to have a meaningful voice in their design.

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Helen Finely

Director of Finance and Operations

Helen joined the Centre in April 2022 initially responsible for Finance and Operations but has also assumed responsibility for Human Resources. Before joining the Centre Helen worked as CFO at a research institute and prior to that held senior positions in various financial institutions. Helen is a Chartered Accountant with more than 20 years experience of delivering change and building and managing teams across a range of sectors. She has a strong focus on staff management, engagement and enjoyment at work and sees this as being important to long-term success.

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Karen Davey

Head of Service Development

Karen joined the Centre in 2023 and oversees the work of the Family Services team and the Young Person’s Supported Accommodation. Karen is an experienced leader in the field of housing and homelessness who is passionate about developing services for people affected by poverty the housing crisis. Before joining the Cardinal Hume Centre, Karen was the Strategic Lead for Shelter in London, and is currently the Chair of Trustees for the Hackney Playbus, a small charity dedicated to bringing play opportunities and support to families who need it the most.

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Trustees

Mark Hoban (Chair)

Mark Hoban is an experienced chair in the financial services sector. He works at the intersection of business, public policy and regulation. He currently chairs Pay.UK which operates the UK’s main inter-bank payment systems and the Financial Services Skills Commission which fosters co-operation between firms within the sector to reskill their staff. He has recently retired as chair of Flood Re and the Jersey Financial Services Commission. He has an inclusive approach to building teams and ensures organisations remain true to their purpose. Between 2001 and 2015, he was the Member of Parliament for Fareham. He was a government minister between 2010 and 2013. It was whilst as a minister at the Department for Work and Pensions that he first visited the Centre because of his interest in our work in helping people back into work. This was the start of a lasting connection with the Centre. He was co-opted onto the Finance and Risk Committees and became the Centre’s Chair in January 2024. As a local resident, he understands the need for an early, preventative approach to tackling the deep-seated issue of homelessness in London.

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Andrew Rose (Treasurer)

Andrew worked as Finance Director of several small companies in the fuel and energy sector for 15 years, prior to which he was an investment banker. Andrew went to Ampleforth College and then Cambridge University where he read Engineering. He chairs the Centre’s Finance and Risk Committees and has sat on several other ad hoc advisory groups.

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Anu Aina

Anu was officially appointed a trustee at the Centre as Trustee in December 2023. Anu's experience has been mostly been in retail and hospitality. He also spent time working as a SEND Teacher Assistant. He briefly worked in compliance, and is now studying for the Solicitor Qualifying Exams (SQE) in the hope of becoming a trainee solicitor. Like many people Anu grew up in social housing, and believes though not perfect provided security and stability. He feels in a working compassionate society no one should be homeless. He hopes by joining forces as a trustee to this charity which has a clear history in dealing with both the root and cause of this problem, he can contribute, even so small, to the reduction of homelessness.

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Bishop Nicholas Hudson

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Clea Harmer

Clea has been a supporter of the Cardinal Hume Centre for over 15 years and has always admired the Centre’s wonderful work. Professionally, she is the Chief Executive of Sands, a charity which saves babies’ lives and provides bereavement care and support to parents and families. She also currently Chairs the Maternity and Neonatal Programme Stakeholder Council, and also the National Bereavement Care Pathway.

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Mark Doran

Mark has been a Trustee since 2019 and a volunteers at the Centre since he moved to London 15 years earlier, when he was shocked at the scale of homelessness. Mark wanted to offer his skills to support the Centre’s critical work in tackling these issues. Having spent 15+ years as a civil servant in various government departments, Mark then moved to local government and is currently Executive Director for Growth & Environment at Hertfordshire County Council.

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Philomena Egan

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Rebekah Etherington

Rebekah is an HR professional with over 30 years’ experience in the financial services sector. She is currently Group Head of HR for Close Brothers, a UK merchant banking group. Previously she led HR for RBS Global Banking and Markets in the Americas, having started her career at Ernst and Young. Her interest in poverty and homelessness started when she read an account of an individual who had had a successful career but became homeless when their marriage broke up. This sparked an interest in understanding the root causes of homelessness. Rebekah's involvement with the Cardinal Hume Centre began when she went online to donate and saw the Centre was looking for a Trustee with an HR background. The Centre's Benedictine ethos that each person matters and its mission to help families, children and young people to overcome poverty and avoid homeless resonated. Rebekah became a Trustee in 2019.

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Samanthi Flanagan

Samanthi Flanagan is head of outreach at St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Soho, offering daily hospitality for people experiencing homelessness and poverty. Samanthi volunteers with the Catholic chaplaincy at HMP Pentonville, providing pastoral care to Catholic men in prison. As a Trustee she is committed to the innate value of every person facing difficulty who can find welcome, encouragement and empowerment at the Centre.

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Simon Enright

Simon Enright is a communications professional currently the Director of Communications for the Ministry of Defence. He has previously worked with TM King Charles and Queen Camilla through the accession and as Director of Communications with NHS England during the pandemic. Simon has been a Governor and Chair of Governors at several Catholic primary schools. He is currently co-chair of the St Charles and St Mary's Catholic Primary school federation.

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Tim Walsh

Tim Walsh is an economic consultant to the postal, express and ecommerce sectors, globally. Dr Walsh is a former Vice President and Director at Pitney Bowes and Royal Mail where led strategic, commercial and regulatory projects across the EU, Asia Pacific and the Americas. Tim joined the Board of the Centre in 2019 to support the delivery of high-quality services to some of society’s most vulnerable people, including those starting out after leaving local authority care.

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Victoria McGuire

Specialising in behaviour change communications for government and charities, Vicky brings over twenty years’ experience devising and delivering impactful campaigns across health, social justice and education. Having worked across Whitehall on national policies to improve the health and education of young people and their families, she became a Trustee at the Cardinal Hume Centre to support an organisation dealing with those issues on the frontline.

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Company Members

Bishop Nicholas Hudson

Cardinal Vincent Nichols

Catherine Hickman

Jocelyn Ridley

John Darley

John Gibbs

Nicholas Coulson

Philip Marsden

Patrons of the Centre

Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws QC

Cardinal Vincent Nichols

Field Marshal Lord Guthrie GCB LVO OBE DL

Fr Christopher Jamison OSB

Jeremy Paxman

The Most Honourable the Marquess of Lothian PC QC DL

The Rt Hon the Lord Browne of Ladyton

More about us

Vision, mission & values

Our vision, mission and values guide everything we do.

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Our history

For 35 years the Cardinal Hume Centre has been supporting local people.

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Our strategy & approach

We see the value in each individual and nurture potential.

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