Our President and Vice Presidents
Marjorie Glasgow
President

Biography

Marjorie was appointed as OCF’s president in 2023 and has been Lord-Lieutenant since 2021. She is a Stanford University graduate and the founder and chief executive of an Oxfordshire-based clean energy company. Alongside this work, Marjorie helps lead the local Meals on Wheels and is a member of the Ditchley Foundation Council of Governors. More recently, she co-founded The Cornerstone with her husband and their parish church as a community sharing centre. She is an active member of her local church, and her interests include running, equestrian sport and the natural environment.

Sir Hugo Brunner, OCF patron
Sir Hugo Brunner KCVO
Vice President

Biography

Hugo is a former Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire (1996-2008), and is a sterling proponent of our work. An enthusiastic supporter of the installation of blue plaques throughout Oxfordshire, his family home was Greys Court in south Oxfordshire and he now lives in North Oxford. He enjoys hill walking and has used his hobby to raise money for charity.

Steven Croft
Rt Rev Dr Steven Croft, Bishop of Oxford
Vice President

Biography

The Rt Revd Dr Steven Croft studied at Worcester College, Oxford. He was a member of the Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence until 2020 and was appointed to the Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee in 2021. At the heart of Bishop Steven’s ministry is a desire to engage in the wider community. He has worked creatively with Anglicans of all traditions in a very diverse diocese, as well as with civic and community leaders and the leaders of other churches and other faiths.

Tim Stevenson, OCF president
Sir Tim Stevenson KCVO OBE
Vice President

Biography

Tim is the former President of Oxfordshire Community Foundation (2008-2023), whilst Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire. He has an MA in Jurisprudence from Worcester College Oxford, was called to the Bar in 1971 and is a member of the Inner Temple. He has worked in senior positions at Castrol International, Burmah Castrol, Travis Perkins, Morgan Crucible and Johnson Matthey. His interests include hill walking, modern art, music and reading.

Our Board of Trustees
Ian Busby
Ian Busby
Chair of Trustees

Biography

Ian spent a number of years as a civil servant before becoming a management consultant at Deloitte. As a Partner, he led the European e-commerce practice. He then became CEO of a US/UK venture capital-funded tech start-up that was an early promoter of online solutions to business. Ian is an Oxford resident committed to bettering wellbeing across the county. In 2012 he was appointed the first Chair of the Board of the NHS Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, which oversees health services for over 700,000 people living in Oxfordshire. He was also deputy chair of an Oxford schools academy trust.

Eleanor Burnett
Eleanor Burnett
Trustee and Treasurer

Biography

Eleanor is the Finance Bursar at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. She has a wealth of experience to bring to OCF both from within and outside the University. She is a Leeds Law graduate and an ACA-qualified accountant, and was previously the Accountant and a Governing Body Fellow at Exeter College, where she had been for ten years before taking up her post as Finance Bursar at St Edmund Hall. In her spare time Eleanor enjoys travel, theatre, piano, reading and sport. She was born and raised in Oxford and is delighted to be able to support OCF with particular focus on how the finances are managed.

Fabian French
Fabian French
Trustee

Biography

After qualifying as a lawyer, Fabian worked for many years in international investment banking. In 2010, he moved into the charity sector as Director of Fundraising at Marie Curie. He was later Chief Executive of UKCF, the membership body for all 48 UK-based community foundations, including OCF. He served on the advisory council of the National Lottery Community Fund. Fabian is currently on the board of three commercial companies, as well as being a school governor. He has lived in Oxfordshire for most of his life and is delighted to support OCF with particular focus on donor support and philanthropy development.

Monawar square
Imam Monawar Hussain, MBE DL
Trustee

Biography

Monawar is Muslim Tutor at Eton College, Muslim Chaplain at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Founder of the Oxford Foundation, a charity that promotes religious and racial harmony. He has contributed to a number of books on spirituality, and was High Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 2021-22, focusing on thanking and celebrating the county’s COVID-19 heroes. Monawar serves as an advisor to a number of national charities including the World Congress of Faiths, The Oxford Trust, History of Science Museum (University of Oxford), the Dalai Lama Centre for Compassion, Prison Phoenix Trust, NHS Faith Leadership Advisory Board, and the NSPCC National Advisory Group on Safeguarding and Muslim Children. He was awarded the prestigious Sternberg Interfaith Gold Medallion for interfaith services in March 2020.

Neil Preddy
Neil Preddy
Trustee

Biography

Neil is an advisor and marketing consultant to several innovative companies and start-ups in marketing data and research. Previously he was Senior Vice President of Product Marketing at Oxford-based marketing measurement company Nielsen. Neil began his career with Nielsen in Client Service in the UK and subsequently held responsibilities for a number of different areas of the business, including SVP for Strategic Initiatives for Nielsen in New York, and VP Marketing for Nielsen Europe in Wavre, Belgium.

Tim Whitney
Tim Whitney
Trustee

Biography

Tim is an experienced family lawyer and mediator at Mills and Reeve, a firm that has recently moved into Oxford and has long experience of supporting community foundations, both financially and governance-wise. Tim has been ranked as an “Associate to watch” in Chambers and Partners since 2019 with interviewees commenting he is outstanding lawyer and mediator who is incredibly skilled and successful. He was previously as associate with Skylark, an informal network of business people who support charities, in particular helping them to collaborate.

Our staff
Zoe 235 x 235
Zoe Sprigings
Chief Executive Officer

Biography

Zoe has been OCF’s CEO since 2022, and brings a wealth of experience from the charity sector and the Civil Service to OCF. In her previous role she was Director of Business Planning and Reporting at C40 Cities, a global charity that supports 100 major cities across the world to take climate action to reduce inequality and thereby to help their communities thrive. Zoe worked with the C40 Board – chaired by Michael Bloomberg – to develop and implement C40’s four-year strategic plan. Previously she held roles as a researcher, policy advisor and team leader across various Government departments.  Zoe is an Oxfordshire resident, and in her spare time volunteers as an English teacher to refugees across the county.

Image of Lisa Ashton.
Lisa Ashton
Financial Accountant (interim)

Biography

Lisa joined OCF in September 2024 to provide financial support and guidance.  A qualified accountant, she brings over 20 years of finance experience with roles in SME’s, PLC’s as well as the charity sector. Lisa runs her own small accountancy practice which she has done for the past 11 years where she provides accountancy services as well as an outsourced Finance Director function. She is passionate about travelling, and campervans and keeps busy with her family of 3 children, cat and dog.

Sarah Cooper
Sarah Changizi-Cooper
Grants Manager

Biography

Sarah has worked in the buying, operations and administrative side of retail and property businesses over a number of years, before and after having a family. She has a degree in Business Administration and is the founder of a luxury women’s knitwear label. OCF is her first step in to the world of charity, which is a personal interest of hers, particularly in relation to helping the elderly and isolated and families and children in the local area.

Sophie Grant
Sophie Grant
Fundraising Assistant

Biography

Sophie joined OCF in February 2023 in the newly formed role of Fundraising Assistant. She will be supporting the Head of Development in building strong relationships with existing and new donors. To complement her role, Sophie will be completing a Level 3 Apprenticeship in Fundraising over the next 18 months, kindly funded by an apprenticeship levy transfer from the University of Oxford. She has most recently completed a degree at Oxford Brookes University in Marketing Management, and in her spare time loves to cook.  

Susannah Hobbs
Susannah Hobbs
Communications Manager

Biography

Susannah joined OCF in February 2023 to look after all external communications across digital, print and events, whether that is sharing insights with stakeholders, telling compelling stories or engaging with local grassroots charities. She brings extensive experience in marketing and communications, having most recently worked at Usborne Publishing heading up the marketing function for the direct sales division, focused on engaging and supporting self-employed booksellers and sharing stories of their inspirational journeys. Prior to that she ran the marketing team at Oxford-based Blackwell’s Bookshops. Susannah loves dance, books and exploring the river Thames on her paddleboard. 

Claire Hughes 235x235
Claire Hughes
Head of Grants and Inclusion

Biography

Claire joined OCF in June 2023. She brings deep professional and lived experience of how to support Oxfordshire’s communities to flourish. She has spent the last five years working for the food and education charity SOFEA and played a pivotal role in the development of its Community Larder programme. She co-founded with her daughter Secret Santa 365, which donates gifts to those who are in hospital and other care settings. Claire has previously worked in roles spanning social housing and Duke of Edinburgh programme management. She is passionate about advocating for disadvantaged communities to have their voices heard and their needs put at the centre of grant-making.

Kate Parrinder
Kate Parrinder
Head of Development

Biography

Kate is responsible for building relationships with individuals, businesses and charitable funders, helping them to direct their generosity where it is most needed. Before taking up this role Kate worked as OCF’s communications lead for eight years, and so has an extensive knowledge of our donor community, funding priorities and impact. She joined OCF after nine years at local business psychology firm OPP Ltd, where she was responsible for digital and print communications, book publishing and translation. Kate has a Master’s degree in Literary Translation from UEA, and studied English and French at Warwick University. She volunteers as a Guide leader in North Oxford, and is a trustee of WATSAN, a water and sanitation charity providing aid to impoverished rural communities in Uganda.

At OCF, we could not even entertain our ambitions as a leading support organisation for the charitable sector without the help of other organisations. We are connected with many networks, and achieve more by working in partnership – including with four strategic programmes initially incubated by OCF. Find out more about our partners

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