Appointed due to his considerable experience as a UK and Global partner at accountancy firm EY, Alan was in practice for 39 years, 32 years as a partner until he retired from the partnership in July 2020.

Alan has the benefit of over 30 years’ experience operating at board level in a variety of roles within diverse, challenging and often highly regulated environments. He has served for ten years in total as either a director or elected chairman on two major not-for-profit professional bodies, one UK and one International. He was recently appointed senior independent non-executive director of a large UK private company. He has five years’ experience as the chairman of a school board of governors. He also has 20 years’ experience as a fundraiser and patron for a national spinal injury charity.

As a trained social worker (including time at Tavistock Clinic), Pam’s early career was in child and family psychiatry both in Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire, including the world-famous Mulberry Bush School (a therapeutic community for young children). In 1989 she moved to work in palliative care and to teach social work part time at Middlesex University. She started two Childhood Bereavement services, was a member of the Childhood Bereavement Network advisory group and Trustee for Youth Talk in St Albans. Between 2003-11, Pam was a director of European Association of Palliative Care, lecturing throughout Europe. In 2011, she was appointed by the EU to a three year post as a team member developing palliative care in the Republic of Serbia; her links with central and eastern Europe continue. Pam was Programme and Seminar Tutor for a large Counselling Charity covering Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire until January 2021.

Pam is a passionate advocate for family focused palliative care which includes the needs of children and young people and for the need for clinical supervision. She now works as an independent consultant in psychosocial palliative care & clinical supervisor for a large NHS trust in Essex and for several hospices in the South of England. of

Sasha Wiggins is Chief Executive of Barclays Private Bank and Wealth Management, and she is a member of the Group Executive Committee.

Sasha joined Barclays in 2002, progressing through a number of roles in the Private Bank. In 2015 she was appointed CEO of Barclays Bank Ireland and subsequently became the Group Chief of Staff in 2018. Sasha joined the Group Executive Committee as the Group Head of Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility, accountable for the Bank’s overall sustainability agenda and Barclays engagement with governments, regulators, the media and key policymakers. She assumed her current role in February 2024.

In addition to her role as Trustee on the Board of Grief Encounter, Sasha is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investment and Vice Chair of the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity’s Corporate Partnerships Board.

With more than 30 years of experience as a business leader and entrepreneur, having founded the NDL Group and Promotigo Technology Ltd, Nick’s extensive professional knowledge ranges from customer and employee engagement, commercial development, promotions and marketing, to legal and financial experience. He brings a deep commitment to helping others and a strong strategic vision which will help push Grief Encounter into the next phase of its growth.

Nick’s appointment comes after his dedicated service to Grief Encounter as a helpline volunteer since 2021. His frontline experience of supporting grieving young people, plus his own experiences of personal bereavement as a child, has given him a deep understanding of our work and the challenges faced by those who seek our help.

As a member of our Board of Trustees, Nick will play a vital role in shaping the future of the charity, and in ensuring that we continue to provide the highest quality of professional support to the children and families who need our services.

Phanella is a highly experienced Accredited Executive Coach who works with senior and emerging leaders across all sectors in both individual and group settings. She helps them to think, feel and behave more effectively to deliver peak performance and enhanced results. Alongside her coaching work, Phanella founded a direct-to-consumer coaching start-up, which she sold in 2019. Her first book, Step Up: Confidence, Success and Your Stellar Career in 10 Minutes a Day, [Random House] was published in 2016.

Phanella began her career as a corporate lawyer at Slaughter and May and Linklaters and then a European Equities portfolio manager at JPMorgan where she passed all levels of her CFA before requalifying as a coach with a Masters in Organisational Behaviour, Career Management and Counselling.

Phanella’s own bereavement experience as a young teenager alongside her professional experience, make her a passionate advocate of Grief Encounter’s work.

Rupert is a highly experienced Finance Professional. After qualifying with KPMG, Rupert has operated at Board level across a number of Media companies; both Private and Listed.

Most recently, Rupert has been CFO of AgriBriefing throughout its successful Private Equity journey.  AgriBriefing is a leading provider of pricing and other information to the global agricultural industry which, following 11 years – including 3 Private Equity transactions – was finally bought out in early 2023.

Rupert brings with him experience from serving as a Trustee for a number of charities including Vinspired and WIZO UK, as well as personal experience of family bereavement.

Terry has more than 30 years’ experience supporting, connecting and helping people get the most out of their technology. Working for many years as a Microsoft training consultant opened a lot of doors, and for the past 15 years he has been helping companies collaborate more effectively.

First-hand experience with global companies like Rio Tinto, or financial institutions like RSA and Direct Line have exposed him to a wealth of practices that can be shared with his clients.

As Managing director of CIDA Digital, he is involved with improving collaboration and security for many varied clients. He is currently working with Thames Valley Police implementing projects that will safeguard and secure information using cloud technologies.

Claire Ballak is Global Head of Compliance and Legal Services, and a member of the Group Executive Committee at CRU International, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.

Claire has over 25 years’ experience spanning enterprise-wide compliance strategy, information security oversight, corporate governance and regulatory engagement. She is passionate about making governance and compliance practical—aligning regulatory requirements with day-to-day operations to support strong, sustainable performance.

Claire brings substantial non-executive experience to the Board, having served as Chair of a School Federation, and as a member of a public-sector scrutiny committee. She is also Chair of the Legal and Governance Committee at Grief Encounter. Her approach combines independent judgement, constructive challenge and collaborative Board engagement.

Claire also brings direct personal experience of grief and its impact on children and families. This gives her a deep appreciation of the compassionate, specialist support provided by Grief Encounter and underpins her commitment to ensuring bereaved children and young people can access support when they need it.