Biographies
Ann-Mari Freebairn
A former Marketing and Communications Director, with a career spanning more than 20 years, Ann-Mari brings high-level strategic and executive-level experience to her work as a consultant, strategist and coach.
With extensive experience leading large, multi-disciplinary teams, she has convened and led project teams which have gone on to win prestigious sector awards, including two CIPR Excellence Awards and a PR Week Award.
As well as her senior marketing experience, she is also an ICF-accredited Professional Certified Coach (PCC), a certified Leadership Circle Practitioner and an Organisation and Relationship Systems Team Coach (ORSC™) and supports Scenius clients with leadership development and team coaching.
This broad range of skills and experience enables Ann-Mari to offer clients high level strategic support, while also helping them develop the competencies, values and behaviours needed to optimise performance and deliver outstanding results.
A mindfulness practitioner for over 30 years, Ann-Mari holds a Non-Executive Director role at Rising Minds, a Community Interest Company which provides individual coaching and mindfulness training for people experiencing disadvantage in their lives.
Matt Parkes
Fundraising since 1999, Matt has held multiple senior level positions both charity-side and agency-side, as well as working as a consultant. He is a trustee of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising. and serves on the EDI Committee.
Matt brings wide experience across multiple fundraising and communications disciplines. He has particular expertise in individual giving, major donors and legacy giving.
A firm believer in the importance of insight-led decision making, he offers in-depth knowledge of market research, having worked in a research agency and commissioned various research projects.
He is passionate about leadership development and organisational culture.
Matt also brings #DyslexicThinking, enabling him to add value to innovation, problem solving, strategy planning and creative development. His own neurodiversity, combined with professional and family experience of a range of EDI issues, gives him a valuable insight into the importance of this field to your organisation’s work, both in your teams and among your audiences.
Ingrid Yngstrom
Ingrid has worked as an international consultant since 2001. She has designed and managed projects, programmes and change processes for senior leaders in government and the charity sector, providing the requisite evidence to support large-scale programmes. Her clients include the FCDO (formerly DFID), the World Bank, the US Federal Government, WWF, and VSO.
Ingrid is experienced working in complex and challenging environments. She works quickly with senior leaders to identify bottlenecks and weaknesses in policies, systems and processes. She supports senior leaders and their teams to design and deliver transitions, and to navigate the complexity inherent in change processes.
Ingrid came into consulting from academia. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Oxford and has an international publication record. She uses her analytical and research skills to support the work she does with organisations.
Deborah Easlick
Deborah has extensive experience of the full spectrum of fundraising specialisms, from annual appeals and marketing, to events and legacies. Most recently as Director of Development at one of the University of Cambridge colleges, she completed a £50M endowment campaign and organised the global celebrations for this College's 150 Anniversary.
She has a further twelve years’ experience in Higher Education and success at raising principal and major gifts (raising over £40M personally) from high net-worth individuals, foundations and corporations. She enjoys creating and implementing the strategic and marketing plans for large fundraising campaigns.
Deborah has also set up development functions from scratch, and can support clients in managing, motivating and leading successful fundraising teams, in both the charity and higher education sectors.
Jacqueline Geary
Jacqueline is an experienced fundraising professional, passionate about supporting charities to raise grant funds from trusts, foundations and statutory sources. She brings specialist skills in proposal writing, developing strategic portfolios of funding opportunities, and expert knowledge in the disability and youth sectors.
Jacqueline is experienced in relationship management, project management, events and managing teams. Her goal is to support charities to reach their full potential through maximising fundraising opportunities, and she combines her expertise in grant funding with broad experience of fundraising strategy development and implementation.
Fenella Brown
Fenella is a marketing, brand, and communications specialist with wide experience, gained working both strategically and operationally, within the charity and public sectors. She is skilled in helping organisations to develop and execute audience-led, innovative campaigns and activities, across earned, owned, and paid channels, to deliver behaviour change and organisational transformation.
Fenella’s experience covers marcomms and brand strategy development, digital marketing and engagement, media relations, event management and stakeholder engagement. It also includes the delivery of a range of marcomms projects, including brand refreshes, audience analysis, and the development and launch of extranets, websites, and information hubs.
James Fletcher
In 2016, James took to the stage with Birmingham Opera Company dressed as a ‘70s rock star. This experience sparked in him a profound curiosity about the intricate methods artists employ to communicate and connect with their audiences. Since then, James has been involved with organising over a hundred concerts and events, all with the overarching goal of making classical music accessible to all.
As a member of the Autistic community, James brings a distinctive perspective when collaborating with teams to solve problems, develop strategy, and enhance engagement with audiences. He now applies these skills to the field of fundraising through fostering meaningful relationships with donors and contributing to impactful, community-led capital campaigns.
Beyond fundraising, James is an oboist, pianist and bass-baritone singer. Prior to relocating to London, James was a visiting lecturer in music and entrepreneurship at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. He joined Trinity Laban Conservatoire in 2021, earning the Conservatoire’s Oboe Prize in 2021, and the prestigious Chelsea Arts Club Music Award consecutively for both 2022 and 2023.
Juliet Ellis
Juliet has worked in the voluntary sector for 30 years and in that time has helped charities raise literally millions of pounds. Mentor, Trainer, Trustee and Non-Executive Director, she specialises in governance, strategic planning, reviews, and conflict resolution – enabling charities to run more efficiently and focus on generating income in a more streamlined, strategic way. She is easy to work with, and organisations value both her ability to get to the root of any issues and her pragmatic, insightful approach to resolving them.
At Mencap – where she was promoted five times – she made the charity the leading proponent of sponsored overseas events, and as a consultant she has helped charities of all sizes grow significantly more income and profile, principally through mass participation and challenge event fundraising. She has worked with large nationals such as Mind, Alzheimer’s Society and The Salvation Army, smaller organisations such as Teens and Toddlers, and many, many hospices.
Juliet also chairs the London and South East region of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, is a Non-Executive Director of the mindfulness and coaching social enterprise Rising Minds, and is a Trustee for The Sleep Charity.
Chris Lever
Chris works through consultancy, coaching, training, and writing. Fundamentally, he helps people navigate the familiar, unfamiliar and uncharted waters of a fluid world in motion.
Chris is an experienced business consultant, academic and author, who also had a career as a commercial Ship Captain.
He is currently a Visiting Speaker at Henley Business School.
His most recent book, Leading Transformational Change: Working with Uncertainty and Navigational Principles, published in 2023, offers an examination of how best to manage organisational change in tumultuous times. Using the metaphor of ‘navigating in uncertain waters’, the book is a unique and accessible introduction to the area of leading and managing change.
Chris has been an integral part of Scenius from the beginning, albeit in the background. We are tremendously grateful for his generosity, wisdom and encouragement.
Karen Birch
Karen is a highly experienced Virtual Assistant who has worked in the corporate world for over 35 years. She has held diverse roles across a range of sectors, including communications, broadcast and manufacturing, as well as working as a graphic designer for six years. She brings expertise in communications, design, and tech, as well as strong organisational and project management skills.
By handling administrative tasks and enhancing processes, Karen optimises the available time to create a calm and efficient environment for her clients so that they can focus on core business activities and deliver the best possible outcomes for their clients.
Karen provides comprehensive support to Matt and Ann-Mari in their client work, to ensure that Scenius delivers an excellent service.