Our CEO & Trustees
Sarah Hawkins (CEO)
Sarah Hawkins was appointed Chief Executive Officer of NFM in 2023. Sarah joined NFM in 2019 as operations manager, before taking over as CEO. Sarah comes from an operational background with over 25 years experience, much of which has been spent in the not-for-profit sector.
As a registered charity, the governance of National Family Mediation is overseen by its Board of Trustees :
Carol Reay (Chair)
Carol began her career in advertising and branding. She was a partner in the top 20 advertising agency Mellors Reay & Partners for more than 20 years, working with blue-chip companies such as Procter & Gamble, Kimberley Clark, United Biscuits and Associated British Foods. During her time in advertising, Carol served as a trustee of Nabs, the communication industry charity and was Chair for three years.
Carol was also Executive Chair of Great Ormond Street Children’s Charity, a role that combined Chief Executive and Chair. Carol holds a Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling and practiced for five years in a part time capacity. She is currently Chair of technology company ProQuo AI.
She is a graduate of Manchester University, is married with two grown up children and lives in Suffolk. A keen forager, Carol loves to cook and swim.
Julian Curtis (Treasurer)
Julian currently serves as Head of Statutory Reporting at Santander UK plc, where he leads external UK and US financial reporting. He is also Treasurer and Trustee at Open For Business, a coalition of leading global companies dedicated to advancing LGBT+ inclusion by presenting the business and economic rationale for global LGBT+ inclusion.
Julian has more than 30 years’ financial services experience in a wide range of areas in complex, highly regulated organisations. Before joining Santander UK plc, he was a Director in the Global Capital Markets Group at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in New York, USA where he specialised in advising Asian and European companies on accessing the US capital markets. During his time with PwC, he was seconded to Sydney, Australia to help set up a dedicated Global Capital Markets Group practice. Prior to this, Julian was Vice-Consul, Economic Development for the British Government in New York where he led efforts to generate inward investment to the UK by US corporations.
Julian qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG in London and is a graduate of Imperial College and lives in London.
Sarah Hewitt
Sarah is currently the People Director Functions & People Transformation at Bupa UK. Sarah is a highly accomplished leader with over 20 years of professional and international experience in Human Resources across various industries including manufacturing and banking. She has had first-hand experience of transformational change, inspiring curiosity, drive and delivery of results.
Sarah, her husband and two teenage children enjoy travel, adventure and exploring. They live in south-west London having moved from Australia in 2015. The family are all involved in sport and in her spare time she volunteers as a coach and umpire at a local netball club. Sarah is excited and passionate about bringing her experience to NFM as a Trustee.
James Leech
James is currently the Chief Product Officer for WPP (Commerce) and Managing Director of The Cloud Commerce Group which is a WPP company; having joined WPP at the beginning of 2022.
After achieving a Computer Science and Management Science degree, James spent 22 years within retail originally as part of Argos and moving into Sainsbury’s following the latter’s acquisition of the general merchandise retailer. Throughout his time in retail, James spent time in many different functions including retail, strategy, change and contact centres; however, in the past 10 years, his specialism has been in digital, product and technology. His final role at Sainsbury’s was where he led product within Sainsbury’s.
Outside of work James balances time with his family and children alongside his love for sport and fitness; especially football and motor racing.
Lollie Tuckey
Lollie Tuckey is the founder and director of Huntwood Associates, which specialises in people development, helping people and teams to flourish, build their skills and expand their thinking.
She spent ten years in fashion marketing roles at Courtaulds. Then lived in Hong Kong and Tokyo for nine years, working at RTHK and SCMP, and chairing school and academic committees. In Tokyo, Lollie made the decision to change direction and embarked on a fascinating two-year personal development programme, culminating in a postgrad psychology diploma. This enabled her to embark on the second half of her career as a coaching professional, working with all sorts of businesses from start-ups to corporates.
Lollie is married with two children, both of whom have embraced the ex-pat life in Singapore and LA.
Oliver Wilson
Oliver has over 10 years experience as a commercial, IT and general transactional solicitor both in private practice for global clients and in-house at well-known household names O2 and, since 2017, Bupa.
Oliver has a wealth of experience of advising on and helping to shape board strategy. He also sits on Bupa’s Apprenticeship Board and chairs Bupa’s Global Supplier Legal network. In his spare time he coaches rugby union for his son’s team.
Oliver is married with two children and lives in the North Yorkshire countryside with his family.
Frank Auton
Frank has had a career in marketing and management in consumer goods and pharmaceuticals with various companies, including almost 20 years with SmithKline Beecham, responsible for pan-European and international healthcare businesses.
He then became a published academic at Westminster Business School teaching marketing and business strategy as well as running his own management consultancy business. He was appointed a magistrate in 2003 and is a Presiding Justice in Adult and Family courts.
In a career shift he became an FMC accredited mediator in 2012 with an active caseload and is accredited to do child-inclusive mediation. Frank is a graduate with Batchelor and Masters degrees, is married, and lives in rural Buckinghamshire. He is a Freeman of the City of London and Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors. He is interested in all the arts, especially opera, and enjoys walking and mountain biking in the Chilterns.
