The Food Bank Aid Family

Our Founder

Naomi Russell

Founder

Motivated by Covid to collect goods from her neighbourhoods for a local food bank, Naomi was completely overwhelmed by the generosity of her local communities.

A few collections later, she was joined by Co-Founder Jo Rosenblatt, and encouraged by huge local support, Food Bank Aid was born.  As a result, both were recognised at the Jewish Care Women of Distinction Awards.

Having trained in printed textile design at the Glasgow School of Art, Naomi spent her early career working in sales within the textile industry across Europe.

Whilst raising her family, she managed a law practice before returning to sales and marketing, which took her to live in Bangkok.

Drawing on her relationship-building and organisational skills, Naomi worked tirelessly to grow the Food Bank Aid family, including an impressive network of food bank managers.

Naomi has served on the Management Board of Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue and was awarded a Civic Award in 2025 by the Mayor of Barnet for her Outstanding Service to the Community.

“The Food Bank Aid Family is so very special. It’s about all of us coming together to change lives and give hope.”

Trustees

Chris Goodgame

Chair

Chris is a partner at Alvarez & Marsal, a global professional services firm, and was previously a partner at a Big 4 accounting firm.  He is a qualified accountant, and joined Food Bank Aid as Treasurer in July 2023.

Chris lives in north London with his wife and three children.  Outside of work, he enjoys all sports, especially football.

Martin Smith

Trustee

Martin became a Trustee of FBA in January 2022, having been a volunteer driver for several months. With a degree in Economics from Cambridge, he has spent more than four decades working in many different roles within the media, marketing and communications industries.

He wrote for Monty Python, the Two Ronnies and David Jason, was a founding partner of the ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty, became CEO of Grey Worldwide, spent several years helping small creative businesses to develop, is a Lay Member of the Institute of Cancer Research and for two years was the ICR’s Head of Public Affairs.

In recent years, he co-founded Axim Global, a company that attempts to bridge the increasingly colliding worlds of marketing and technology.

Kalbir Sohi

Trustee

Kalbir is the Product Director for Infrastructure at Spotify. As a technical product leader he has worked across product management, engineering management and consulting. He has worked with multiple organisations globally to analyse and implement cloud strategy, and design and implement cloud based systems. He has led development teams, built a software delivery organisation with hundreds of developers, and designed a security first cloud strategy for a major UK government department.

He loves technology to solve important problems and on building teams that are motivated and excited to crack those problems.

He also has two young children who keep him busy. When not with the kids or thinking about infrastructure you’ll find him in the garden or reading poetry ideally with a glass of wine.

Ishraq Bhatti

Trustee

Ishraq Bhatti became a FBA trustee in March 2022. Ishraq has had an extensive relationship management career in the telecommunications industry with the likes of Orange/EE, Microsoft and the GSMA, but helping others has always been close to his heart and that of his children’s hearts.

Having been responsible for a ‘homeless outreach’ program in conjunction with Palmers Green Mosque for a number of years, Ishraq continued in this sector to become one of the founders of Bounds Green Food bank, with the main responsibility of the sourcing of food in to the food bank.

BGFB was setup in June 2020 initially as temporary solution assist the local community but has now grown unfortunately to become one of the prominent food banks in London borough of Harringey offering ‘advice & support’ as well as numerous mini projects to assist those struggling in the community.

Ishraq is currently also a consultant with Human Appeal and HANDS International working on UK and international projects to assist those in need.

Rochelle Trup

Trustee

Rochelle has become a trustee to Food Bank Aid, inspired by Naomi and the team and the amazing work they deliver.

Rochelle has founded and successfully exited several businesses. She has C-suite experience with a background in finance, real estate and tech.

Currently she holds 2 NED roles and serves as a mentor to a female founder.  She collaborates with Be the Business and ORT and supports Save the children and Chai cancer care.  She served as a trustee for Jewish Women’s Aid and volunteered at the Soup Kitchen London for many years.

Rochelle is married with 3 adult children and 3 dogs.

Charlotte Souter

Trustee

Charlotte has been volunteering at Food Bank Aid since October 2020, and became a Trustee three years later.

Starting off as a volunteer driver, Charlotte has worn many different hats at Food Bank Aid always helping the charity boost donations whether it be inspiring her neighbourhood to organise street collections, developing our schools programme which now includes over 90 schools across North London, or playing a key role in our fundraising campaigns.

Charlotte has been committed to Food Bank Aid from the beginning, and is passionate about making sure the food banks are fed and able to help those that really need it.

Originally from Lockerbie, Charlotte lives in North London with her husband and two children. Her background is marketing having worked in professional services. She brings a wealth of experience and lots of energy to the Board of Trustees.

Charlotte was nominated for the Haringey Womens Award – ‘Unsung Heroes’ in March 2021 for her voluntary work in the community.

Gideon Chain

Trustee

Gideon joined Food Bank Aid as a trustee in September 2024, after volunteering at the Hub since December 2022.

Gideon’s current role is CEO and co-founder of Kidswell Health – an independent provider of paediatric health and wellness services across London. Gideon was previously CEO and founder of Ambie Media – a music and media technology business which was acquired in May 2024.

Gideon lives in North West London with his wife Melissa and their three girls, Maya, Ava and Nora.

Tania Platt

Trustee

Tania became a trustee  for Foodbank Aid in 2024 and had previously volunteered for the charity.

In her professional career, she is the  Global Head of B2B Travel for Visa’s Commercial Solutions division and has more than 25 years of experience in the payments, financial services and telecommunications sectors,

In addition to nurturing client and partner relationships and driving business  performance, she is passionate about developing teams and is a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion.

Outside of work, in additional to supporting FBA, she mentors women colleagues and also for ORT.

She lives in north London, is married and has two sons.

Management team

We are indebted to our dedicated management team who drive our projects, develop initiatives, raise funds and support our volunteers.

Employees

Alyson Walsh

CEO

Joining Food Bank Aid as CEO in 2024, Alyson brings a wealth of experience from her Commercial career in the corporate sector, particularly in the food and retail industries. Her extensive background includes tenures at major retailers such as Sainsbury’s, Kingfisher (B&Q / Screwfix), and Fortnum & Mason, successfully launching both UK and global communication and product campaigns. Most recently, Alyson has spent the previous 8 years devising and implementing effective fundraising, marketing, and volunteering strategies as Commercial Director at the food redistribution charity FareShare., helping to grow income from £3m to £20m.

She is passionate about tackling food insecurity and driving impactful change.
Originally a Yorkshire Lass, Alyson has lived in North London for nearly 30 years and relishes playing her part in the community, whether as a Volunteer for a Night Shelter or fundraising for local projects.

Marcus Maughan

General Manager

Marcus has been involved with Food Bank Aid since 2021. He started as a volunteer driver, and because of his experience, was quickly recruited to become Food Bank Aid’s first employee – General Manager of the Hub.
Marcus has extensive retail operations and logistics experience having worked for 14 years at Tesco and 8 years with M&S Franchises across the country.
He has 2 boys, George, born in 2014 and Myran born in 1993! Marcus’s wife Anna is part of the management team at Finchley Foodbank N2. Marcus lives at home with George, Anna and 5 chickens.
When he is not at Food Bank Aid or caring for his extended family, he enjoys cycling and has done the Prudential London 100, several charity rides including to Brighton, Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, Belgium, and Belgium back to London
Carly McGoldrick

Head of Partnerships & Impact

Joining Food Bank Aid as Head of Partnerships and Impact in 2025, Carly brings extensive experience in the VCSE sector leading on high-value fundraising and service design. Securing over £10million in corporate, trust, foundation and public sector funding with organisations including TikTok, National Grid and the Greater London Authority New Deal for Young People, Carly has designed and scaled social impact partnerships that are supporting over 5000 people from underserved communities across the UK to lead better lives via services in education, skills, employability, justice and women’s safety.
With a systems approach to health and wellbeing, Carly is committed to making sure that everyone can access life-enhancing opportunities. This is a thread that runs throughout her career and volunteering: previously she curated public art programmes, which saw her live in Mexico City and adopt her pride and joy, her dog Chewie. When not working, Carly can be found swimming and spending as much time in nature as possible.
Zoe Kessler

Volunteer Coordinator

Zoe joined Food Bank Aid as Volunteer Co-ordinator. She is responsible for on-boarding new volunteers and to ensure their experience is positive, welcoming and they are happy to return. 

 
Zoe has a background of 10 years working in recruitment and 8 years in education. She was keen to bring her skill set to an inspiring charity. Zoe thrives when working with people, coordinating events and working with community organisations to explore volunteer opportunities. She plays an active role on the committee of Mitzvah Day, which gave her the inspiration of working with volunteers and exciting projects. 
 

Zoe loves to travel, obsessed with her cat called Mimi and has a passion for interior design, continuously finding excuses to redecorate her home.   

Vandana Gohil

Fundraising Officer

With over 25 years’ experience working in the Insurance and Maritime information sectors, Vandana has a background in account management and business operations, including establishing her own family reinsurance business.

Vandana is excited to bring her experience and skillset to the role of Fundraising Officer at Food Bank Aid and to continue contributing to the charity’s important work in the community.

Originally born and raised in Manchester, Vandana has lived in northwest London for over 36 years and has a teenage son. Outside of work and volunteering, Vandana loves to ‘Eat well, Travel Far and Wide and Move Mindfully’.

Image of Food Bank Aid employee Heather
Molly Deal

Facilities & Procurement Coordinator

Coming from Seattle, Washington, Molly brings a passion for advancing food and economic justice in her communities. Before joining Food Bank Aid, she worked as a programme coordinator in her local food bank.

Molly moved to London in 2024 to pursue a master’s degree at the London School of Economics, and she has since fallen in love with city and the people in it. While not at FBA, you can her working on (numerous) volunteer projects, walking along a canal, or reading a book.

Heather Piare

Engagement & Development Officer

Heather is a passionate marketer and storyteller, experienced in using messaging and real stories to drive meaningful impact and growth. With a background in education and events marketing, she brings enthusiasm for crafting compelling content that brings an organisation to life.

Volunteering has always been part of her life, most recently with the Global Education Trust’s Free Book project, which aims to make reading and learning accessible to all.

She looks forward to lending her skills to the incredible FBA team, turning true stories into action that supports the community.

Volunteers

Our volunteers are Food Bank Aid’s superpower. We are forever thankful for our incredible team of 400+ volunteers whose hard work, dedication and enthusiastic support week in week out enables us to do what we do.