St Christopher’s is a charity creating brighter futures for children and young people in care. As a leading provider of children's services, we always seek to develop our practice and find new ways of supporting young people.
- All our services have the same goal: to support children and young people to fulfil their potential, grow into independent adults and have happy, successful futures.
- There are many ways you can support St Christopher's work with children and young people. Find out how you can help young people reach their goals.
Our team
Our Senior Leadership Team are all experts in their fields, whether that’s finance, HR or working with children and young people. By combining their experience and dedication, they can make sure St Christopher’s creates brighter futures every single day.
Meet the team
Ron Giddens BSc (Hons) MA CQSW DM
Chief Executive
Ron qualified as a social worker in 1981 having previously worked with people with learning disabilities and as a children's residential worker. After qualifying he worked as a social worker and a senior manager responsible for a wide range of services. Ron joined St Christopher's in 2000 and held responsibility for operational services, before becoming Chief Executive in 2016. He is also a Trustee at Children England.
Phil Townsend BA (Hons) PGDip FCIH
Director of Operations
Phil started his career at St Christopher's in 2001. Since then he has done a range of different roles and is currently responsible for all operational services in the UK, as well as development and placements. He believes that St Christopher's does fantastic work with children and young people and really does create brighter futures.
Geneva Ellis BA (Hons)
Director of Corporate Services
Geneva previously worked with young people who were disengaged with education and in adult homeless hostels before joining St Christopher’s in 2005. She has held a number of roles, including setting up and managing two 16+ homes. In recent years she has led on the design and implementation of new services. In 2016 Geneva was seconded to the Department for Education as an expert adviser to the Narey review of residential children's homes.
Doris Afreh PGDip HRM
Director of HR
Before joining St Christopher's in 2016 Doris worked in the public and private sector in various HR and Line Management roles. Her leadership style is collaborative and she is committed to creating a working environment built on trust, whilst uniting people to achieve the best for the children and young people we care for.
Faye Puttock ACMA CGMA
Director of Finance
Faye is a qualified management accountant with over 15 years of post-qualification experience from a broad range of sectors including Insurance, IT and the Oil & Gas industry. She was an integral part of a project team that was tasked with reviewing the financial health of the organisation and is now responsible for all aspects of finance within St Christopher's.