Our team

Stewart joined CAP in January 2024, following five years as CEO at Stewardship, where he brought the organisation through a time of significant transformation and development including creating an award-winning philanthropy team and seeing annual giving increase by 40%. He is also a council member of the Evangelical Alliance.

Stewart has previously worked as Global Insurance Director for VisionFund (the microfinance operation of World Vision) helping millions of the poorest farmers in Africa and Asia recover their livelihoods from climate and other shocks. He is an experienced Chartered Accountant who spent the early part of his career in management consulting, before leading a number of insurance businesses through very significant change.

Stewart loves the local church and is passionate about meeting people at their point of need and seeing them transformed through an encounter with Jesus. 

Stewart is married to Sarah; they have five adult children, two grandchildren and a rescue cat with three legs.

Hilda trained at what is now PwC and has spent her career mainly in social housing finance leadership roles exercising her faith-filled compassion. She was Deputy CEO and Finance Director at South Lakes Housing, providing over 3,000 affordable homes across Cumbria. Hilda has also given considerable time volunteering for churches, housing associations, and charities to strengthen their boards’ good financial governance.

Jake joined CAP in 2008, bringing with him valuable experience from the commercial insurance sector of the finance industry. He began as a Debt Advisor, helping to lift the weight from our clients’ shoulders. Following this, Jake took on various management roles in different areas of the charity. He spent six months working on a project to strengthen our Debt Operations teams, after which he stepped into the role of Director of Debt Operations. 

Jake is passionate about building healthy, thriving teams that are equipped to set people free from challenging circumstances.

Tim has spent most of his career leading technology teams across the retail sector. From development to programmes to operations, he has worked with some of the UK’s most well-known high street retailers including Selfridges, ASOS and Whistles.

Tim’s connection to CAP began in 2019 in a mentoring capacity. In the past few years he felt the desire for faith and work to align and was delighted when he found there was an official role for him at CAP.

Tim is passionate about building teams and helping others to grow and develop. He is excited about supporting and enabling technology across the organisation and being a part of CAP’s future.

Justine joined CAP in 2012, bringing with her experience in the charity and finance sectors. She began as a Debt Advisor, helping to lift the weight from our clients’ shoulders. Following this, Justine joined the HR team as an Advisor in 2015 and gradually increased her responsibilities to become Head of People and Culture a couple of years later.

Justine is passionate about looking after the staff at CAP well, focussing on their wellbeing and ensuring they have a great employee experience as they serve our clients.

Alex is a dedicated and visionary leader who has been instrumental in shaping CAP’s fundraising and income strategies since joining in 2017. With a strong belief in the inherent dignity and infinite worth of every individual, Alex is driven to create a world where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

Prior to joining CAP, Alex spent 13 years at international development charity, Christian Aid, where he worked to build a movement of individuals and churches tackling global poverty and campaigning for trade, tax and climate justice. Alex firmly believes in the collective power of individuals working together to bring about positive change, be it through prayer, volunteering, advocacy, or giving.

A Baptist by background and membership he is passionate about church unity and celebrates the rich diversity of Christian expression across the world, eager to harness it to see lives transformed.

Claire arrived at CAP in 2005 as our first in-house graphic designer. Since then, she has been at the centre of shaping our communications for almost two decades, ensuring the stories of those who have experienced poverty remain front and centre, and shining a light on the incredible work of the UK Church in communities across the UK.

Claire has built and led large sections of our Communications function, developing expert creative teams who craft compelling messages that move hearts into action. Most recently, she held the position of Senior Brand Manager, before moving into the role of Acting Director.

Roger brings a wealth of management experience to the board, having held board-level positions in both financial services and energy sectors, as well as being appointed General Manager of a social enterprise that provides renewable energy solutions to the world’s poorest people. Roger first came across CAP over ten years ago while working in the UK banking sector and was impressed by the professionalism and impact he saw. Roger joined CAP’s Board of Trustees in 2016.

Lisa has served on CAP’s Trustee board for nine years, and recently became Interim CEO between July 2023 and December 2023.

Lisa was previously on the international leadership team of Open Doors, an NGO which supports persecuted Christians in the most hostile environments. Lisa led its international work on prayer and advocacy as well as raising the visibility and voice of persecuted women via its plans and programmes. She previously led the UK and Ireland team of Open Doors and comes from a business development background, having previously worked for Reuters and Virgin Media.

Matthew served as CEO of Tearfund for almost a decade, and previously worked for DFES and McKinsey, where he specialised in strategy and organisational leadership. He has served overseas with Medair in a leadership capacity and set up their aid programme in Afghanistan.

Jane is Tearfund’s Global Fundraising Director. She’s responsible for raising the income that enables Tearfund to work with churches and partners in areas of extreme poverty around the world. Jane has experience developing fundraising, communications and marketing strategies in the charity sector. Before joining Tearfund, she led fundraising teams at charities including World Vision, Oxfam and United Bible Societies.

Kate is a strategy, brand and communications consultant with extensive experience of working with Christian organisations and the NGO sector. Formerly Chief Communications Officer for World Vision International and a national journalist and editor, Kate has more than 30 years of experience working in communications and the media. She is also an authorised preacher in the Church of England as well as a Christian author and broadcaster.

Robin brings deep strategic, operational, financial and risk management expertise from more than 40 years in financial services, including senior leadership positions in Lloyds Bank and LV=. He’s currently Senior Independent Director on the boards of two mutual insurance companies. Robin is an active member of his local community and at various times has been a youth club leader, school governor, Street Angel and a trustee of several charities. He’s part of the leadership team at Welcome Church in Woking that operates an active and growing CAP ministry. He’s married to Anna and has four grown up children, with his time increasingly being taken up supporting nine grandchildren at various events!

Roger is Chief Digital Officer at Alpha International with responsibility for digital platform development and impact reporting. He has 20+ years of experience in leading operational teams and technology enabled business change programmes primarily in the media industry, firstly at Deloitte and then at ITV. He first encountered CAP through his local church and was captivated by the vision. He then went on to serve as a Debt Coach gaining valuable experience of the inner workings of CAP. 

Kiri joined CAP in 2016 as an intern, and has a breadth of experience across many roles within the charity. She started off as Relationship Manager for CAP’s External Affairs team, growing CAP’s reputation within the utilities and telecommunications industries, as well as Government departments. Kiri then moved into the Communications and Digital Engagement team as Internal Communications Lead, ensuring employees, volunteers and partner churches remained well connected and informed. Following this, Kiri became a Project Manager within the Strategy and Insight team, working on innovations in CAP’s debt service.

Most recently, Kiri rejoined the External Affairs team as Social Policy Manager, leading CAP’s advocacy and policy work. This role involves many trips to Westminster, collaborating with other anti-poverty charities and seeking to mobilise the wider UK Church to join the fight to see an end to UK poverty.

In her spare time Kiri and her husband lead a church plant in Manchester, outworking her passion for discipleship and encouraging Christians to live out their faith in all areas of their lives.

Mat brings a wealth of experience from over a decade in debt advice. He joined CAP as a Debt Advisor in 2012. First, he worked in regional teams, then began supporting clients with repaying their debt. Now, Mat’s focus is on supporting more vulnerable clients as our Enhanced Support Lead, Senior Safeguarding Coordinator and Mental Health First Aider.

Mat is passionate about supporting others, providing a listening ear to team members, clients and our frontline colleagues.

Outside of CAP Mat volunteers at his local Street Kitchen and visits local prisons with the Prison Fellowship charity.

John took on the role as Debt Centre Manager for the newly established CAP Debt Centre in Ayr, South West Scotland, at the end of 2020. Since then, John has also become a Money Coach and is part of the CAP Speaker Team.

Originally from Northern Ireland, John studied Chemical Engineering at Loughborough University where he met his now wife, Sarah. He enjoyed a 32-year career with a leading pharmaceutical company in various technical and management roles, mostly within Operations.

John is passionate about helping the poor, the broken and the marginalised while pointing them to Jesus. He is a Trustee of a charity that operates out of his church in Ayr, that works with the vulnerable and poor in the local community. John also supports his wife in running Alpha and 24/7 Prayer courses at their church.

In his spare time John loves to cycle, play squash and travel – especially with his son living in Switzerland and his daughter living in Australia.

Dr John Kirkby CBE founded Christians Against Poverty in 1996, combining his 17 years’ experience in the consumer finance industry with his personal experience of being in overwhelming debt. His faith-filled journey through CAP’s early years is recorded in the book Nevertheless. His vision to see lives transformed and people set free from poverty led to CAP being built in the UK and around the world. He was awarded a CBE in 2018 for his charitable work and is an honorary Doctor of Bradford University. 

In 2021, after 25 incredible years at CAP, John felt that God was calling him to explore new opportunities and that it was time to move on. He remains an avid supporter of our work and will forever be held in high esteem as the foundation of everything CAP is today.

Martin Lewis OBE is an award-winning campaigning TV and radio presenter, newspaper columnist, charity founder, author and, according to Google, the most searched-for British man. He also founded the moneysavingexpert.com website. Martin has been vocal about his support of CAP – watch him recommending our services on This Morning here.