Patron

Justin Welby

Archbishop of Canterbury

We love having Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, as our Patron! Watch this video to see what he likes about our work and why he decided to support Christians Against Poverty.

Watch the video

Core Team

Paula Stringer

UK Chief Executive

Prior to joining CAP, Paula held a senior role as Head of Production & Operations for BBC Sport where she managed all operational parts of the business. She was involved in delivering the Olympics, Match of the Day, Wimbledon, the World Cup and, well, everything ‘sport’ that goes on at the BBC. She has considerable experience in leading teams and is a very creative and effective problem solver. With her entrepreneurial and leadership gifts, Paula has a whole range of experience including running a hotel, setting up sports camps across the UK for a charity, and even running a successful local business with her husband. Having been through their fair share of trials as a family, and after debt counselling saved her marriage, Paula joined CAP in 2018 as Executive Director. She is passionate about pairing her life experiences with her wealth of skills to make a difference to those still on their debt free journey.

John Kirkby

Founder

John 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 set free from poverty has led to CAP being built not just in the UK but also in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and most recently the USA.John inspires churches and connects with stream leaders as he speaks about CAP wherever he goes. He was awarded a CBE in 2018 for his charitable work and is an honorary Doctor of Bradford University. Read more of his story here.

Matt Barlow

International CEO

Armed with only a marketing degree, two years’ NGO experience in the Dominican Republic and a passion to bring hope to those in poverty, Matt joined the tiny CAP team in 1999, with his wife Josie, who went on to lead Fundraising and Communications for 19 years.Matt spent the next seven years creating and honing the concept of Debt Centres: the service that would go on to transform thousands of lives. At 33 Matt was appointed CEO and led the charity through significant growth, including the introduction of the CAP Money Course, Job Clubs, Fresh Start and Life Skills. Matt's leadership combines a passion for excellence of care in service delivery, along with a desire to see the Church become good news in society. Matt has led CAP to success in many awards including No 1 spots in the Sunday Times Best Company/Not for Profit to work for, and five awards for Best Leaders.

Ellie Gage

Director of People and Culture

Ellie brings her personal brand of leadership to CAP, adding a clear people and culture focus. She joined CAP in 2005 with a background in the legal and financial sectors. She brings oversight to all CAP's people policies and their implementation, the big picture of wellbeing for all CAP workers (health, career, voice, culture, job design), and leads on being a guardian and protagonist of the best, most Kingdom led culture CAP can achieve. She has three sons and has been a working mum for the last 21 years. Her passion for CAP is that it brings people from desperation to hope for the future.

Angie Rusbridge

Director of Finance & Compliance

Angie joined CAP in 2016 and is a Fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, with extensive strategic financial management experience in the public sector. In her previous post in the NHS she managed a varied portfolio, including contracting, quality, finance and analytics. Angie’s passion for CAP started in 2009 in a voluntary capacity, opening the first CAP Debt Centre in Norfolk and serving as Centre Manager for five years.

Dan Lane

Director of Fundraising and Marketing

Dan joined Christians Against Poverty in 2007 and worked directly supporting people in finding freedom from debt. Having spent three years working in and then managing teams within Client Services, Dan moved to work as Executive Assistant to the Founder and the CEO. From there he worked on a variety of projects charity wide, including leading the launch of the CAP Job Club and CAP Release Group (now Fresh Start) services. In 2017, Dan took on the role of Director of Fundraising and Marketing. Dan is passionate about the transformation that happens when people find freedom through CAP’s services and hopes you will be too!

Jon Day

Director of Strategy, Innovation and Technology

Jon started his career in technology at a US investment bank before leaving after a few years to join the charity sector. He has managed IT projects and programmes at Christian Aid and the British Red Cross. Before joining CAP in 2014, he headed up planning and reporting at the Red Cross working with the CEO and Directors on charity wide strategy. Jon's family were CAP Life Changers and as time went on Jon increasingly hoped to be able to join the CAP team one day. Jon is passionate about using the skills in his teams and excellent technology to enable CAP to bring hope, life and freedom to those who are desperately in need of it.

Jake Hutton

Director of Debt Operations

Jake joined Christians Against Poverty in 2008, bringing valuable experience with him from the commercial insurance sector of the finance industry. He began as a Debt Advisor, working with CAP’s clients to lift the weight of debt from their 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.

Chris Cupples

Director of Church and Network

Chris started his career in international sales, working for a medical diagnostics company across the Middle East. A passion for his local church and seeing lives transformed through Jesus led him to set up a CAP Debt Centre in 2010. This was foundational and began a deep passion for CAP’s church network that continues today. Chris gradually stepped into leading CAP in Northern Ireland and, in more recent years, has taken on responsibility for CAP in Scotland and Wales too. Chris also spent a year working as Head of Network Operations, working closely with the CEO and senior team. He is passionate about seeing churches equipped in their local mission.

Trustees

Roger Hattam

Trustee Director - Chairman

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 he was impressed by CAP’s professionalism and impact. Roger joined the trustees in 2016.

Lisa Pearce

Trustee Director

Lisa is on the international leadership team of Open Doors, an NGO which supports persecuted Christians in the most hostile environments. She looks after all the Open Doors countries which mobilise prayer and advocacy, and which resource the Fieldwork. She also oversees their international advocacy and works to raise the visibility and voices of persecuted women in their plans and programmes. She previously led the UK & Ireland team of Open Doors, but comes from a business development background, having previously worked for Reuters and Virgin Media. Lisa lives in Oxfordshire with her husband, three children, and various others…

Matthew Frost

Trustee Director

Matthew has been Chief Executive of Tearfund since October 2005. Previously, he 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. Matthew is married to Katharine, has four young children and is a member of Holy Trinity Church in Claygate, Surrey.

Simon Gates

Trustee Director

Simon is a Senior Manager for BNP Paribas, a European investment bank, working with large UK companies. Simon originally qualified as a Chartered Accountant, and for many years has been passionate about helping people in financial difficulty, especially in his local church. He brings strong business experience, understanding of regulation and a big heart to see God rescue people through CAP. Simon became a trustee in 2016 after supporting CAP for many years.

Jane Pleace

Trustee Director

Jane is Tearfund's Global Fundraising Director and is responsible for raising the income that enables Tearfund to work with churches and partners in poor communities around the world. She has experience developing fundraising, communications and marketing strategies in the charity sector. Before joining Tearfund, Jane led fundraising teams at charities including World Vision, Oxfam and United Bible Societies. She lives in Somerset and enjoys worshipping at Bath Abbey.

Chine McDonald

Trustee Director

Chine is the Media Content and PR Lead at Christian Aid. Prior to that, she was Director of Communications at the Evangelical Alliance, including running threadsuk.com – an online collective for people in their 20s and 30s exploring faith and life. She read theology & religious studies at Cambridge University before training as a newspaper journalist. Chine is the author of 'Am I Beautiful?' – a book published in 2013 which explores body image among Christian women – and is also a regular speaker and writer on race, faith and gender. She loves taking the opportunity to make faith accessible and relevant within the mainstream world and regularly gets to do that through writing and broadcasting. This includes being a contributor to BBC Religion & Ethics programmes such as Thought for the Day, the Daily Service, Pause for Thought and Prayer for the Day. Chine lives in London with her husband Mark and their young son.

Ema Ojiako

Trustee Director

A senior HR professional working in the NHS, Ema lives in Bedfordshire with her husband and young children. She has a background in both public and private health care and industry experience in food retail and facilities management. Ema also works with HM Courts & Tribunals Service, participating in public hearings to resolve employment disputes and deliver workplace justice, and with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, making a real difference to the career and enterprise education of young people. She’s passionate about empowering people to be their best and is excited to help transform lives by serving CAP.

Joy Blundell

Trustee and Church Leader representative

Joy oversees Social Justice and Influence at Alive Church, a multi-site church in the East of England, and with her husband Paul is Location Pastor of Alive Lincoln. She has a heart for the restoration and transformation of cities through the mobilisation of the local Church and seeing people find wholeness and purpose in Jesus. Joy is the founding Director of Acts Trust, a Lincoln-based charity connected to Alive, which has the aspiration vision of poverty alleviation in the city. Joy and Paul have been married for 15 years and they have two children, Finley and Poppy. Joy loves fresh air, walking in the hills, eating good food and drinking wine with friends.

Sarah Cutts

Centre representative

Sarah is our CAP Debt Centre Manager and CAP Job Club Manager in Wakefield. She joined CAP in 2010 from a background in marketing and customer services. She spent two years working in head office in the Church Partnership department, before becoming Debt Centre Manager in Wakefield in 2012. Her passion for CAP is in the way it gets alongside people, meets them where they are with no judgement, embraces them with God's love and brings hope for the future. Sarah manages a team in Wakefield running three different CAP services with enthusiasm, love and encouragement.

Jo Furlong

Staff representative

Jo joined our Client Set Up Contact Team in 2014, having previously been a teacher in a local primary school. She discovered a passion for acting on behalf of clients in tough situations and guiding them through the journey out of debt. Jo has mentored trainee Debt Advisors, and, more recently, drawn from her educational background in a redesign of the Debt Advisor sign off journey, to make this a more supportive and encouraging process. Over her time at CAP, Jo has been particularly encouraged by CAP's work to address injustices in the lives of our service users, through the issues raised by Client Reports and the efforts of our External Affairs team. She very much values our holistic approach to tackling poverty in the UK.

Friends

Martin Lewis

Money Saving Expert

Martin Lewis OBE, Money Saving Expert, is an award-winning campaigning TV and radio presenter, newspaper columnist, charity founder, author and, according to Google, the most searched-for British man.