About Us / Staff

Sophia Parker

Acting Director

Before joining the Foundation, Sophia worked with Kent County Council to set up their unique Social Innovation Lab, where she published Just Coping: a new perspective on low income families. Previously, Sophia was deputy director of thinktank Demos, leading their work on public service reform and families. She has also worked as a civil servant at the Women and Equality Unit. Sophia is a committee member of the Fabian Women’s Network, and an associate at ESRO, an ethnographic research agency.

sophia.parker@resolutionfoundation.org

Cara Brown

External Affairs Manager

Cara is responsible for press, public affairs and events at the Resolution Foundation. Cara joined the Foundation in October 2007 having previously worked as a Parliamentary Researcher to two MPs and prior to that in the Media and PR team at the Electoral Commission.

cara.brown@resolutionfoundation.org

Tel: +44 (0) 7957 536758

Louisa Darian

Research and Policy Analyst

Louisa leads on housing issues and provides the secretariat for the Financial Health Forum. Before she joined the Foundation, Louisa worked as a Policy Officer at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations where she supported a Commission looking at the future funding of the Voluntary Sector. Prior to that, Louisa researched and developed policy on young women’s poverty at YWCA and was involved in a campaign on young women, skills and work. Louisa sits on the board of the Women’s Budget Group. She completed a Masters in Comparative Social Policy from the University of Oxford.

louisa.darian@resolutionfoundation.org

Jayne Desmond

Operations Manager

Jayne is responsible for finance, HR and office management. Before joining the Foundation, she was a member of the senior management team at Past Pleasures Ltd, the UK’s largest costumed historical interpretation company. She has a background in arts and HR management as well as experience as a corporate, trust and individual giving fundraiser. She has an MA in Twentieth Century Literature from Goldsmiths, University of London and is currently retraining as an Integrative Psychotherapist at the University of East London.

jayne.desmond@resolutionfoundation.org

Shareen Meehan

Information Officer

As information officer for the Foundation, Shareen monitors external developments and assists with external affairs. Prior to joining the Foundation in April 2009, Shareen completed an internship with British Land Plc and travelled in Europe and South East Asia. Shareen also has a BA in Geography from Manchester University, where she wrote her dissertation on the relationship between nutrition and socio-economic status.

shareen.meehan@resolutionfoundation.org

Lee Savage

Research and Policy Analyst

Lee leads on work and skills policy. Prior to joining the Foundation, Lee worked for Ipsos MORI as a Senior Researcher and for a small organisation that specialised in evaluating youth justice and substance misuse policy on behalf of the Home Office and Youth Justice Board. Specialising in quantitative methods, Lee has completed reports for various local governments, Wolverhampton Primary Care Trust, the British Army and he also provided research support to Fair Trials International. Lee has completed a PhD in Political Science at the University of Essex which was fully funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

lee.savage@resolutionfoundation.org

Matthew Whittaker

Senior Economist

Matthew joined the Foundation from the House of Commons, where he worked as a researcher in both the Department for Information Services and the Department for Chamber and Committee Services. He provided economic and statistical advice to individual Members and to a number of select committees, including Treasury, Health and Transport. Prior to that, he was a policy officer at Hurlstons Corporate Consultants, where he specialised in the UK consumer credit market.

matthew.whittaker@resolutionfoundation.org