Board of Trustees
Nithee Patel
(Chair)
Nithee is the Head of Charity and Fundraising for the Dudley Group NHS Charity. Based in the West Midlands since 2021, she has doubled the charity's income over the past four years. She has over 14 years' experience working within the charitable sector across the UK and has held various roles in both fundraising and operational functions. Nithee is passionate about the NHS and is responsible for creating a high performing NHS charity that continues to enhance the wellbeing and experience of patients, staff, and the local community. Nithee is also the Co-Chair of the NHS Charities Together, West Midlands Regional Group.
Nithee strongly believes in AWRC's role in providing life-saving support to women and children who have been affected by domestic abuse, forced marriages, honour based and faith-based abuse. Nithee joined AWRC as a Trustee in 2020 and became Chair in 2022. She works closely with her fellow Trustees and the senior management team at AWRC.
Ruby Sayed
(Vice Chair)
Ruby has over 20 years of experience of working in the charity sector. She is a businesswoman and entrepreneur as well as a practising barrister at Pump Court chambers specialising in all areas of child law - public and private, child abduction, adoption, abduction and divorce, forced marriage and domestic violence. She is trained in direct access and is fully accredited as a family mediator for both children and families. Ruby Sayed is also a Common Councillor in Ward of Farringdon and is the deputy chair & lead member for safeguarding.
Ruby is also a Trustee of Suffolk women's refuge.
Ruby currently holds the position of Vice Chair. She is a passionate advocate for the rights of women and children and uses her personal and professional experience and expertise in helping to shape the direction of AWRC.
Tina Siddiqui
(Treasurer)
Tina is a senior commercial manager and entrepreneur with 14 years' experience in financial and business management within B2B and B2C organizations. She connects the unconnected dots, turn problems and challenges into opportunities and solutions.
Tina's key areas of expertise include business start-up; embedding financial improvement processes to support commercial contracts; stakeholder management and client relationships and turning around underperforming teams and processes.
Tina is currently Commercial Consultant at Amey Plc where she is responsible for the commercial success of a multi-million pound environmental services contract with 4 local authorities.
Anusha Pache
Anusha is an organisational development professional with over 15 years' international experience focussing on managing organisational change from strategy through to implementation on large scale transformations. She has held senior leadership positions at PwC and the Care Quality Commission focussing on organisational design, changes to operating models and managing complex change.
Anusha is passionate about developing others and in particular on the diversity and inclusion agenda of which she was notably the Heroes Women Role Model award winner in 2022. She is a mentor and panel speaker for the Leaders plus NHS fellowship scheme. Helping to shape the future direction of AWRC is a privilege and honour for Anusha. By sharing her experience in the strategy and HR space, she hopes to support the realisation of the AWRC strategy.
Kashi Syal
Kashi holds an MSc in Gender, Policy, and Inequalities from LSE and a BA in English and Russian Literature from the University of Toronto. Committed to actionable social justice, she prioritises advocating for marginalised communities. Throughout her career, she has worked directly with these communities in various roles, developing a holistic perspective on equality research, analysis, and development.
Kashi is currently an Equalities Research and Project Officer at Ealing Council, tackling race inequality in the London Borough of Ealing. Her work is informed by anti-oppressive, decolonising and intersectional principles. Kashi was drawn to the AWRC by her passion for producing objective, balanced work dedicated to addressing inequality.
Previously, as a Trustee on the Board of Directors for The Varsity Publications Society, she has assessed grant proposals, promoted inclusivity in news writing, and initiated training workshops for new writers. Her extensive experience in policy, campaigns, research and data analysis provides her with a deep understanding of BME women's rights and the systemic barriers they face in London.
Dr. Archana Dixit MD DNB FRCOG
Archana is a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist within the NHS (Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals NHS Trust) since 2008.
She brings a profound understanding of women's health and wellbeing to her role as a trustee, particularly those without a voice and from marginalized backgrounds such as the South Asian community, leveraging her medical expertise to support and empower these women. Archana's leadership roles in the NHS include cultural safety champion, diversity lead, and Chair of the staff women's network.
Using her musical interest, Archana raises funds and awareness for causes related to women's health by organising charity fundraising concerts.
Through AWRC, she will continue to champion the rights and wellbeing of women affected by domestic abuse, using her unique insights, leadership experience, and community engagement to be a valuable asset to the organization.
Anneka Singh
Anneka's experience is in research, service delivery and grant making. She was based in Delhi, India for two years, working in various non-profit organisations and held research roles. In the voluntary sector, she previously co-ordinated and led a network of community-based organisations in West London and has frontline delivery experience in women's services. She currently works in grant making and is a Funding Manager at City Bridge Foundation, the funding arm of the City of London Corporation. Anneka previously led the MOPAC VAWG Grassroots Fund, which is a seminal programme aimed at funding specialist violence against women and girls agencies in London.
Anneka also serves as a Trustee at True Honour and was previously a Trustee at Kensington and Chelsea Social Council.
She was drawn to AWRC as she is passionate about supporting 'by and for' organisations and ending violence against women and is excited to be part of AWRC's onward journey.
Tajinder Nijjar
Tajinder is the CEO of Citizens Advice Bureau in Harrow and is responsible for running all facets of the business and ensuring compliance with several external bodies.
Tajinder has over 30 years' senior leadership and management experience both in the statutory and charity sectors, working in large multi-ethnic London authorities with extensive experience of working in political environments in local government. Within the context of significantly reducing resources, she has led 3 successful transformational programmes: Sure Start, Children Centres and Extended Schools, and also Staff Awards for successful community engagement as well as setting up multi agency partnership boards.
As a former Director of AWRC for 11 years, her legacy is successfully securing the current premises. Tajinder continues her association as a Trustee to continue building on the hard work of the charity's founders and the legacy left after her tenure as Director. She believes that the rise in misogyny requires AWRC to play an even more crucial role in not only combating the current challenges facing women and girls, but also empowering the next generation to become future leaders, placing multiculturalism and equality at the forefront.
