MeetOur Team

Baillie began Spark Inside in 2012, after previously founding a US charity teaching entrepreneurship to people in prison. With degrees from Harvard and Cambridge, she also qualified as a Life Coach in 2014 with the Coaches Training Institute. Baillie was appointed a Ministry of Justice Policy Fellow in 2016 and is a member of the World Economic Forum community of Global Shapers, a Global Good Fellow, and a Women of the Future finalist. You can read more about Baillie’s founder story here.

Follow Baillie: @baillieaaron

After gaining several years of administrative experience, Charlie joined Spark Inside to use her skills to have a social impact. Charlie is on hand to support all staff and is open to any challenge that may be thrown her way. Her favourite part of her role is the exposure to our innovative work. 

Indy oversees the communications strategy for Spark Inside, bringing with her almost 15 years’ experience in marketing communications. With an MSc in Marketing and as a qualified project manager, Indy has built a varied career that includes central government comms; heading-up the marketing communications activity for entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones’ charity; and marketing the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the London 2012 Festival and Cultural Olympiad. Indy​’s focus is raising the profile of Spark Inside​’s vital work.

David is a Chartered Certified Accountant with 20 years’ experience in the charity sector, including eight years leading a criminal justice charity in Manchester. David helps ensure Spark Inside makes the most of every penny it receives through robust financial management. He particularly loves helping to shape the organisation’s future through financial planning, and is known for drinking gallons of tea! 

Ihona has extensive experience developing innovative services for various non-profits across the criminal justice and social sectors. At Spark Inside, Ihona is responsible for the implementation, management and infrastructure of our programmes, and their evaluation. She ensures our programmes’ quality standards, and that they remain in line with best practice models. Ihona holds qualifications in Youth and Community Work, and Training and Adult Learning.

After delivering frontline youth work programmes for over 8 years, Christopher joins our programme team as a Service Delivery Manager. Working across prisons in London, Chris liaises between our coaches, prison staff and the people we work with to ensure that our programmes are delivered to the highest standard. Chris holds a degree in Youth Work, and has always been passionate about empowering young people to achieve their full potential.

Hannah is responsible for communicating the story of our work and its impact, both online and in print. Our resident expert, she keeps a close watch on criminal justice debate and related policy developments. She holds a MSc in Criminal Justice Policy with Distinction from the LSE, and was awarded a departmental prize for her dissertation.

Nicola is our research assistant, and oversees the internal evaluation and monitoring of our programmes. A trained psychotherapist, who worked mainly with the victims of sexual violence, Nicola holds a MSc in Early Interventions in Psychosis at King’s College London. More recently, she has been working on a large-scale EU funded research project, looking at resilience and adolescent mental health within deprived areas of South London.

Bob is a Master Youth Coach, having worked with and for young people, parents, teachers and youth workers for over 21 years. He is an expert at engaging, coaching and building rapports with young people and supporting those who work with and for them to do the same. Bob co-founded the Youth Coaching Academy in 2001, where he designed and delivered the world’s first fully accredited youth coaching courses. He has worked as a coaching consultant for many organisations including central government, various London Councils, Coreplan UK, Magnificent Generation and Coram. He is currently the CEO/Director of Coaching of the Community Coaching Academy. 

Simone is a qualified youth worker, with a degree in Youth and Community Work. She has been working with young people, including in the criminal justice system, for more than 10 years. Simone works across London prisons, managing our coaches and making our programmes happen. Her favourite part of her job is seeing the journey young people make: from their initial introduction to life coaching, through to the growth they make whilst in prison, and on their release. 

Tiwa is an investment professional and Senior Associate at 8 Miles LLP. She was formerly a Senior Associate at PWC. Tiwa holds a first class degree in accounting and finance from Warwick University and is an Associate of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Rob is a financial technology executive and board member with significant corporate governance experience. He was formerly a finance partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, a leading international law firm. Rob has a law degree from Oxford and a business degree from London Business School.

James is a solicitor at Norton Rose Fulbright. He holds a BA in Political Science from Yale University and is a member of the Law Society of England and Wales.

Roma is the founder of the Prison Radio Association and is also their chair. She is a criminal justice advisor and was the founder of the Make Justice Work campaign. She has worked extensively in the criminal justice sector for over 25 years in a wide variety of different roles. She is currently chair of Spark Inside as well as on the board of the Comedy School. Roma was awarded an OBE in 2016 for services to prisons.

Ben is a qualified coach and the founder of Bravo Lima, which delivers corporate coaching programmes around the world for leaders and their teams. Ben started his career with British Airways. He has a postgraduate Diploma in Public Relations from the London School of PR and a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors.

Charlie is an executive search consultant at The Omerta Group, specialising in investment banking and private equity. He holds a Professional Certificate in Banking from the Institute of Financial Services, and read Mathematics, Economics & Politics at Eton College. Charlie also co-runs a business in the leisure sector called Real Farm Holidays and is a current member of the Great Britain AFL squad.