Little Village welcomes two new trustees and appoints a Deputy Chair

London’s baby bank network Little Village is delighted to announce the appointment of Jacqui Penalver and Kate Husselbee as new trustees to its Board. They have joined following a recruitment process to identify trustees with experience in HR, risk and governance.  

 In addition, the Board has appointed existing trustee, Marcia Holmes, to the new position of Deputy Chair.  

 Marcia joined the Board at Little Village in June 2021, and has recently been appointed as Head of DEI at Warner Music Group for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India.  

 Chair of trustees, Olivia Gillan-Bower, said: “I’m so delighted that we’ve brought in people with such great talent and experience as Jacqui and Kate to strengthen our Board’s knowledge and expertise on critical areas such as risk and HR.  

 “Marcia as Deputy Chair will not only support me with governance responsibilities, but signals our commitment to ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion is central to the new strategy that we’re developing for Little Village.  

 “Demand for the charity’s services has never been higher and so having this additional support and expertise will better equip us to keep pace and help give London’s young children the items they so desperately need.”  

 Little Village supports families with babies and children under five living in poverty across London. The charity runs a baby bank network, collecting, sorting and passing on pre-loved clothes and equipment.  Parents are also supported by signposting and guidance teams. 

 

Biographies 

 Marcia Holmes, Deputy Chair 

Marcia spent over 10 years working in the finance sector as a relationship and programme manager, and most recently within Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Following this Marcia has moved back into the music industry, responsible for DEI for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India at Warner Music Group. She is Mama to two beautiful babies; a three-year-old daughter, Marley Jean and baby Miles. 

 Jacqui Penalver, Trustee 

Jacqui is responsible for planning and performance at the RSPCA, the world’s oldest animal welfare charity.  Jacqui has twenty years’ experience in the voluntary sector, working in senior roles focused on performance, governance and compliance. Voluntary roles have included being a school governor and an independent member of governance committees at both the Royal College of Nursing and Kent Students Union. 

 Kate Husselbee, Trustee 

Kate provides people and organisational development consultancy expertise to Boards, CEOs and senior teams. Kate has worked with a variety of organisations in the charity, private and public sectors and has over twenty years’ experience in HR leadership, organisational design, equity, diversity and inclusion, shaping culture and improving performance. Kate also has experience of leading a wide range of corporate services functions, with her most recent executive role as Director of Strategy and Transformation at Rethink Mental Illness. Kate joined as a Trustee in 2023.