Meet our Team

Chief Executive

Hannah joined Elect Her on a very part time basis in 2017 whilst grappling full time parenting. As her babies grew, so did her hours with the organisation and in July 2020 she took over the role of Director from founder Lee Chalmers.

Hannah has 15 years experience working as a senior manager within the third sector with particular experience in supporting the set up and growth of charitable organisations. She spent more than a decade working in Cambodia within the disability and arts sector to develop the capacity of local organisation leaders. Hannah has sat on the board of several international organisations and is a strong advocate for diversity in public life.

Project Manager

Katie has spent over a decade campaigning for social justice and supporting underrepresented communities to call for change.

She joined our team following her work with Activate, which she grew from an idea into an organisation. She has worked extensively on UK poverty, mobilising low-income parents to campaign for changes to childcare policy with Save the Children, and convening frontline organisations on asylum seekers rights leading to changes to housing services, with Asylum Matters. Katie served on the board of directors for Amnesty International UK for 6 years. She was a UK NGO delegate to the 63rd United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

Programme & Community Coordinator

Natalie has always been interested in activism and has volunteered for various organisations focusing on a range of work, such as advancing LGBT+ rights, women's inclusion in political space, and combating human trafficking. Alongside her passion for activism, Natalie has spent nearly a decade in academics. Her educational background is predominately focused on digital media and communication. This has given Natalie opportunities to gain experience in publishing and journalism, including completing work placements with The Times Scotland and The Herald. Natalie recently completed her PhD at the University of Strathclyde, focusing on politics, media representation, gender, and the 2019 UK General Election.

Lee founded Elect Her in 2014 and has worked on gender equality for 20 years. She has started a women's network, made a film about the future for women and has been on the boards of The Fawcett Society and Engender Scotland. She has an MSc in Gender and Social Policy from the London School of Economics.

Lee has been active in politics herself, having stood for election to the Scottish Parliament in 2016. She now spends her time focused on leadership through London Business School, Center for Creative Leadership and her programmes for midlife women - Midlife Revolution. She lives in Edinburgh with her whippet Stella.

Vicky is the CEO of Inspiring Girls International, a charity which raises the aspirations of young girls around the world by connecting them with female role models. Prior to this role, she spent over a decade working within political parties and organisations, with particular focus on supporting women candidates. Vicky has a Masters in Gender Studies, and has recently completed a coaching qualification in order to expand her work with individual women and girls. She has been involved with Elect Her from the very beginning of the organisation, and has loved seeing it develop and grow over the years! Vicky lives in Sussex with her husband and three children.

Aarti is a senior Tax professional and Chartered Accountant who specialises in the taxation of Technology businesses in the City of London.  She is a Board Treasurer and Trustee for a children's charity that safeguards deaf children and young adults in complex humanitarian settings around the world, and a school governor of a state primary school in London. She is an active member of the Conservative Party, for whom she has stood as a candidate in local elections. She is passionate about getting more women involved in politics at all levels, and particularly women from marginalised and working class backgrounds. She is excited about the plans for growth of Elect Her, and hopes to be able to impact the strategy of the organisation as a Board Director.

Giulia has a strong track-record leading teams in prestigious philanthropic enterprises. She played a pivotal role in helping the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women grow from a small start-up into a global brand. She has helped developed successful diversity and inclusion programmes through training and mentoring of women entrepreneurs in developing countries. Since 2016 she has been the Chair of the Board of Value for Women and is now also on the Board of Inspiring Girls. In all of her positions, Giulia has worked to develop strategy and overall growth plans, as well as forge strong partnerships among diverse stakeholders. She is passionate about women’s empowerment and leadership, entrepreneurship and ESG with a focus on the S and has built global, high profile, cross-sector partnerships in these spaces.

Patricia is a businesswoman, a facilitator and coach with her own consultancy. Patricia has been working with Elect Her as a facilitator for a number of years. She has worked with a broad range of clients from global corporations through to SMEs and start-ups. She coaches individuals on skills development particularly influencing and public speaking. She is a passionate advocate of gender balance in politics and the workplace and has worked and volunteered on numerous projects to support women on their political journey. Her book, She Said!, explores the challenges women specifically face speaking to be fully heard and the approaches and skills needed to overcome this. She has been a political candidate and understands the processes and the pressures involved.

Ruth is a lecturer in human rights at the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York. In that role she supports students to think politically about human rights, and works with artists and activists to explore how feminist and human rights activism is framed and how it might be reimagined.

She is also Chair of the Electoral Reform Society, an organisation that works to champion the rights of voters and build a better democracy in the UK. She is Irish, living in the UK since 2011, and passionate about seeing more women involved in politics in both countries and beyond.