Trustees

The Centre has a voluntary Council of Management, which meets monthly

We welcome applications to join the Council of Management, particularly from local residents. You do not need any particular skills to become a trustee, just a strong desire to help the Centre make a positive difference in our community. Please contact us if you would like to make an enquiry

Current trustees below (by date of appointment)

Veena Srirangam

Veena joined the Board in 2022. She is a commercial barrister practising from One Essex Court Chambers and has previously worked in the Law Commission (Ministry of Justice), European Court of Justice, and taught Administrative law in Cambridge University. Veena also lives locally in Brixton and in her spare time, Veena enjoys swimming at the Brixton Recreation Centre and (re)watching old Tamil movies

Callum Lynch

Callum is an Advice & Information Officer at the human rights organisation Liberty, where he provides advice to members of the public on a range of issues and develops collaborative projects with grassroots organisations. He has previously worked within numerous human rights organisations, including Right to Remain, Prisoners’ Advice Service, and REDRESS, and the Human Dignity Trust. He organises with Lambeth Cop Watch to challenge discriminatory and oppressive policing in his community, and volunteers as a legal observer with Black Protest Legal Support. He has lived in Brixton since 2016

Nigel Wachman – Treasurer

Nigel trained and qualified as an chartered accountant with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co (now KMPG).  Having qualified, he worked in accounting roles at Babcock Power Ltd, who made boilers for power stations, and Employers Reinsurance Ltd, a London Insurance Market reinsurance company.  Following this he moved into the Lloyd’s insurance was chief financial officer of Ellinger Heath, a reinsurance broker and RGB Underwriting Agencies Ltd and then Talbot Underwriting Agency Ltd, both syndicate managing agents.  As all of these entities are regulated, latterly by Lloyd’s, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, Nigel has good experience of working within a tightly regulated environment with strong board direction. Nigel was appointed trustee and Treasurer in 2022

Lucas Bertholdi-Saad

Lucas became a trustee in 2021 and took an active role as a member of the finance subcommittee. Lucas is a trade union officer in UNISON, the public service union, where he is also a trustee of the staff pension scheme. Prior to this, he was a teacher and student union officer. As a BAC trustee, Lucas has a particular focus on staff, including human resources management, staff wellbeing, and employment terms and conditions

Vimal Tilakapala

Vimal joined the board in 2021.  He is an experienced City solicitor who retired from full time practice in 2022 having been a partner at Allen & Overy LLP where he headed the UK tax practice.  As well as continuing to practise on a consultancy basis with Allen & Overy, Vimal is a CEDR accredited mediator and a fee paid judge.  Vimal is also Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Magic Circle Foundation, the original magic circle for magicians rather than lawyers

Ross Beaton – Secretary

Ross has been a trustee since 2017 and Secretary since 2019. He has been a barrister for 10 years, specialising in civil law, and now practises from 7BR in London. He moved to the Brixton area in 2015 and has been involved with various local projects since then, including a refugee support group, as well as the Centre. Prior to joining the board, he served as a school governor from 2013 to 2017

Nikky Catto – Chair

Nikky‘s first experience of BAC was as a service user, approaching the Centre for assistance in in 2005 after finding herself homeless following a chronic illness. She went on to train as a welfare benefits advisor after seeing how vital that advice was at a time of confusion and crisis. She got back in touch with BAC when interviewing for the Brixton Blog and Bugle, where she was a founding editor of and latterly a Trustee. Nikky is now a freelance author and writer and community engagement consultant. She has published two books on South London and has been a Trustee since 2015. Nikky has a special interest in diversity and inclusion as a former service user and disabled person who lives in council housing in the borough. Nikky says she would not still live in Brixton or likely have returned to work without access to the advice and support Brixton Advice Centre gave

Fred Taggart

Fred joined the Council of Management in 1986 and served at Honorary Secretary for 30 years. Now retired, he is a town planner by profession and following posts in planning and public policy work he was a Chief Officer of a London Borough. Then for 15 years he served as Projects Director of The Prince of Wales’s Regeneration Trust where he advised community groups and local partnerships across the UK on setting in place the necessary arrangements to regenerate redundant historic buildings, including business planning and funding applications. A long-term resident of Lambeth he has served as a Borough councillor, Chair of the Governing bodies of two local schools, Governor of Brixton College, and Board member and Chair of a South London Housing Association. He was Honorary Secretary of the Carnegie Community Trust in Lambeth and a member of the Herne Hill Forum. Fred has also served as a trustee of charities in Cornwall, Halifax and Swindon, and was Vice- President of the Arkwright Society in Derbyshire, which cares for the historic Cromford Mill. He was awarded MBE in 2016 for services to Charity and Regeneration.

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